[Oonakayama Asahi]

How long had it been since they had found the organization that they were looking for? It felt like ages ago since they had gone studying in the library to figure out what they were up against. Asahi wasn't going to complain though, spending time with her was a boon for him. It was perhaps one of the few times that he had taken studying seriously. Regardless of all that, they were on their next mission now! He could feel them getting closer to the answers that they sought. Already he felt a bit better as well. Getting practical mission experience did a lot to ease his own nerves about the whole ordeal.

The only issue with this particular mission is that it was based on stealth, and intelligence gathering which meant that he wouldn't be able to show what he was capable of. Though while part of him wanted to show off, the other part of him was a bit afraid of having to fight these guys. If only because he didn't want to kill them which is what their client wanted. Taking justice into his own hands....It didn't necessarily sit right with him. Maybe the next time he saw Big Sis he'd ask her.

Shaking those thoughts aside he waited at the Village gate for Risuki. Night was fast approaching but they had gotten permission to leave for their mission.

"It'll all work out I'm sure..." He told himself.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

Risuki had been practicing her sneaking on her way up to the village gates, and she found herself smirking just a bit when she's close enough to him that she can make out each individual feature on his face before she steps out of the shadows in the low light to spook him just a bit when she places a hand on his shoulder, stepping out of where she'd been hiding behind an outward jutting piece of the wall. The reason she'd been sneaking around within the village itself was actually because her thoughts were somewhat similar to Asahi's own; that sneaking wasn't exactly her forte, and that she was really much better at physical combat than the sneaking and snooping business. She'd thought that the bit of sneaking she'd be doing now might be enough of a warm-up to help her out when it came time to do the actual mission.

"You ready for that mission, Asahi? Gonna need ya to do your best here, or we might get caught out, and that'll be the end of the mission..."

Or she'd be able to knock them out before they make too much noise. The biggest problem would be that it would still raise the alarm whenever any of the guards wake up from her knocking them out, and the alarm would be even louder if she ends up having to kill them, since either their corpse would be discovered, or it would seem as though they'd disappeared, neither of which would be good in the long run for this mission.

"The sunset is nice 'n' all, but we oughta get a move on. Waitin' around isn't gonna get us the info we need."

She's still wearing her usual clothing, the wolf dog pelt draped across her back making her look at least as brown as the sand around them, so perhaps it might act as a bit of camouflage in the darkness of night. It's not like her white shirt could actually give her away when it might be pitch black outside.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

As he was waiting silently, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and the suddenness of it caused him to jump a bit, and he was about to face the intruder before he saw her, and all the tension left him. A bright smile on his lips as she spoke to him, and he thought hard about their objective. They were just scouting out the place to figure out it's weaknesses. So he doubted anything crazy would happen, or so he hoped. Still she was right with the sun setting they would need to get a move on.

"Yeah I guess you're right. I've been training a bunch in between missions so I won't be a laggard in a real fight, I promise." There is sincerity in his words, though what kind of training he had been doing he didn't elaborate to her. There were many techniques from within his clan that were mysteries to him, but he was slowly unraveling them all one by one so that he could fight properly at her side.

She had told him after all that to achieve his dream he had to have that sort of power. This mission was another stepping stone to it, and if they got into a fight it would mean that he would have to put up proper results.

"But daylights wasting or however it goes." He says with a laugh, and then he starts to head off in the direction of their enemy. What would they encounter? He didn't know, but he wanted to prove himself capable, and so far he felt he hadn't been able to do that.

After all, how was reading a bunch of books suppose to make you a hero?

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

Risuki is feeling a bit curious about what exactly he'd been training between their missions, but decided if it came up, then she would see for herself the results of his training. Regardless, he seems ready for this mission, which was a welcome bit of change from the previous boring mission they'd both had to deal with. She honestly hoped to not see the inside of a library for a very long time after their most recent shared mission. She smirks again when he shows how impatient he is to get the mission started, and she easily keeps up with him despite the fact that he'd gotten a head start on the run towards their objective.

Still, as they start to approach the location of the nomad bandit group's temporary base of operations, Risuki begins to change the way she travels, slowing a bit every time she starts to reach the top of a dune, and then dropping and sliding across the top of it until she loses sight of the camp behind the next dune, when she can get back up to her feet and run again. While this does slow down how quickly they approach their target, it also keeps them from being so noticeable, keeping them from being silhouetted against the gradually darkening sky. After all, it was still bright enough that a figure would be seen against the backdrop of the sky.

Finally, when they reach the camp and there are no more dunes between them and the bandit's base, she pauses behind the top of the last dune and looks at Asahi.

"They're on the other side of this dune, so we'll need to sneak up to them. We might be able to get in close enough to the big tent and listen in on their plans, but we'll have to get past their outpost guards first."

[Oonakayama Asahi]

Asahi mimicked her movement across the dunes, the scroll on his back making movement a bit unwieldy, but he needed it in order to use any of his actual combat abilities. Peering over the dune to see the camp in front of him he frowned a bit. The guards posted were going to be a giant pain to get by. There were many techniques at his disposal, but none of them were suited towards stealth at least not at this particular moment. It was another flaw in his abilities, and part of him wished he had more teammates to train with, but he was the only one on his squad currently.

"We could use the Transformation Technique....Disguise ourselves as coyotes or something, and walk on through. As long as he make a wide berth I bet we could get close enough to sneak around without bothering the guards?" He didn't know if that was a great idea, but it was an idea nonetheless. Since this wasn't either of their strong suit they were going to have to wing it, but if things went wrong....Asahi had been learning as many new techniques as he could muster in order to make sure that he could protect not only himself, but her as well.

After all she was the only person that he had done any missions with thus far, and as far as he was concerned, she was his first real friend outside of Big Sis.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

Risuki nods in agreement when Asahi brings up the possibility of using the simple Academy Transformation Technique in order to disguise themselves as desert coyotes in order to get close, at least. It was a pretty good plan, she had to admit, and most people overlooked the usefulness of the Academy jutsu. She's not sure how close they'll be allowed to approach, even as coyotes, but perhaps they'll be able to get close enough to be able to use the tents as cover the rest of the time.

"Great idea, Asahi. There's no doubt that a couple of animals will inspire less suspicion than two humans trying to sneak into their base."

She forms three handseals quickly, then in a light puff of smoke, changes her shape to match that of one of the desert coyotes, panting from her mouth rapidly like she was a wild animal that had just run for miles, as the canines are prone to do in order to get closer to a cooking fire and try to snatch some cooking food straight from the cooking stone. Risuki honestly felt even better about the plan once she'd transformed, and she spins a little to make sure Asahi can check for inconsistencies with her transformation, but she'd seen more than enough of the wild desert dogs to get a similar look. Once her teammate transforms too, she starts to lead the way towards the bandit camp, looking to circle all around it to find any particular space where they might slip in unnoticed.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

The moment she praised his plan he felt a flush to his cheeks, and he watched her perform the jutsu effortlessly, and when she did a coyote twirl for him to make sure she didn't mess anything up he just smiled, and shook his head. Then he performed the handseals himself, and in a poof of smoke he was a coyote as well. Doing a twirl himself for her to check over his disguise, and if everything was okay they'd make their way off. Sticking a distance away from the camp , as they circle around it to the back. There were patrols, but there was a delay in-between them, and if they could time it right.

Of course he assumed that she saw the same thing that he did, and he didn't want to talk lest their cover be entirely blown. Motioning his snout to the patrols, and the lag between them he waited for her signal to move in, and exploit that minute gap in their defenses.

The question was when they got into the camp what would they change into? Would they remain as Coyote, or would they revert back to their normal forms to deal with any threats that might pop up. He panted a bit trying to sell his coyote form. It was hard being a desert dog, but he at least had her with him.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

Risuki stops and points her nose forwards when she finds a bit of a gap in the tents that would allow them to slip into the bandit camp, without getting them noticed too much. She thought to actually stick with the coyote look while they're still inside the bandit camp; after all, it would be a bit dangerous to become humans so suddenly when they're surrounded by the strangers. An animal within their bandit camp likely wouldn't raise too much attention.

Once she's inside, she even manages to get a few of the bandits to feed her a few small bits of cooked meats, which she pretends to get her to be still and calm enough to let them pet her for just a moment before she rushes in the opposite direction from the bandit suddenly. Risuki had seen coyotes do such a thing somewhat rarely for people in the desert, but it got the bandits to beam down at her and treat her more like a dog than like a dangerous animal that would eat various small livestock animals as much as they could if given half a chance. Even in the midst of acting as though she was some kind of slightly domesticated coyote, she's carefully looking around the bandit camp and learning as much as she can about where every tent is before she finds a more centralized tent that should have had their leaders.

Risuki manages to slip inside, pretending still to be a coyote that is simply slinking out of sight around the edges of the tent to listen in on a meeting by several men, with one bearded man seemingly acting as the leader of the tribe of bandits.

"And selling the poison from those scorpions, we'll have no trouble being able to afford hiring lots of mercenaries. If we keep the scorpions for even longer, we might even be able to use the venom for our own uses!"

[Oonakayama Asahi]

He sniffed around the camp literally since he had seen plenty of the desert dogs do that same sort of thing. The people around didn't really pay him much mind, a few threw him a bone which he took into his maw, but he didn't bite into it in front of them. Since it would have damaged his real teeth, and so he took them outside the camp, and left them there. Pretending that he was hiding them. Staying within a proximity to Risuki he was just making sure that no one attempted to harm her, or himself. These transformations wouldn't hold up under attack.

That was when they heard the words from inside one of the tents. So they were stealing the scorpions in order to sell their venom on the black market it sounded like. Asahi frowned in Coyote form, which didn't even form a frown, but it was there in spirit. The Scorpions themselves weren't being harmed at the very least, and that brought a wave of relief to him. Still there were a lot of guys here, and Asahi was already thinking about what they might have to do next since they had gathered this information. The client had made it clear that he wanted these guys permanently gone.

With so many bandits here would the two of them be able to fight them all? He didn't think so even with their combined strength, and he was confident in what they could do, but it wasn't going to be easy. Still if they stuck around they might get more information that they could use in order help their cause. So he kept his ears perked up as he wandered over to another tent, and listened.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

While Risuki was also quite aware that the client wanted these bandits gone, she could also tell from just how many of them there were and the fact that they seemed to have the poison from the scorpions they'd kidnapped that it would not be possible at their level of ability and in their numbers that they'd be able to do anything to the entire camp. She'd already decided that she would just hear everything there was to hear from the leaders and then return to Sunagakure with the information in order to allow a higher ranking shinobi or team to dispatch the enemies of the village and of this clan in particular. It was horrid to think that they were used to milking the scorpions of their venom to sell, and since she couldn't see where the scorpions were from outside the bandit camp, it also made her wonder where they kept the scorpions.

If she and Asahi could escape with the information and the stolen scorpions, they'd likely get a really good reward from the Kazekage, and the thought caused her coyote tail to bristle with delight. It was an odd sensation to move around a tail that didn't really exist, and she also wonders somewhat absently if it was something that Sota felt all the time.

She was mostly unaware of Asahi's actions, since she was so focused on her own conversation in the leader's tent, so she doesn't realize that he's gone into a different tent to eavesdrop on a completely different couple of bandits.

"And yeh can't let 'em sting ya when ya do this. The poison won't kill ya right away, but there ain't nuttin' we can do about it if'n ya get stung, so yuh'll just squirm around on the sand in agony until ya croak."

It seems the older bandit is explaining the process and the dangers of milking the scorpions to a younger face. He seems to notice a small shadow on the side of the tent, but he ignores it again; should Asahi peek inside, he'd likely see the scorpions tied up, their pincers held shut by rope, their legs held taut together with more rope, and still more hemp ties binding their tails flat to the ground, ensuring that the giant arachnids won't be able to move, attack, or even sting their captors.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

The Coyote Asahi was frowning deeply as he heard from inside the tent, and he felt his anger start to boil over. Looking inside only infuriated him further, the scorpions were being held like war hostages. Part of him wanted to undo his transformation right there, and try to save the Scorpions, but he had Risuki with him, and that would endanger her as well. There also wasn't much that he could do at his current level of strength. It seemed that these guys weren't going to move on anytime soon. There was time to get back to the village, and tell someone of what they had seen at the very least, and maybe they could help liberate the creatures, and bring all these bad guys to justice.

Asahi still didn't want to kill them, he felt it was better if they were taken into custody, and imprisoned for their crimes, given a chance to truly repent. Though he knew that wasn't going to be a popular opinion with the Katsue clan, and he was already trying to figure out a way to spin it to them so that they might be on board with it. There had to be a way? Meandering back over to Risuki he nuzzled into the nape of her neck to get her attention, and motioned towards the gap in the camp where they had infiltrated. They had a general idea of what was going on now, and a decent layout of the little camp.

There was no need to risk themselves further or so he thought. Waiting on her to concur or disagree he would follow behind whichever she chose. So far no one had been able to see through their disguises, or tried to hurt them so they held up for now.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

She's watching more of the meeting in the larger tent when she feels something pressing against her neck, and she freezes for a moment before she realizes she's not been found out, just Asahi giving her the signal that they had all that they needed. They were still in the middle of discussing strategy, but it was more accurate to say they were talking more about tactics, which were far less important for their needs than the strategic information. Risuki felt that she had enough information of her own to let them know what the bandits were up to and their overall plan was. She gets herself up and pretends to do the fox's stretching of its legs before the bandits at the round table meeting seem to notice the two of them.

Right away, Risuki rushes out of the tent, hoping Asahi is aware enough to follow rapidly after her, because she wasn't about to wait to see if they thought that the two desert coyotes were suspicious. She rushes to the opening they'd snuck through previously, and after she manages to get through the gap and out to the desert, she releases the transformation technique in the middle of her run, though she still doesn't stop running, allowing her to continue her all-out sprint over the top of the next dune before the other bandits can notice the shape changing. She's hoping she can get even more distance before they think about how strange it was for a pair of desert coyotes to be stalking around their camp.

Once she's a safe distance away, she stops and crouches down, ready to compare what they learned in order to make sure they wouldn't have to go back in there for another try at getting more information from spying on them.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

It doesn't take long for him to trail behind her at top speed, and when they are a distance away he drops his own transformation, and he can feel the trembling in his hands. There is an anger there that he hadn't felt before, was it because he hadn't been allowed to take missions like this before? Still they were outnumbered, and outgunned in this particular fight, and he if he acted stupidly it could put Risuki in danger. So instead he swallowed it down, and focused. Their goal here was to gather information, and between the two of them they had to have gotten something good right?

"I think they're selling the scorpion venom on some sorta black market." He spoke to her quietly though he wasn't sure, but that would make the most sense for why they were harvesting the venom despite how dangerous it was. "Either that or they are just harvesting the venom for themselves for whatever reason. I saw inside one of the tents, where they doing it." He explained to her, and he was doing his best to not let it bother him. To compromise the mission was unbecoming of a Shinobi.

His father had taught him that the mission came above all else, and it was something that Asahi had a hard time reconciling with himself at times, especially when he was peeved.

"What about you?" He asked her in a hushed whisper.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

Risuki is actually surprised when she sees the anger built up in Asahi, an emotion she hadn't really seen him show often before at all. She'd seen him bored, disappointed, and happy, even the terror when he'd been caught in the scorpion breeding pen before, but now she was seeing this rage inside him for his inability to save the scorpions that the bandits had been stealing, and in a sense torturing them by stealing as much of their venom as they could. She can also see him reining in his emotions in order to not get himself and his teammate into trouble by acting in haste and anger, which would not only likely end with their mission being a failure, but also making the next mission to likely take out the bandits even harder, if not impossible with the bandits aware of the fact that Sunagakure knows of their plots.

She pauses as she's told that they're either selling the venom, or using it themselves, harvesting the venom themselves instead of stealing the venom. This was extremely helpful information, and would definitely ensure that the next team to go after the bandits would need to be careful to avoid getting themselves poisoned by their weapons. After this revelation, he asks what she'd learned, and she answers him simply, but with a detailed understanding of their plans for what they see as a war with Sunagakure.

"They plan to take out the Katsue clan first, as they're the ones with access to the original venom as well as the antidote for their own scorpions' venom. Next, they plan to attack Sunagakure indirectly, by envenomating various people to make it look like the start of an illness, before getting one of their own number sick to get him sent to the medical corps, and from there will help the other bandits in so they can take out the medical corps. From there, they hoped to take out all of Sunagakure... We better hurry back home, or we'll be too late to come up with a plan against them."

[Oonakayama Asahi]

He listened to her words about what they were planning, and he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. All of this work, and he wasn't even strong enough to be able to bring these guys to justice. All he could do was go tell someone else....He needed the Chuunin Exams to happen sooner rather later, he needed to get stronger now more than ever. With a frown he nodded to her. She was right all they could do was relay this intel, and hoped that the village sent someone capable of dealing with them, because if they didn't it was going to get real bad real quick. While he held no particular feelings towards the Katsue clan, they were one of the pillars of the village.

If he was going to rise up the ranks one day to become the hero that he desired to be, that meant he had to protect everyone, he had to get strong enough that violence was no longer an option for their enemies. This mission only served to fuel that desire, because after this what would the two of them be allowed to do? It was frustrating being inadequate despite all the training he did, despite coming as far as he had.

"Yeah we should head back as soon as possible." There was no other recourse, and so he took off towards the village as quickly as his legs would carry him doing his best to not kick up a ton of dust that might alert their enemies. He would have to train harder now, harder than he ever had before. So that this wouldn't happen again.

Karamatta Risuki