flashback [friendly intervention]

[lash]

It had been a long time since I had been inside of the village, and there were almost times that I recognized places. Though the years had changed them, some monuments to the past glory of Sunagakure no Sato remained the same. As I walked through the town attempting to reacquaint myself with the surroundings of my past and new home, I came across a street that I knew from before. With a start, memories flared through my mind and I stopped, letting the past flood into the present.

---

I stepped, quickly and silently, through the streets, my normal white kimono replaced with a black one to allow me to better blend into the night. I turned the corner, following the noises of the sound of a group's laughter up ahead. They had been drinking, that much was for sure; I could smell the stench of heavy sake from this distance. I grimaced, somewhat angered that there would be people who would waste their entire life lost to the bottle if they had their chance, but knew that it was not my place to punish those who sought to drown their miseries. I had my own vices, after all.

Above, the moon hung suspended in the sky, its slivered size granting the barest of minimums for light, though it was unnecessary in these days of bright lamps that were stationed at every corner. Knowing that I did not want to be seen by anyone, regardless of the person being a member of the general populace or an armed thug, I slunk into an alleyway and scaled onto the roof, chakra flaring underneath my feet to allow me easy scaling of the wall. As I reached the edge of the roof, I leaped upwards, flipping in the air before coming to a soft 'thud' of a landing on the tile of the roof.

I continued forward, moving towards the sound of the raucous laughter that continued on up ahead. I knew that I would need to find these fools, and find them soon, or else I would risk the chance of another civilian being injured in the upcoming turf wars between gangs and Shinobi.

SPOILER: Click to show

Name: Friendly intervention!
Rank: C
Ninja needed 1-3
Mission info: A group of thugs have been terrorizing the village streets at night, making them no longer safe for those who walk during the midnight hour. They've been said to lurk near the market district so starting there is your best bet. Permission to use force is given, but do not underestimate them, they may not be shinobi but they will more than likely be armed. Bring them to justice!

[lash]

The visions of the past faded, but not entirely. My eyes, opening wide, caught the roof which I had scaled before to chase down the thugs. Whether it was compulsion or nostalgia, I'm not sure, but I found myself repeating the steps that I had taken in the past...

---

After only a few minutes, I caught up to the group, which consisted of four men walking clumsily, obviously intoxicated and caught up with their own self importance. I watched with narrowed eyes as they stumbled, grabbing onto each other, laughing, and taking huge gulps of sake before continuing forward. At their pace, I found it difficult to believe that this was the group of thugs that had been terrorizing Sunagakure's evenings, but looks could be deceiving. I decided that I would give it a moment's time before I moved forward to crush them. After all, knowledge was power in this world, and having any information about their goals and intentions would serve me better than any weapon or jutsu.

As I stalked, I continued to observe their actions until they came to a street intersection, where a woman was hastily attempting to move across and make it back to her home. The men continued to laugh, oblivious to the situation, until one of them noticed the girl and began to laugh a little louder, pointing towards the girl.

"Where are you going, Koneko-chan? Why don't you come with us and party a little bit?"

His speech, a slurred mass of words that was incredibly difficult to decipher to my own ears, nonetheless echoed through the night and towards the girl, who stopped what she was doing and turned towards the men, fear very evident in her posture. In the dark, I could tell that she was petite of build, slim, but not in the way that would denote someone who took fighting very seriously. A civilian, indeed. She shook her head and called out, "No, I'm sorry, I need to go and check on my grandma..."

The men's laughter came to a halt. I could tell that they were angry at being denied. The man who had spoken, with rage on his face, picked up the bottle he was carrying, which was by now mostly empty, and threw it against the wooden walls of a building right next to it, creating a dent in the wall where the bottle shattered and sent what little liquid was left into it splattering all about.

[lash]

As I reached the section of the city where that intersection was, I looked towards the wall, where the dent from the bottle remained to this day.

---

"Nani? You think you can ignore us? That wasn't a request, bitch. You're gonna come with us and you're gonna have a good time." As the man spoke, his group of friends began to move forward, each menacing step causing the woman to begin to quake with fear. It was incredibly evident that the woman at least knew of these men by reputation, and that meant she knew that if she attempted to run, they would find her later and deal with her for her "lack of respect". The situation unfolding here told me that they were, in fact, the thugs that the Kazekage was looking to eliminate, and I decided to spring into action.

Leaping off of the building, my hands would piece themselves together, rapidly forming the required seals for a technique of moderate strength; one that would disable, but shouldn't kill, these ruffians. Taking in a deep breath, I channeled chakra through my gullet and exhaled, spitting out a large, thick stream of water that would land in the center of the group's formation. As the technique struck, the area quickly became overwhelmed with a torrent of liquid, and combined with the element of surprise, the drunk thugs stumbled, falling backwards and landing prone upon their backs as the water rushed around them.

Ending the technique, I landed on the ground, facing the opponents with knees bent, torso crouched, and right hand upon my wakizashi... my entire being set up in a battle posture. A sick smile appeared on my face and I called out.

"Hello, boys."

[lash]

As I faced my opponents, every sign of my body being ready to commit to actual combat and sickly sweet smile upon my face, my eyes would catch movement behind me, and instinct took over. With barely a wasted motion, my body twisted to the left, pivoting with my left foot as my wakizashi came out of its sheath and came up with barely just enough time to deflect the kunai that would have struck me in the back. My eyes quickly accessed the situation, and found that there was only one target who could have thrown the weapon: the woman. She smiled back at me and turned to run.

I would have given chase, but the sounds behind me told me that the men were beginning to get over their surprise of the situation and rebalance themselves, and knew that I would need to act. Sheathing my wakizashi, I pivoted once more while at the same time beginning a small string of seals, completing it at around the same time that I turned around. Bluish crackling energy began to pulsate around both of my hands, and I quickly released it in a small, beam-like wave towards the puddle of water in which all of my opponents were struggling to stand up in. The energy hit the water and raced through it, creating a stunning sensation that washed over those who were attempting to stand, paralyzing them for a moment.

I waited a brief moment in time, allowing the energy to lose its strength, before walking forward and tying the boys up. I lead the captured thugs to the jail, where I stashed them to await sentencing later.

---

For a long time after that, I wondered what had happened to the woman. I had forgotten about the scenario that had unfolded here and what it had meant. Was that woman one of the ones who had vanished from Sunagakure no Sato? Or if she had remained, what did that mean about the crime syndicate that she had, in hindsight, obviously been a part of...?

This wasn't the place for such thoughts. I turned and walked away.

[/exit]

[Ohta]

+ 30 EXP lash