Mission: (Not quite) A walk in the park! - Side Story

"Yeah we'll have to set aside some time for rope-techniques." Kensai said proudly, before looking up to Megumi and the newest addition to the conversation. "Huh..."

"Shoot, Lass." Was the pirate speaking bandits only response as he raised his hands to show that he was unarmed, this man was completely outnumbered and surrounded by people he'd just attacked. Most men would be sweating under the circumstances, they would be unfocused and fidgety. This old bandit was cool as a cucumber. In a profession where men died young that was a statement in itself.

"Number one, why did you attack these people?" Megumi asked, pressing her hand down against the meat of the man's shoulder. "So far as I can tell, you assholes just rolled through and damaged things as much as you could. You didn't steal anything, which is the only reason I'd expect for lowlife bandits. Did you have another agenda? Did someone hire you?

"Second, where are you keeping Shay and Boro? If you want to make an exchange, we'll need to know where to go. And third, what's that girl to you people?" Megumi glanced at the bound Masaru. Had they been in any other circumstance, she might question why her students had tied her up in such a...suggestive manner, but she wasn't in the mood to care right now. "I wouldn't think people like you would care that much about one of your own enough to make a trade two for one, not when dying is practically in your job description."

"We 'tacked these people 'cause the boss said to." The Old bandit replied to Megumi, "You don't question the Captin's orders, if yer on a ship er on the land." He would twinge visibly as megumi laid int the nerve in his collar. He wasn't too happy about it but they were still parlaying. It's not like she had to beat the information out of him, he was talking.

"And as for the location. Welll... I'm not gonna give ya the location of m'front door." He shook his head. "Makaru-sama said the exchange would take place tomorrow at dawn, at a bridge three miles to the west of here over a canyon. Approach the bridge from the south. Bring four and only four people." When the question came about why they didn't just leave the little girl came up the man looked puzzled for a moment the question hadn't been covered in the short brief by Makaru. However the old bandit felt that if he lied she'd be suspicious and it would cause problems for the deal and come back onto himself.

"The Lil'lass is Makaru-sama's favorite daughter."

Megumi raised an eyebrow. This girl was supposed to be the bandit leader's daughter? No wonder she was such a valuable bargaining chip. "I see...a bridge. Four people. Alright, we'll be there. But I better only find four people from your side too. I don't really need those two captives you have. Technically, I was only paid to come out here and build a railroad, not fight bandits, and not rescue prisoners. So if I think you're trying to pull something over on us, I'll just take the girl back to Hone and have her locked up. Then this Makaru won't see her again at all."

The bandit nodded, "Word of a Bandit don't mean much but ya have mine, there will be four of us and yer two prisoners t'morrow." The old bandit said. It was clear that he really didn't believe her, it was apparent in his mind that Makaru knew that one hostage might be easily dismissed for his daughter that's why he took two. And that kind of forethinking was why the old bandit threw his hat in with the man. "Now if you'll excuse me, If I don't return Makaru will assume that you've decided not to accept his invitation."

Then there was the place that the dark skinned woman mentioned... Hone it was something Makaru had said before. Maybe it was that the railroad was being built there. However the bandit ducked under Megumi's press into his shoulder and stepped backwards away from her, "I wouldnt want to be late for the Lil'lass sake."

When it'd come to the mention of the shinobi only being there to build a railroad the foreman shrunk in emberassment, then again this was his plan the whole time, he was here to make the railroad, and though he had hired the shinobi on false pretenses their presence and actions were not unforseen.

Megumi let the man go, watching him until he disappeared. When he was gone, she made a shadow clone and sent it out west, towards the bridge they were to meet at. The clone would scope out the area for awhile to make sure the bandits didn't try to lay a trap. In the meantime...

"Alright, everyone listen up!" Megumi said, speaking mostly to the foreman but also to everyone else who might hear her. "Anyone on the rail crew is going to be leaving. Now. Go back home, leave everything here. Just go. Until this situation is done with, you'll all be safer if you're not hanging around."

She then immediately looked to the foreman. "And no, I don't care about what that'll cost you on missed work. If you want to make a proper request for a defense mission so you can continue working properly, then do that. Otherwise, I'm not going to have you leaving your people here to get attacked again. I'll bring Shay and Boro back, don't worry. You just get out of here until we're properly prepared. Got it?"

"I'll take everyone in the sleeping car back to the closest town, It's half a day's travel. We'll rest there for tonight and be back tomorrow around noon. That should be sufficent time for the exchange to take place." The foreman responded before starting to herd all the rest of the workers back toward the rail cars, it would be far too long a walk to get them there on foot so the smaller engine on the sleeping car was the best way. Also the main engine was damaged perhaps beyond repair.

"Makaru's goning to defeat you." The girl said out of spite, "He's going to kill you and these brats of yours." Though she was trying to sound tough the only thing that would really come across was like a cornered mouse shrieking at the lion at had cornered it.

Kensai had a remedy for that quickly pulling the shirt off of a bandit and wrapping it over itself while holding the sleeves out, he would then wrap it around a squirming Masaru's head and tighten it down until she couldn't move it off her face without hands. "Whelp just because we cant hurt her doesn't mean we have to listen to her right?" The white haired genin didnt know if he could put up with a whole day of listening to the young blonde girl running her mouth.

"No, you won't come back at all," Megumi said to the foreman. "Not until you've filed for a proper defense mission and you receive the aid required. Unless you really don't care about these people or your work. Because guess what? Exchanging this girl with your friends isn't going to stop the bandits from making future attacks. Or are you just that thick?"

While Megumi was busy giving the foreman an earful, Kenji took a couple steps backwards and tried not to pay attention. His sister didn't get angry much, but when she did he knew it was best to stay out of her way. Instead, he watched as Kensai wrapped Masaru's mouth with cloth to shut her up.

"Well, that certainly works," he said. "I was really getting annoyed by the sound of her voice."

"Yeah I know right?" He responded back to Kenji and looked down at Masaru, "What did she say her name was again?" He didn't want to know but felt like calling their prisoner "her" all the time was kind of a waste.

"Yeesh, alright I'll have to go back to town and hope the bandits didn't cut the telegraph wires there." The foreman spat at Megumi. "Not like they're not gonna charge me out the ass, after falsifying a mission request anyways." It was resignation, spiteful resignation he would most likely lose his job over this kind of thing, but when the bandits were impeding his progress anyways there was really no way for him to go except to try and bamboozle someone... or so he thought.

That moment would be interrupted by the yip of a little fox, that caused the foreman to practically jump out of his skin, that had arrived at Megumi's feet without being seen or letting its presence be known until it was in position. It was a cute little fox that looked up at Megumi with sweet puppy-dog eyes. On its back was a scroll case, that was labeled "Hirohata" the sneaky little red animal waited there expectantly for Megumi to recognize that the letter within was for her.

"Uh, Masaru, I think?" Kenji said. "Not entirely sure, though. She has a hell of a mouth on her though, jeez." He gave the girl another close look, particularly at the job Kensai had done tying her up, then sat down and started to treat that shallow wound where the bolt had punctured his shoulder. It wasn't severe and he'd be fine, but it was really starting to hurt like a bitch now.

Meanwhile, Megumi was preparing to start gathering things up to prepare to head out to the bridge when she noticed the fox stroll up out of nowhere right up to her. She gave it an odd look, then glanced both ways as if expecting to see something else that might explain where the fox had come from. Well that was... odd. What was stranger was the fact that it had a letter marked with her name on it.

Given the recent events, Megumi wasn't exactly feeling entirely trusting of random things coming up to her that seemed out of the ordinary, so she promptly made another shadow clone, took several very large steps away from the fox, and had the clone reach down to take the letter and read it.

"Huh... No kidding." Kensai replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders to Kenji's remark that she sure had a mouth on her, it wasn't much of an issue now though. When his partner started cleaning himself up, and now that the adrenaline of the fight was wearing off he started to feel sore all over. Realizing that he was bloody, dirty, cut, scraped, bruised and otherwise in disarray did the white haired Genin. There was a nearby fire bucket he'd pick up and start using the water within to clean himself up, it was old from last night but still taken from a clean source like the tank engine.

Though he'd tried bird bathing, every cut that he cleaned seeped more and most of the blood was starting to cake on him... all in all it would take nothing less than a bath to clean him off. And he'd not brought more than an emergency change of shirt and underwear.

The little fox tilted his head curiously as the woman made a shadowclone and then stepped away, the little fox had obviously been instructed to get the message to her. Though it knew a shadow clone would do just as well.

The note was a single sheet being removed from the scroll case and the little fox yipped happily, praising itself that it'd accomplished a mission objective, quickly spinning once like it was chasing its tail waiting for the second part of its mission to be complete.

The note would read as follows:

Hirohata Megumi,

Mission update as follows:

Classification Silver Mission Status Update:

Due to increased bandit activity in the area and higher likelihood of combat occurring in and around your mission space, your mission to help the railroads construction into Honegakure no Sato has been upgraded to a Rank C mission. As per Mission Request and Completion Guidelines(MRCG) you have the option of abandoning such a mission for any reason, however you will forfeit all subsequent pay, and if you choose to complete the mission you will be rewarded based on rates determined for Rank C missions laid out in Hone's pay scale.

Please think carefully and provide a response through the messenger fox provided. I look forward to meeting you in person and giving you your Jounin Association Members Card.

Good Luck,
Uzumaki Kai

Under the fancifully signed name was the black stamp of a fox print. The contents of the note would also explain the expectant look of the little critter that transferred its weight back and forth from its feet as if to try and hurry the ebony beauty for her response.

Megumi's clone wasn't exactly sure how she should feel about the information in the letter. She might have been satisfied at the prospect of increased pay, even if the bump from D to C wasn't that spectacular, if not for the fact that this information should have come out sooner. If the village had known about increased bandit activity in the area, then why in the hell hadn't she been given that information before they left on the damn mission? This could have gone much smoother if she had not been denied critical, need-to-know information.

Second of all, who the hell was this Kai person, and what was this 'jounin association'? And why hadn't she heard of it. If she was being honest, it sounded made up. She was already considered a jounin of Hone, so why did she need a member's card? Something about this whole situation reeked, and it just made her all the more frustrated with each passing second. With a grumble, the clone tore up the message and let the pieces scatter to the wind, after which it promptly dispersed.

The real Megumi, upon receiving the clone's memories, groaned in aggravation. "Oh sure, why not. Go tell your master we'll handle the bandit problem." She waved the fox away and then turned to start packing up her things, mumbling swears under her breath as she went.

The little fox yipped in agreement with her response, spinning after his tail again as Megumi gave her response. And in an instant the little fox practically disappeared in a puff of thick black smoke that quickly dispersed.

It'd taken a little bit but Kensai was quickly getting the worst of the blood out of his white clothing. He had also slipped away to clean up more thoroughly, he would return to where everyone else is- just in time to see the little fox leave Megumi's side. He'd taken a moment to clean up and now felt right as rain. Having taken care of business he approached his teacher who seemed rather off-put. "Hirohata-sensei?" He asked sheepishly of his teachers foul mood. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh no, nothing's wrong at all," Megumi muttered, with a not-so-particularly gentle yank of the train car door where they'd been staying. The metal door promptly tore off its hinges and clattered to the ground when she threw it behind her. "This night just got a whole lot longer, is all. Both of you pack up, fast. We're heading west to deal with the bandits."

When the train car door came off Kensai visibly jumped, almost out of his skin, if everything was okay then why was Megumi wrecking the place? The only answer the white haired genin could come up with was that Deception was a Shinobi art. Though that did little to comfort him. Something didn't quite sit right with Kensai as she told him to pack up quickly and that they were dealing with the bandits now.

"Sensei?" He asked meekly again. "What about the girl?" Not that he wouldn't be listening to his teacher stepping into the sleeping car right behind Megumi and starting to pack his meager things. Before they left he would need to collect as many of his shinobi tools as he could find in a quick glance. Most of the low quality academy tools however broke under the sufficently heavy usage they'd suffered last night. So he would definately have to procure more in the future.

"Take her with us. What just became a simple exchange just got a whole lot more complicated, but we'll still need her with us." Megumi finished packing her bag in a few minutes and the n started back outside the rail car. Kenji went about doing the same right behind her, making sure to listen to his sister's words. He didn't know what was in that note she read, but whatever it was must have set her off. He didn't often see her like this, and when he did it wasn't a good thing.

"Yes Sensei." Was Kensai's only response as he made his way out of the car and started to pick up the ninja weapons that were easy to reach and those that were in plain sight, he'd pretty much scattered the lot of his meager arsenal around like they were candy being flung from a pinata. Though all in all he only recovered a quarter of his kit, and most of those were shuriken.

With that task completed Kensai pulled the girl up onto his shoulders in the fireman's carry. Masaru would squirm and wiggle to try and make the lift that much harder but in the end she only succeded in annoying Kensai. "Alright, I'm packed, though I think I have a little much dead-weight." Kensai verbalized his readyness to make haste and threatened their captive over her troublesome behaviour all in the same sentance.

"So, um... are we going to that bridge?" Kenji asked, glancing towards Kensai to see him carry the bound girl. Hopefully Masaru wouldn't be too much trouble.

"Yup. I'll discuss the details when we get there. Just follow me." Megumi waved them along and then the way west to the bridge. The shadow clone she'd sent ahead was there to greet them when they arrived, sometime near dawn, and once they were there Megumi had the shadow clone stand and watch Masaru while the real Megumi took her students aside to inform them of the plan.

"Alright, so here's what's up," she stated. "Turns out, the village apparently knew about the bandit activity in the area, and neglected to mention this to us until that fox came with the note. So now our mission is to eliminate the bandits, which means we can't just make this trade and walk away. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to make a couple of shadow clones when it's time for the trade to happen. One of them will take Masaru away from the site, while we meet the bandits. The second clone will transform into a duplicate of Masaru, and will be traded for Shay and Boro. Once those two are safe with us, it will be your job to protect them while I take out the bandits."

On the way Kensai managed to juggle the girl and a breakfast bar to get back some of the stamina he'd wasted so early in the morning. When they reached the spot he handed off the girl to the shadowclone and continued on with Megumi and Kenji to the place where they could talk privately.

"Alright." Was the white haired genin's response though he had a question. "Why bother keeping the girl if we're going to kill the rest of the bandits?" And what if they wanted proof that there were no tricks? He hoped that Megumi knew what she was doing, he'd hate to see anything bad happen to Mister Boro or Miss Shay if everything didn't go to plan.

"Because, having her gives us a bargaining chip,," Megumi explained. "Once we have Shay and Boro, they won't have anything to bargain with, which means that their leader wil do what we say, if he really cares that much about her. Otherwise we take her back to the village with us. Plus, if we gave over the real Masaru, she'd probably get caught in the crossfire. She's a pain, but she's still a kid I'd rather not have to kill, even by accident."

"Yes Sensei. We'll do our best to protect Shay and Boro." Kensai agreed to follow her orders but really wanted a piece of the action, now that he had a taste it was like an itch that needed to be scratched. Though it would set a bad president if Kensai disobeyed his teacher on their first real mission.

As the pre-dawn twilight broke the darkness Makaru's party arrived on the opposite side of the bridge, they had a male and female prisoner in loose fitting clothing different from what Shay and Boro had gone missing in, though the prisoners also had bags over their heads and their hands were tied.

Even Makaru himself was different, now instead of rags he wore his full set of Samurai armor including the kabuki like mask that adorned such a ceremonial outfit. To his left was the old bandit-pirate from before and two others that nobody in the group would recognize. He would wait for Megumi's party to come forward before speaking up.

"Here's how this happens. As a token of good faith we send over the woman first." He would pump the woman in the hood toward the rope bridge that went over the chasm that was a few hundred feet down. "Then you send over the the girl, no funny business, when we're both happy with our returned parties you, I return the man to you, and we leave. Any funny business and we cut the bridge out from under either of them."

"How do I know it's really them?" Megumi asked, not ready to make the trade just head. She might not be the brightest bulb on the lamp, but she wasn't stupid. "Take their hoods off so I can see for myself."

When the hooded woman reached the bridge and stopped at Megumi's words the Makaru scoffed. "Keep going wench or I'll kick you in the chasm." He looked across to Megumi. "Fine then. If Itake the bag off mine, you take the mouth bind off yours."

Makaru would step forward and pull the loose hood off Shay's head her hair would flow out as she stepped forward onto the rope bridge grabbing the one of the hand ropes with her bound hands. Though she looked to be in health, she also had a mouth bind with a flag that said "shut up" out of it. Only put there because the woman wouldn't stop talking. That and the hours old black eye.

"Now send the girl." Makaru demanded.

Megumi noticed the black eye immediately, and felt her blood begin to boil. These bandits were not going to have a good day. "Fine then," she said, taking the mouth bind off her transformed shadow clone and then shoving her forward towards the bridge.

"Hey, hands off, you stupid cow!" the false Masaru held, as she stumbled towards the bridge. She grumbled quietly to herself and continued across the bridge, sticking her tongue out at Shay on the way by. Once the two girls had made it to the other sides, Kenji led Shay back out of the way with Kensai, standing guard over her.

Meanwhile, the clone Masaru huffed as she came next to Makaru and Boro. "This is so dumb, can we just beat them already? That ugly pig was mean to me!"

The two women would pass each other on the way. And make it peacefully to the other side, but what would happen next was a succession of events that both sides had predicted:

The double-cross.

In an instant a cloud of steam around erupted around Masaru as the the disguising technique wore off, the Clone of Megumi would be seen leaving the cloud running down the side of the cliff right by the bridge.

"What!?" Came the a voice from the man in the armor that was much higher pitched and wiry than Makaru's it was a man of Makaru's stature using a voice copying technique.

Megumi's mind would flash with a memory of her clone, the one that had been watching the real Masaru further in the forest. The mind was of the first ray of dawn glaring off something and then of being struck by a blade when her eyes reflexively closed, and the sight of of a disappointed Makaru as she opened her eyes before dispersing.

"Get'er!" The pirate sounding bandit would call as the forest line down both sides of the cliffs opened up in raining quarrels as a multitude of crossbow men rained the deadly missiles at the Jounin's double as quickly as they could.

Several of the bandits would come out of the woods from around the pair of Genin all armed with swords and spears. These guys meant business!