Dignitaries and Distractions

The mission

Tenshi was walking home from an early shift at TenSeals that sunny afternoon. Business had been booming with the announcement of the upcoming Culling Games, which had resulted in a rather high workload for the Uchiha. Not that he was complaining though, more business meant more ryo for him and his family, although this also meant that he had less time to train for the Games himself. He had finished his shift and left his older sister, Kaya, to maintain the shop. Kaya did not have the ability to apply seals herself, but her job was to take orders from clients and to book them in for future sessions. Her assistance had been invaluable to Tenshi, allowing him more breathing space and the ability to better structure his work, life, Shinobi balance. TenSeals had already been booked out for the next couple of weeks, promising signs for the future of the business, it had even prompted Tenshi to look into expanding his commercial interests, although that would have to wait. First, he needed to go home and get some rest for the night.

As he entered the Uchiha district, he received a tap on the shoulder by somebody that he had not sensed, it prompted him to quickly spin around and assume a battle position out of instinct. This proved to be unnecessary though, as upon turning around he noticed that the random stranger was in fact a masked Shinobi wearing a long, black cloak with the hood up. The stranger’s mask represented an animal, apparently a rabbit or hare, and they had a rolled up scroll in their left hand. Tenshi let out a small sigh as he understood what this meant, it looked like his rest would have to wait, the Uchiha had a mission. The masked Shinobi handed him the scroll before simply vanishing into thin air without a word, clearly not a talkative one. Looking around to ensure that nobody else was around to look over his shoulder, Tenshi unraveled the scroll and began to read. The hand writing was extremely elegant and a formal seal of the daimyō was present at the bottom.

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That was quite interesting. This mission was going to be extremely important and he even got to conduct it with Himari. With a slight grin on his face, Tenshi noticed that he still had an hour before he was required to attend the event. In that case, he continued to walk back home, albeit at a much faster pace than he had initially. Upon arrival, he noticed that Ayane was not home, this was not surprising as today was the day of her Genin Exam, she would likely be finishing soon. The Uchiha was confident that his sister would be successful, but would have to wait until later that night before finding out her results. He quickly walked up the stairs to his room, where he had a shower and changed into a more fitting attire. His usual uniform was replaced with an all black formal robe, one that many of the dignitaries in attendance would also be wearing for the occasion. Unlike most Shinobi, Tenshi had the advantage of his standing in the corporate world to assist in his covert requirements for the mission. He would simply blend in as an attendee himself, his standing making it more believable and allowing him to complete his mission without drawing any attention. Donning black dress shoes to accompany his robe, Tenshi walked back downstairs, writing a short note for his sisters to inform them that he would be back late, he also added a part at the bottom for Ayane with his support for her Genin Exam results.

With that, Tenshi exited his home and made his way towards the daimyō‘s mansion, stopping by the entrance and awaiting the arrival of Himari.

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Meanwhile, outside the heart of Konohagakure-no-Sato nearby one of its training grounds…


The sharp whistles perforate through the air as four metal senbon glide toward a brunette, white-eyed shinobi, five meters away, clad in a short-sleeved, high-collared, black qipao-styled blouse overlayed by a long-sleeved, off-white, midriff shirt with maroon edges, maroon fingerless gloves, black spats overlayed by a pair of high-rise shorts, black, mesh, shin-high legwear with maroon trims, black sandals, and gray forearm sleeves. The brunette poises herself in a relaxed and focused posture with her legs slightly apart and her arms held in a guard position, with the hands open and fingers extended.

She thrusts an open palm toward them with her left hand, and an air vacuum expels and disperses the oncoming weaponry toward her and, instead, the softly blurred space travels in the ravenette's—dressed in a familiar-looking, lavender qipao dress—direction. She returns the gesture tenfold, adjusting her posture to deliver her own, much larger vacuum pocket of air to clash with the oncoming wave as a subdued yet powerful boom erupts from the impact. The Hyuuga grunts, as she feels her feet, slide across the grassy terrain from her opponent's forceful attack, attempting to regain balance but ends up falling flat on her backside instead. However, she just as quickly re-assumes her initial stance as she performs a kick-up off the ground and retrains her eyes on her opponent.

“You're getting better at this, Hisaki.” The ravenette says with a smile.

“I don't know about that, Himari... I feel like you're still holding back.” Hisaki retorts with a slight grin of her own.

“Maybe. OK, maybe just a little bit,” Himari replies sheepishly while scratching the back of her head. “But it's only because I know your limits.” She adds with a wink.

“I see... Well, I guess I'll have to work harder to surpass them then.” Hisaki responds with renewed determination in her eyes.

The exchange of blows continues for quite some time until a shinobi wearing a set of dark clothing accompanied by an equally shadowed cloak arrives at the scene. Standing atop one of the logs, he watches the two Hyūga siblings duke it out in a high-speed spar. The pair continue their battle without noticing his presence, but he makes no effort to conceal himself. Instead, he waits patiently until they finish their sparring match before making himself known to them.

Himari is the first to notice his arrival partway through the exchange and requests an immediate halt to the sessions before she casually walks over to greet him. The shinobi says next to nothing and simply gestures with a handheld scroll. Himari responds with two open palms towards the scroll as it falls into her hands.

“Oh, what's this f—”

When she adjusts her head to gaze at the shinobi only a distorted afterimage of his visage remains before he disappears. Himari blinks twice before turning back to Hisaki who approaches her sister from behind. She unfurls the scroll in her hands to read its contents, but not before noticing a formal seal of the daimyō at the bottom. The handwriting is exquisite, and Himari reads aloud:

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“Well... that's certainly something,” Hisaki remarks with an eyebrow raised after reading over her sister's shoulder before gazing at the amber star afar. “I guess you'll have to get going then, eh? Looks like you've got about an hour's time before the event starts. I'll hold down the fort here at home while you're off and if anything happens... I'll know. Eventually.” She murmurs with half-confidence. “I'll see ya when ya get home, yeah?”

Himari bobs her head. “I will! Keep mom company until I get back!” Himari replies before hugging her sister. “I'll see ya later!” She adds before dashing off toward their house to freshen up and choose from an assortment of clothes to wear for the operation to not stick out like a sore thumb.

Thumbing through the racks for a set of unassuming outfits to curate, alas, nothing catches her eye. Thinking over once more, the practicality of her blending in with the crowd would seem conspicuous at best, even if she were to don clothing similar to those attending the event. It would be far too obvious that she's trying to blend in with them as opposed to just blending in with them naturally. She shrugs her shoulders and decides to wear what she usually does on missions and instead, she opts for an alternative measure to circumvent the conundrum.

Performing the “Dog” hand seal, a puff of off-white smoke rapidly expels and envelops her form before dispersing, revealing a 5’5” clean-limbed woman with long, black hair, featureless pale eyes, dressed in an ornately-designed hakama and kimono with floral patterns along with a pair of geta sandals. Himari heads over to the bathroom next, glances over herself in the mirror, and nods approvingly before heading out of her room to meet up with Tenshi at the daimyō's mansion.

As she makes her way to the village unhurriedly, she gazes upon the setting sun as it casts a warm glow over the horizon and brings out the vibrant colors of the trees along the way. The fresh air is crisp and clean in her lungs as she breathes in deeply before exhaling slowly. A smile creeps across her face while she walks through the village streets towards the daimyō's mansion and eventually spots her red-headed squadmate by the entrance. Thankfully, not many attendees have arrived yet at the venue, so to on-lookers and passersby, her engagement with Tenshi would seem inconspicuous.

When the distance between herself and Tenshi is close to a meter between them, she slightly bows before him. “Tenshi” she acknowledges with a knowing look. “It's been a hot minute since we last did something important together in a while. How've you been? Oh! And don't mind the form I'm in. Although it's temporary, I had to think up of somethin' to disguise myself as for the occasion. I reckoned it'd be a bit weird for someone of my size to be around.”

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The Stats:

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WC: 1,150
TWC: 1,150/1,000
TMWC: 1,934/2,000

Tenshi gave a quick bow in return when he spotted the unusual version of Himari appearing before him. "Oh! Himari, you had me fooled there! I understand though, good thinking with the disguise. It sure has been a minute, running the shop and preparing for the Culling Games has been consuming most of my time recently. I hope you are doing well?" He would not chat idly for too long, the two of them had a job to do and it was about to begin. He would begin walking into the building while speaking to her in a hushed tone. "When we get in there, the two of us should split up to cover more ground. We can just appear to be mingling with the fancy pricks that are attending. Let's just meet up here afterwards."

After walking into the mansion, Tenshi would split off from Himari, assuming that she had walked in with him, without saying a word. He wanted to reduce the contact between them for the duration of the mission. He would then spend the next hour moving from person to person, under the guise of networking on behalf of his organisation. Although his primary purpose of the event was to complete his mission, Tenshi had no issues with actually brokering and closing deals for TenCorp while he was there. After all, many of the guests were extremely wealthy, even dwarfing him in net worth and overall value. While speaking to everyone, he would silently inspect them at the same time, looking out for any distinguishing features that would set them apart from the rest.

For the most part, the attendees all seemed to check out as genuine guests. That was until he began speaking with a rather rough looking man in his early thirties, who was flanked by two bodyguards. "Oh that is interesting indeed, so you say your organisation is new to Konoha? What exactly do you specialise in mister... sorry I don't think I got your name from you?" Tenshi began prodding slightly with his words as he spoke to the man.

"Ah, ya know. Just general goods and all that. We... err... buy things from people and then resell them. Just general business stuff! My name is Drogg, the lads behind me are the Kenzo twins, the best damn bodyguards in the country!" The man was clearly lying through his severely yellow teeth, but Tenshi decided to play along, luring him into a false sense of security. This was his chance to stop the man and his accomplices in their tracks.

"Wow, I must say that sounds like quite a lucrative business Mister Drogg. I admit that I currently find myself with far too much ryo than I need and I am currently looking for somewhere to place it. Would you consider allowing me to invest in your organisation? I promise that it will be worth it." This 'Drogg' could not hide his greedy joy the moment Tenshi mentioned ryo. This man was likely no more than some hired goon, this should be easy. "Now yer speaking my language dude. Sure, why don't we go over to that room over there to chat about this privately?" The 'Kenzo' twins both flashed malicious smiles for a second, it seemed that they thought he would be some small fry prey that they could coerce into paying them a large some of ryo. Tenshi smiled naively and nodded, allowing Drogg to lead the way.

The four of them walked into an empty room, one of the twins closing the door behind them. He watched as all three men placed a hand into their clothes, clearly about to draw weapons on him. They would never get the chance. In a flash, the Uchiha struck. Heavy fists cracking each of the twins in the back of the neck and knocking them unconscious, before he grabbed Drogg by the neck and lifted him off the ground with one hand. Before the mercenary could let out a sound, Tenshi activated his Sharingan and placed the man under his Genjutsu.

"Why are you here? Who sent you?" He spoke softly as his grip on the man's throat tightened. Gasping as he answered, Drogg spoke. "Here to... kill the daimyō... Destabilise the village... Sent by... Mirak..." Tenshi's eyes widened at the mention of Mirak. The man who he had encountered many moons ago who had almost killed him. The man who claimed to be Tenshi's uncle... Before he could question Drogg further, the man passed out. Clearly Tenshi had forgotten to loosen his grip on the man's throat and knocked him out. Looking around, Tenshi noticed a window on the far side of the room. He dragged each of the men over to it, opening it and dumping them outside. By chance, a familiar looking figure in a black cloak and rabbit mask was standing outside. The two of them exchanged an understanding nod before Tenshi closed the window and walked back into the main hall, leaving the masked man to take the three unconscious men to wherever he wanted to.

In the hall, he would look for Himari, giving her a stern look as a sign of his success if he could find her. Doing one final scan through the room, Tenshi was confident that nobody else in the room was suspicious, before walking out the front door to the planned meeting point. He would wait there for Himari, who he would give a quiet briefing to before saying his goodbyes and walking back home. It was time to prepare for the beginning of the Culling Games.

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Tenshi Uchiha wrote:

Exit

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WC: 936
TWC: 1,720
TMWC: 2,870/2,000

Claims:

Approved