Mission name: ANBU Intelligence Assistance.
Mission rank: A-Rank.
Objective: Assist ANBU members in surveying and bugging areas for surveillance in future missions.
Location: Hi no Kuni.
Reward: 600 Ryo.
Mission description: Certain areas or buildings are suspected of frequently housing meetings of criminals, or are the houses of criminals. Your job will be to assist an ANBU member in setting up surveillance equipment at a location so that their investigations go smoothly.
Mission Details: You could be doing this anywhere, from a criminal's house at night to a casino where they play poker. You should be sneaky, detection means failure. Lethal force is authorized to ensure the success of the mission.

'Night had fallen as a large mansion resided in a secluded area of Konoha. Past the graveyard and over some hills, the lair and main HQ of operations resided, criminals from all over welcomed into this building. Some infamous criminals, know throughout the ninja world, and some lesser criminals who had to prove themselves at the door just to enter. At the very top of this mansion however was the ronin who accepted this stealth mission, Aethir Lamdem. He definitely needed the ryo, and he did say he'd do almost anything for it... Now as to how that ronin is going to succeed in this mission? Well...' Aethir gulped before looking down slowly to the bottom of the mansion, 'He hasn't the faintest idea...'

The ronin gulped, leaning away from the edge, looking up to the roof area above him. "I could always get a better look at things from up there..." Aethir nodded, using his supernatural walking practice to climb up to the roof tops on his hands and feet. As he reached the top, the ronin gasped, lowering his head as he saw two bulky men laughing, veins bulging from their muscles as they smoked large cigars. They spoke, spat, and slapped each other on the... on the rear...? He stared at them for a moment as they slowly began to make the poor ronin incredibly uncomfortable. He lowered to the point where he couldn't see anymore, blush on his face. 'Okay, I got a look at something I probably shouldn't have seen...' Aethir sighed, looking to his left then right, noticing a lit window open. "Bingo!" Aethir smiled, sliding over to the window. As he approached the window, some woman with a large nose jetted out, blowing smoke out of the window. Aethir grunted, clinging to the wall, blending in with the shadow of the darkness, the woman turning to him, staring RIGHT at him... but apparently being in a brightly lit room caused her unable to see him. She returned into the room, laughter sounding loudly, Aethir slowly rising to a stand on the vertical wall. He crouched down, looking inside the window, seeing...nothing. Well it was like a cloud of orange smoke, swirling around. So many people must have been smoking in this room, causing such a cloud of smoke to appear.

"Damn...If I or  the ANBU don't keel these guys, lung cancer will..." Aethir sighed, fanning his face free of the cigar smoke. He stood up, putting a finger to his chin, thinking for a moment. "Damn...This room has too many eyes..." he sighed, looking around, eventually looking down at the front door where the guards were. "I could always try to act like I'm one of them... But what if they know who I am...?"  "They shouldn't know-"  "DYAUGH!!!" Aethir screamed then, covered his mouth as all eyes in the area focused on his position. Even the guards by the front door looked to see...nothing. Aethir and the mysterious source of the voice had vanished from where they were, causing the others to resume their activities.

At the rooftop of the building, the two men slowly began to lean closer to each other, staring into their eyes... They spoke low and softly to each other, contradictory to their physique as they gently brushed on another's biceps and backs with their claw of a hands. Suddenly, one of the men dropped to the ground, as well as the other, lying on top of each other as a foot rested on the back of the top man. "Too easy." the same voice from earlier spoke, Aethir lying on the ground groaning. He shook his head, looking up at a man with goggles, stubble across his face. His hair was black as he turned to look down to Aethir with his exhausted looking eyes. "You okay, Aethir?" Aethir blinked, rolling from his back position onto his stomach to look at the man. "How do you know...?" the ronin asked, slowly rising to a stand. He stared with a dumbfounded look on his face as he stares at the man stare back at him with a look of sadness. "What's...wrong?"  "Oh nothing." the man turned away with a smile. "I'm just...I'm the ANBU that's supposed to accompany you." Aethir gasped, then straightened himself up, nodding. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm uh... I'm Aethir! But you somehow already knew that..." Aethir blinked, tilting his head to the ANBU ninja that was looking away. "In fact, you knew who I was back in Konoha, didn't you?" Aethir narrowed his eyes to the ANBU ninja who slowly turned to him. "Didn't you...?" Aethir asked again, the ninja frowning to the boy as he began to remember how he even accepted this mission.


The streets of Konoha, where the leaf residents did their leafy...leafyness. Aethir walked through the streets, actually being greeted by them instead of stared at with a concerned look. Perhaps it's because he's been around for some time now, doing the town some favors and what not that built their trust for him. "Hmm..." Aethir shrugged to himself, looking at the different shops Konoha had to offer. He wasn't quite busy, but definitely didn't mind to be either. He was off to window show before someone had gripped his shoulder, the ANBU ninja that had saved him in the present smiling away at him. "Hey!! Ha...!! Haha!! Care to help me out?" Aethir stared for a moment before raising an eyebrow. "Um...I'll give it a try, sir." Aethir stared at who he considered a rude person for grabbing him and asking for help. Of course, next to Aethir were MUCH stronger ninja, looking over to him curiously. "Why don't you pick those guys-"  "THEEEEEEEEY said no~!" Aethir blinked then slowly nodded to the ANBU ninja as he began to explain the details to him


Back on the rooftop, the moon shined down on the two ninjas, Aethir staring at the ANBU officer as he was looking back at him with a disappointed face. "So...why? Why do you know me?" Aethir blinked, tilting his head. The ANBU didn't say anything, simply shuffling his feet quickly, entering a fighting stance. "What- ...What? What are you-"  "Spar with me." Aethir blinked, shook his head, then pointed to the two big guys nearby. "Spar?! We're on a mission! There's no time, officer!!" the ronin spoke, but the words fell on deaf ears as he saw the officer charge at him, his hands ready to attack. The ronin was about to complain more, but decided to simply stand his ground and defend himself while he could.

The ANBU halted near Aethir suddenly, four feet about, slowly circling the ronin, Aethir turning to face him, his stance...well Aethir didn't have a stance. The ANBU quickly jabbed at Aethir's face, the ronin quickly able to react and see the punch, leaning back, just out of the punch's reach. As he dodged his punch, the ANBU's body quickly turned, a strong looking roundhouse kick coming his way. Aethir's great level of perception allowed him to see this, raising his arms to block the oncoming kick. As the kick smacked against his arms, he used the heel of his foot to push himself back, letting the force that would have caused him damage to send him further away from the ANBU. But even though Aethir had blocked the punch, his arms felt a mix of jello and vibrating. Vibrating jelly almost. But the ANBU obviously didn't care since he was already running after the boy.

"Alright then..." Aethir frowned, getting ready again. Once again, the ANBU has stopped four feet from Aethir, but this time he wasn't circling him. He quickly attempted a faint, shuffling his feet quickly, moving closer to Aethir for a total of twelve centimeters, Aethir shuffling just as quickly away. This went on for a moment before the ANBU swung his left fist widely to Aethir, the ronin ducking and delivering a quick jab to the ANBU officer's stomach. This caused him to stagger back, Aethir jetting towards the ANBU officer to further combo his attack.

The moon shined on the two ninjas doing combat, ninjas who were meant to help each other on the mission. Hits were blocked, dodged, and countered as the two went on, Aethir yet to have used any chakra. "You're fast." Aethir heard the officer speak, the ronin saying nothing. "But let's see how you do against this...My jutsus." Aethir's eyes widened, backing away quickly, preparing for anything. This caused the officer to laugh, forming the dragon hand sign, soon glowing a bright orange. Aethir stared for a moment, confused as to what he had just done to himself, then gasp as the man charged once again. "Don't let me touch you now!!" he screamed, swinging his arm horizontally, a curtain of flames following his arm's trail of momentum. Aethir dodged just barely, his face feeling the intense heat from the attack. He spotted the same roundhouse kick coming, Aethir blocking the kick successfully...However, his arms stung now, burning from touching something possibly hotter than a stove.

Aethir backed away, patting his arms quickly, groaning as he saw the burn marks from the kick. "And after I just told you not to let me touch you..." Aethir looked up to the mocking ANBU guard with a look of anger. "Oh...Are you angry? Want to quit...?" Aethir glared, soon darting off quickly towards the ANBU officer. He didn't move as Aethir swiftly delivered a left hook to his face, the boy groaning as his knuckles were burned. 'I can't even touch him...! Maybe he's too powerful...' he complained, looking at the burn marks on his hand. He then looked at the now smirking ANBU guard, Aethir sighing, backing away quickly. 'No...I haven't tried my jutsus... He's physically there, so they can hurt him...' Aethir nodded, standing up straight, preparing himself for another round.

The ANBU officer rushed in quickly, throwing a quick punch, followed by a cloud of fire, swipes with his arms, and side kicks with his legs, flipping occasionally to distance himself...but as he did, fire would follow his every movement, Aethir capable of dodging every hit, staying cautious of the trail of fire being left behind. Finally, when he flipped away from Aethir for a second time, he prepared the water gunshot technique, fire two large balls of suiton to the ANBU officer, hitting him directly as he landed from his final flip. "Damn...!!" he swore, kneeling on the ground, the orange glow on his body appearing to be fading. "Now." Aethir told himself, rushing in and using the water from the previous jutsu to summon two water clones. The clones ran from the man, soon sprinting quickly with the original Aethir, preparing to attack the man. As he prepared for a three on one battle, the man obviously had lost which Aethir was the real one...

Legs, arms, feet, and fists went flying everywhere, the ANBU officer being the only one receiving hits. Finally, he sprung high into the air, roaring to the sky as he began to glow orange again. "Water gun!!" One Aethir shouted, the others following suit. Then, an Aethir had jumped from the barrage of water balls, dodging them as he was traveling up to the slowly glow fading man, the ANBU officer grunting as he blew what looked to be a giant cloud of fire in the face of the Aethir, the Aethir retorting with a water trumpet technique. However, the fire had overpowered the jutsu, the Aethir being grabbed and forced into submission as the officer and him began to fall. He spun in midair, getting ready to make contact with the roof, dodging every water bullet coming his way before the Aethir's skull was crushed, water oozing form it. "Water...?!" the officer glared, then turned as another Aethir had come running and swinging, eventually forcing him into a nelson hold, the ANBU officer struggling to get free. "This spar is over." he heard someone speak, turning to see a ronin, prepared to throw a large lightning javelin to the officer, possibly ending his life where he was now. "I throw this...and it's over for you. So start talking." Aethir demanded of the officer before a gravely voice interrupted. "Yeah, start talkin'!!"  "ANBU scum!!" Aethir blinked, looking around as criminals came rushing through the rooftop doors, Aethir diving off the side of the roof quickly. As a group of thugs grabbed the ANBU officer, Aethir blinked from where he clung, at his capture, soon gasping as a man with gray hair looked around quickly for him, possibly seeing him jump suddenly. "No worries, kiddo. We got ya! ... He must have left... Damn..." Aethir slowly knelt into a crouch as the man didn't bother to look down, looking up at him with a worried look. 'Wait...Wait, he didn't hand me the camera devices...!!' Aethir gulped, rising up to look up onto the roof top, but then gasped as he saw the ANBU officer was smiling away. He turned to Aethir and winked, Aethir blinking and wondering...if this was all apart of his plan. YOU SCUM SMOKE SO MUCH, THE AIR VENT IS PROBABLY HAVING TROUB-[/color]" The white hair man stuffed a cigar into the man's mouth, the ANBU officer groaning loudly.

As he saw that the door to the roof had opened, people pouring inside, Aethir blinked as the ANBU officer was being lead inside, the officer smiling to Aethir as Aethir climbed back up onto the rooftop. "What's...his plan?" Aethir spoke quietly as the surrounding thugs were still nearby, close enough to possibly hear him. He folded his arms, thinking for a moment before remembering what the AMBU officer said. "The air vent...?" Aethir turned, noticing a large AC unit vibrating away near him. As he searched around the unit, he noticed some sort of messenger bag with wiretaps and camera equipment inside, Aethir smiling widely. "Bingo... Mission start..." Aethir smiled, taking the bag and wrapping it onto him as he slowly began his mission by entering the building through the rooftop door cautiously.

However, before doing that, Aethir checked inside the bag once more to double check what kind of equipment he had. Five cameras and five microphone taps. "Alright...so...this is-" Aethir noticed a socket to where he could plug in the microphones into the camera so that whoever could use them could hear whatever was being recorded as well. "I see...but..." Aethir then tilted his head to a folded up piece of paper in the bag, the boy reaching for it and reading it. "Cameras...activate...upon placement. Deactivate when detached... Ah. If things worked out the way they should...I should be in basement block C, cell 25...The hell? Did he- ...HE DID PLAN FOR HIM TO GET CAUGHT!!" Aethir grumbled, then pushed the note angrily into his coat pocket, carrying the bag on his side as he NOW began his decent into the mansion while swearing up and down about the ANBU being an idiot.

The moon had changed it’s position since the ronin had first arrived on sight of the mansion, showing that a great amount of time has passed, time possibly wasted instead of doing what needed to be done. Walking into the mansion from the rooftop’s doorway, Aethir slowly descended down the flight of stairs, already smelling cigar scents from where he was. These thugs really did smoke way too much if the smoke reached all the way up here… Aethir didn’t care enough to sit there and ponder why they smoked so much. He continued his descent until he saw bright lights at the foot of the steps, shadows moving quickly along with deep laughter. To Aethir, the conversation that was going on seemed to be just an ego contest, seeing who’s done the bigger crime. It ranged from skinning the kage’s aunt’s cat to attempting to rob the kage themselves. Honestly, Aethir couldn’t believe that someone would be able to do such a thing to either a defenseless animal or to a person of such high power.

No longer taking the time to think about it however, Aethir crept down to the bottom step, slowly peeking around a corner. If anything, this smoke could prove to be very useful for his hiding tactics. As he peeked around the corner, he saw dark figures laughing with massive cigars in their hands, the ronin waiting for the time where the crowd would laugh crazily as they were before. That time came where the crowd laughed incredibly loud, Aethir quickly moving from the steps to a nearby table while crouched down. ‘Alright, this is fun and all, but where the hell do I put these cameras…?’ Aethir looked up, unable to see the roof due to the smoke, ‘I doubt the cameras would work in here due to the smoke… Maybe I should try a clearer room…’ He was going to ponder on this more, but gasped as a pair of female legs sat near him, loudly talking about ash in liquor. He didn’t’ say anything, simply remaining crouched where he was, under the table.

For some time now, the legs finally moved, standing and walking elsewhere, giving the ronin the opportunity to migrate from that table to another location. The new location wasn’t another table, but rather the walls itself, the ronin using the supernatural walking practice technique to cling to the surface. ‘Well, I guess it is true what they say…’ Aethir smiled, watching all the dark figures converse and have a good time, ‘No one really does look up. Ah well, easier for me…’ It then occurred to him that maybe this was a good spot for the camera. He figured the camera might not be able to pick up visual due to the smoke, but that won’t stop the microphone from picking up sounds and conversations. He carefully pulled out the camera, placing it first, a green light glowing on the side, showing that it was activated. He then pulled out the microphone from within his bag, slowly plugging it in, the camera giving a high pitched beeping sound before going quiet. “Alright…That’s one out of five I think…” Aethir grinned then checked around himself to spot a nearby open window, high up from the crowd of people. He crept out of it, hanging out on the ledge for a moment before leaping to another part of the mansion.

Once again, the moon’s position had changed, showing the ronin that more time had been wasted, said ronin landing on the lower part of the mansion. “Alright…Four more to go…” Aethir nodded, checking inside his messenger bag to double check if the amount was accurate. He didn’t know where else to put the cameras other than that one room he had seen so far. Then he remembered then long line at the entrance of the mansion, the ronin smiling and making his way over there. At the entrance, the criminals were still lined up for entry as Aethir hid above them, watching them all silently. ‘Criminals…’ Aethir tilted his head, starting to think to himself for a moment, ‘What causes people to become criminals…? Is it them not being patient to work for something someone else has…? As he reached inside his bag for another microphone and camera, he continued this thought. ‘Or maybe it’s just the need to be bad…? Or maybe…’ Aethir sighed, rubbing his eyebrows as he slowly placed the camera, ‘Maybe they aren’t bad…They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time…and…’ he would have continued this thought, and would have long placed the camera and installed the microphone, but he was distracted by a sudden loud noise from below him.

He turned to see the mansion guard holding another man back who had a scarred up face. “ And what’s going on here…?” Aethir whispered, leaning closer, hearing the man swear up and down about the mansion and someone named…Leonardo. He received a quick punch to the gut, knocking him unconscious, the guard gesturing over to somewhere in the dark, calling it ‘the pit’… “ The…pit? Sounds like a-” The guard quickly looked up at Aethir’s position, the ronin hiding from his line of sight. ‘Sounds like another place to set up a camera…’ Aethir nodded before placing the camera and installing the microphone. With the microphone installed now, Aethir leaped quickly as the camera beeped, causing the guard to be able to see at an angle where he would be able to see where Aethir was hiding. Already out of his field of vision however, Aethir narrowed his eyes to see the man from earlier being dragged around the side of the mansion, the ronin stalking the group of men. They paused for a moment to light a cigar, soon opening what looked to be a basement door, dragging the man down as he hit every step with his head…Painful to watch, Aethir had to admit…

Aethir, not thinking, jumped down and landed by the basement door, creating a loud ‘thump’ near him. He turned, hearing someone gasped and shuffle to the feet, the boy kicking the male back down onto the ground, leaving him unconscious. He knelt down, slowly opening the basement doors, staring into what looked like a dark abyss. Shrugging, he crept down into the basement, closing the basement doors behind him as he did this. He instantly heard voices down here, possibly belonging to the men from earlier. They spoke of booze, women, the typical topics of a typical man… Aethir had to wonder if these criminals were really criminals or just lonely basement dwelling men… He shrugged, soon following the sound of their voices as his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. As he was about to turn a corner, he peeked first, noticing two guards guarding what looked like to be a caged area with dim lights. The ronin watched for a moment as the guard nodded after inspecting the unconscious man, soon being dragged into the caged off area.  As he was, a sudden cheer came from nowhere, accompanied by clapping. “ We’ve got another one folks! Another challenger!!” Aethir tilted his head, staring past the guards to see what would happen to the knocked out man who was slowly waking up. As expected, the man appeared to be lost and confused, Aethir gasping as he saw a MUCH larger, more muscular man appear before the smaller man, raising him up and…having his way with him physically. The ronin couldn’t help but cover his mouth as he saw the man get brutally beaten…

“What the heck is this…? Some sort of underground…arena?” Aethir, at first saying that jokingly, now thought that would be possible. “ An Underground arena-” Aethir cut his self-talking session short as the guard walked over to his direction. He hid, waiting for the guard to get close enough before swinging his leg across his temple area, knocking him out. The guard next to him shouted, running after the ronin, who delivered a swift vertical kick to his chin, knocking him out as well. It didn’t hit Aethir until now that he was more well versed in knockout areas than the average human… He found that odd, but swiftly yet quietly crept up to the entrance of the cage area. Before entering however, he decided to set up a camera right above the threshold of the basement and the caged area, the loud beeping being overpowered by the crowd’s roar. “Now what’s this about…?” Aethir spoke, staring at the men in the cage area, the obviously much bigger man winning due to the other man being a bloody mess. As the smaller man rested on the ground, the bigger man raised his large foot, preparing to smash his skull in, the crowd going crazy and chanting ‘do it’ to the muscle man. And of course, being the good ninja Aethir is, he had to do something about this.

The crowd gasped as  the lowering foot was stopped by the ronin…or ronins, the prime ninja obviously remembering what the AMBU had said to him. That detection was a failure… Frankly, he didn’t care for the ryo if it mean sparing someone’s life, someone who possibly had done nothing to deserve this. “Get…away…from him!” the Aethirs commanded before shoving the man away, causing him to fall on his rear. He had used the water clone technique from the moisture in the air, Aethir learning a new way to summon his clones… But he didn’t relish in the fact that he learned a secret on his own due to the man slowly standing up again. He spoke like a cave man, stating ‘me crush you’, me being him…Aethir guessed…? Aethir shrugged and rushed in as the crowd was silent, watching as the five versions of the ronin were attacking the man. They spun around him, flipped, and delivered swift weak hits. At first the man laughed at their ticklish hits, but soon groaned as the damage began to add up the more he got hit. He commanded the ronins to stop running so fast, but Aethir didn’t listen, one clone delivering a swift roundhouse kick to his face, another vertical kick to his chin, and one swift punch to his rib cage. With every attack, it felt like the already slow tank just grew slower, the man groaning and soon falling to his knees. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to-” Aethir was cut off by the people cheering for the ronin, Aethir blinked along with his clones as they and him looked around. They were chanting something, Aethir unable to make it out at first until the third chant. ‘Finish him…? Do they mean…” Aethir slowly turned to the bloody man from the entrance of the mansion, remembering how the crowd was chanting for this juggernaut of a man to kill this smaller man. Unlike him however, Aethir was not taken by their cries for more bloodshed, Aethir simply bowing before the large kneeling man. He looked at the boy as he rise from the bowing position. “Please take care of yourself.” Aethir spoke, turning away, picking up the bloodied man from before, and leaving the caged area. He stopped, hearing the man ask why he didn’t finish him, Aethir slowly turning but stopped, only to continue walking away. It was simple really… He didn’t like taking other’s lives.

“Hey…” Aethir stared at the groaning man who was slowly coming to. He gently and lightly patted the man’s face, trying to get him to wake up. “Hey…! Hey, come on… Sir?” Almost as a reflex, the man swung his arm, as if trying to his someone. Luckily, Aethir’s perception was able to let him see this coming LONG before the action had taken place. “Sir, I’m going to…go…now…” Aethir nodded as the man stared up to him with a shocked or surprised look on his face. Aethir guessed that it must have been the fact that he didn’t expect to be saved by another criminal…which…is where this man is wrong, for Aethir is not a criminal. As the ronin leaped away, hoping to the top of the building’s rooftops again, the man stared up to him, soon closing his eyes again to take a rest…

“Well that was a minor distraction…” Aethir sighed, checking inside the bag. Two cameras and microphones remained, Aethir nodded while thinking about the areas he hasn’t been to yet. “I’ve been to the second floor…The place with all the smokers… I’ve been to the basement arena…thing. And I’ve put one at the entrance of the mansion…” The only place Aethir could now think of putting a camera would be on the very first floor, on the other side of the entrance camera’s wall. “And after that…? I have no clue…” Aethir sighed, looking around for an open window that lead to the second floor. As he hopped through, the crowd of people were, you guessed it, still laughing and smoking like idiots. Aethir crouched and crept past them all, looking for stairs that lead downwards, the ronin soon finding them and progressing downwards. He found it odd how the bottom floor didn’t have any smoke that wasn’t from the floor above… Actually, he found it increasingly odd how there wasn’t any light on the first floor… Aethir continued down to see the first floor…covered in unconscious bloody bodies. “What the hell…?” Aethir blinked, looking slowly to the left, then slowly to the right , noticing bodies upon bodies lying where they area. Cautiously making his way to the entrance’s doorway, he placed the camera above the threshold, Aethir attaching the microphone to it as well. “ Alright, that’s that…” Aethir nodded, soon glancing around the room cautiously.

It was then that he heard some sort of high pitched laughter in the darkness of the room, Aethir glancing around quicker this time, finally looking up to see some sort of…bandaged humanoid on all fours on the ceiling smiling away at him with sharp crooked teeth. He gasped, staring at the smiling person for a moment before they leaped at him, drawing knives from there sleeve area, Aethir jumping out of the way, keeping this…thing in his sight. The humanoid stood there for a second, possibly needing a moment to realize it had missed, bending itself backwards to smile at Aethir again, soon twisting it’s whole body to face . “Eh…!! How…How can you even do that…?” Aethir blinked, tilting his head, soon jumping out of the way again to escape this creature’s knives. It let out a ear bleeding scream as he charged after the ronin, the ninja not sure what to even do anymore but dodge and attempt to punch. However, with every punch, this thing had dodged his attacks so easily until it received it’s first punch to the neck area. He shrieked, Aethir punching more and more, each hit connecting and possibly causing the thing to slow down per hit before being knocked away with a strong roundhouse kick. Aethir didn’t dare stick around to see if he had won or not, running back up the stairs and out the window, panting to himself. For the first time…the ronin had experienced fear from another person… He didn’t know who, or what was that thing even, but he knew that that smile and one exposed eye along with that bandaged face will haunt him for some time…

As Aethir sat back on the rooftops to think of where to place the last camera, he remembered the ANBU’s note in his pocket. He checked it to read it for any clues, noticing only one strong possible lead. Basement block C, cell 25 was written on here, Aethir figuring he had to go back down into the basement once more. And so he did, hopping from the roof to the basement doors, and carefully making tracks. He passed the caged area, the large man and crowd leaving the area, noticing there was a large skull above the gate. He took note of this before continuing down the hallway, noticing another hallway that had a large ‘A’ at the top. “I take it this is A block, huh…?” Aethir blinked, looking at his other side, noticing the same ‘A’ was at the top of the hallway on his other side. He continued on to notice another set of hallways with ‘A’ at the top of them, almost ignoring them. Finally, he came across a set of hallways with ‘B’ on top of them, Aethir noting this mentally. ‘So it’s a block, as in, a square…I see…’ he nodded, now having had made sure it was as the name stated. He continued past the second pair of ‘B’ hallways, finally reaching ‘C’ hallway. He went down it to notice caged cells with the numbers ‘00’…’01’…’02’ on them as he progressed. He finally cell ‘10’ before another hallway had been presented to him. He turned down this hallway, noticing the numbers had jumped to ‘11’….’12’….’13….’ as he continued.  He eyeballed the numbers on the cells, occasionally looking inside to see the people within. They either glared at him, or stared puppy dog eyes at him, pleading for him to release them, the ronin needing to ignore them…for now.

Finally reaching cell ‘25’, Aethir looked inside only to jump back quickly in shock. It was the ANBU officer from earlier with blood covered on his face, clothes, and cells. He was tied to the chair, his head drooped down and his goggled in shattered pieces on the ground. He looked like an absolute mess. “Took…” Aethir leaned closer, listening to what he was saying, the man obviously not having enough strength to speak. “Took you…long…enough…” he panted, smiling as blood poured between his red stained teeth. “Are you- …What did they do to- …” Aethir went silent as the man panted and breathed, chuckling. “They did…absolutely nothing…to me…personally.”  Aethir tilted his head before the man groaned loudly and turned into ash. “ What the-”  “I’ll show you that trick when we’re outta here.” Aethir blinked, staring at the ANBU officer who stood outside the cell. “ WHAT THE- WHEN DID YOU- …YOU WERE JUST- …” The ANBU officer laughed at Aethir’s shocked and priceless look, the ronin soon glancing over to the pile of ash that WAS the ANBU officer. He had to admit, a trick like that could come in handy if he DID know how to do it… He may just take him up on his offer.

” I can assume by the lack of cameras and microphones, you’ve done some planting huh?” Aethir nodded, the ANBU officer taking the last camera. “Where did you place the ones so far?” Aethir began to tell the locations of the cameras. One was on the second floor, Aethir informing him that visual may be unclear due to heavy smoking. The ANBU officer laughed, informing him that the cameras are able to see through it… The ronin shrugged, continuing. One was at the entrance of the mansion, above the small roofing area. Another was in the basement caged area, Aethir saying this caused the ANBU officer to look off down the hallway then back to him with a smile. And the last one is inside the first floor, opposite to the entrance’s camera. The ANBU officer nodded, slowly walking away. “Then this last one will go into Leonardo’s room.” Aethir tilted his head, remaining silent for a moment. “Ah, Leonardo is the owner of this mansion. The head of everything that involves this mansion.” Aethir nodded as the ANBU began to walk off. “Wait! Won’t you need some help?” Aethir spoke, the man laughing. “Nah, help will come when I need it. Because I have a old friend nearby.” Aethir blinked, then nodded, slowly following the ANBU officer out of the basement.

As Aethir rested on the rooftop of the mansion, looking at the moved moon, he sighed. He was busy thinking about what the man had said to him as they left the basement. “I can go home now apparently…but…” Aethir tilted his head, feeling…odd. Usually, when he completes a mission, he KNOWS and FEELS it. But this… it feels like he’s resting on the job, like the mission isn’t over yet… Maybe because he wasn’t the one to place the last camera…? Or maybe because this mansion full of criminals is still here…? Aethir felt like there was more to do… As if hearing his complaints, an explosion sounded nearby, the criminals inside …definitely not hearing it apparently. They were still laughing away, enjoying whatever the hell they were smoking, rubble and pieces of the mansion falling as they did. “What was that…? And more importantly, what the hell are they smoking?” Aethir blinked, running over to the edge of the roof to look down it, seeing the ANBU officer with the messenger bag in his side dodging what looked to be bullets. Loud laughter filled the air as the ANBU officer panted. “Well don’t YOU move fast, Leo…” the officer smiled and laughed as a man with white hair and purple eyes grinned at the ANBU officer. He had a sky blue coat on with heavy steel toed boots on, pointing a large revolver at the officer. Aethir, landing near the officer, kept his eyes on this man, Leonardo. “Ah, just in time old friend!” Aethir blinked, looked around himself quickly, then pointed at himself quickly, the officer nodding. “ WHAT?! YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT ME?! BUT I-” the sound of a cocking gun could be heard, drawing Aethir’s attention as he snagged the bag from the officer and leaped away, the sound of a gunshot filling the air. “Old friend! Plant the last one in there!” the officer shouted at Aethir, being extremely vague as he didn’t want Leonardo to know what they were planning.  Basically, the officer just asked Aethir to plant a camera…inside the room…past a burning hold in the wall…that no one seemed to care about.

“THIS IS NOT STEALTH!!” Aethir shouted, leaping into the room and planting the camera among the stuff Leonardo owned such as a teddy bear, a china planet, expensive statues… Aethir, once he was finished installing the microphone, turned to see Leonardo pointing a glowing revolver at him, firing a LARGE swirling ball of energy towards him. Obviously, Aethir leaped out the way, a large explosion coming from within the room of Leonardo. “I’m tired…I’m sore…I’m lacking sleep- LOOK AT THE-…THE SUN IS COMING UP.” Aethir shouted, pointing at dawn on the horizon. However, no one seemed to pay any attention to him as the ANBU officer began combat with the leader of the villain mansion. Leaving the room of Leonardo, Aethir watched as the officer and Leonardo began running up the side of the mansion, doing battle still. “Well the last camera was placed, so…” Aethir shrugged, turning and gasped as he dodged the attack of the same bandaged man from before. He backed away from the man, staring for a moment before watching the man crawl towards him on his back. That his, his back was facing the ground as he used his arms and legs to move towards the ronin. All the while, the man was making this weird creepy sound from his mouth, very creepy in fact… It was a mix of a snake’s hiss and a strained laughter, so strained to the point where he sounded like wheezing.

This person freaked Aethir out, but he had to do combat with him… The man leaped form his spider walking standing, raising the same blades to try and kill the ronin. However, Aethir dodged the knives while delivering a strong vertical kick to the odd man, sending him high into the air. The man man a strained scream, soon descending into a spiral of spins and twists, ready to slash at the ronin. Aethir took this opportunity to user his water ball technique to hit the man directly in midair, putting an end to his spinning and such. And with that, the odd and weird man hit the ground, remaining still for a moment before shooting up to a standing position and letting his arms dangle like a puppets. The knives shimmered in the light of the fire and moonlight, the man’s large grinning smile and huge red eye glimmering as the light around him shimmered. ‘This guy gives me the creeps…I better end this now with my latest jutsu…’ Aethir nodded to himself, forming raiton clones of himself, the ronin feeling extremely tired due to the sudden decrease in chakra, his chakra being split amongst the clones. “Go get him!!” he shouted before kneeling down to rest. The clones nodded, running towards the odd man, shooting shock bullets and lightning javelins towards the man. They made contact, but it seemed like he just wasn’t feeling the pain that the jutsus brought upon. ‘What’s going on here…?’ Aethir stared, noticing the man slashing away at his clones, hopping out of their shock blast radius just in time, ‘ It’s like…he knows what they’re about to do…! the ronin stared as the man in the sky as he descended upon him, gouging his eyes out…

“HWA!!!” Aethir gasped, soon having his mouth covered by the ANBU officer.  He turned to look at the smiling man, confused as to what just happened. “What- …Where’s the- …My eyes!!” Aethir screamed, covering his eyes, touching the eye balls slowly, only to look dumb and realize they were still there. "You okay...? You uh... You're poking yourself in the eye I see..." Aethir blinked at the officer, the ANBU officer no longer smiling but having a look of concern. Aethir slowly nodded, standing up on his feet and stretching. Birds chirped and flew past Aethir and the officer, causing Aethir to gasp and realize the time of day. "What...What time is it? What about the cameras?!" Aethir gasped, staring at the high noon sun. The officer tilted his head, then laughed. "Ah yes, after you've freed me, I'm afraid you've passed out." Aethir blinked, tilting his own head now, a bit confused. "But...my eyes were gouged..." Aethir said, covering his eyes and revealing it. THIS caused the officer to look confused, Aethir explaining the fight with the bandaged man and such. "Bandaged...man? What? Daggers...? Look, you passed out due to over exposure of the cigars. You lacked oxygen." Aethir blinked, remaining silent.
As the ronin had just freed the officer, discussing the locations of the cameras, Aethir asked a question as the officer began to walk off. “Wait! Won’t you need some help? I can help if you want!” Aethir offered, the man laughing at his request. “Nah, help will come when I need it. Because I have a old friend nearby.” Aethir blinked, then nodded, slowly following the ANBU officer out of the basement. As the officer turned, he heard a loud thump on the floor, turning to see the ninja collapsed on the ground. "Hey...!" the ANBU officer checked Aethir's vitals, a look of relief overcoming the look of fear. 'He's just passed out... Must be the chemicals in the cigars... I should of warned him...' the officer sighed, lifting the boy and staring at his face. 'Damn... After all this time, he still has that illness...And he looks like how he was years back...Ignorant child, over using his stamina to exhaustion...' The ANBU officer soon began walking, exiting the basement and returning to his camera duties.
"I passed out?! I'm...I'm so sorry!!" Aethir bowed, blushing at his embarrassment. "I don't usually pass out, plus you've caught me when I was tired...so..."  Aethir bowed many times before the officer smiled, patting his head. "It's fine Aethir. I didn't think you'd still be sick. I forgot..." Aethir blinked, then frowned. "There you go again...You're mentioning something I never said. How do you know...?"

Silence filled the area as the two stood still, staring at each other. "Do you recognize me?" Aethir stared for a moment before leaning his head close, staring for a moment before the officer groaned, punching the boy's head lightly. "C'mon! It's not that hard!"  "OW, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?! I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH-" Aethir paused, the ANBU officer smiling. He instantly went back to his childhood, Aethir's eyes widening as he realized just who was standing in front of him. "You're...But... You went to Konoha..."  "And where do you think this is?" Aethir smiled widely, rushing forward to hug the officer. Of course the officer laughed and protested, Aethir...was actually crying a bit. "It's been...It's been-"  "Mission complete." Aethir looked at the officer, backing away as his arm gestured for Aethir to do. "Our mission is complete. Why don't we hang out somewhere else, hmm?" Aethir slowly nodded as the ANBU officer leaped and vanished. "That's right...I'm still on the mission..." Aethir nodded, lowing his head. "No time for embracing emotions." he sighed, leaping as well, leaving the now bugged mansion. But the ronin couldn't help but wonder... What was with the bandaged man? The odd person with the daggers in his 'dream' ...? Along with Leonardo, the man with the blue cape... Aethir couldn't understand why people he's never met before showed up in his dreams...