It had the all the makings of an easy case. A set of jewels that were stolen from a wealthy family with witnesses reporting a ragged man running off into the night. This made Di immediately wary. Kirigakure was a place where the law was enforced with brutal efficiency – thievery was not done lightly and any normal citizen would know that it was never worth the price. Interviewing the eye witnesses Di's suspicions had grown as he matched up their accounts with the scene of the crime. For one thing it had been raining recently and the grounds of the manner were very muddy meaning that tracks would almost surely be left in the mud of the robber. There were none however and from the description the man was no ninja.

Secondly damning was the fact that the witnesses each described the man with slightly different features. One statement asserted that the man was bald and hairless while another said he had long hair and a scruffy beard. While not totally certain Di now suspected that the fleeing figure was actually a genjutsu used to throw off the trail of any pursuers. That would mean that whomever had taken the gem had not actually fled the manor but was still somewhere on the premises. This could get interesting depending how how things played out.

Explaining to the guardsman who was handling the case that he would need to make a defensive permiter around the mansion to stop any potential exit from a fleeing felon Di decided to go and speak to the family about anyone who might wish them ill while he waited for his contact to arrive. Kirigakure trusted Di to a large extent but he was still a private contractor and thus the great power wished to have someone who would stay by him to record his methods and report them back to the Mizukage. Since this person was inevitably a ninja they would also likely take a hands on approach to the case as well.

That was fine. Di was more than happy to have someone help him with the legwork here. Drilling the family for information Di managed to get some much needed breakthroughs from the wifes testimony. Several years back the family had owned a factory that was used for producing kites for ninja to fly on. However due to cutting costs several of these broke and led to the death of multiple shinobi whilst in the middle of missions. The foreman was blamed for it and stripped of his job leading the man with a deep seated hatred for the noble family. With that information Di was beginning to form a deeper understanding of exactly what was going on here. Di hoped that his contact would arrive soon as the wind was picking up outside.

When the gusts got strong enough Di suspected that someone would be launching themselves from the roof off onto the breeze strapped on to their very own ninja kite. '

(500 words)

Machi sighed as she walked towards the assignment that she had been given. She was supposed to go to some wealthy family home in order to investigate a theft that happened. She wasn’t sure that she would care about this mission if she had gotten the choice to pick. However, that was not her call, and she would not object to a mission that she had been given. However, the interesting thing here was that she had been given a partner to do this mission with. Only a name, and a description so she could identify him. Nothing else was given to her because apparently, it wasn’t important. She didn’t really care herself, after all, she would find out who her partner was when she arrived.

Upon her arrival at the house in question, she first began by scoping out the grounds. She had to find the thieves exit path, and thankfully there was plenty of rain which meant mud which meant tracks. At least that would normally be the case, but from what Machi could see there weren’t any tracks to follow. There wasn’t any sign that anyone moved anywhere out of the ordinary. The tracks that were there were the everyday tracks in everyday roads and paths that led in and out of the house as would be normal of any servants leaving or entering the house along with the people of the house who would come and go.

She was just deciding that it was time to go inside and interview the family. As she made her way towards the house she was quickly approached and surrounded by a group of guards. Her brows slowly rose and she cleared her throat “I would recommend you put down your weapons and let me pass. I am Machi Kaguya, I am here to help investigate the theft that has happened. Also, if someone draws a weapon on me.” She slowly reached to her scroll and opened it summoning up the second weapon which was a pair of tonfa which she gripped tightly “Then I have no choice but to bash their skulls in.” she warned causing the guards to all step away quickly. She was given room and with a sigh of disappointment she dismissed her weapons back into their scroll and walked towards the house.

As she entered the house she made her way into the house she followed the sounds of someone questioning someone, and she quickly made her way towards Di or rather the voices. As she arrived she saw Di and found that he was in deep conversation with the family. She leaned against the doorframe and was silent the whole time. When it seemed that there was no more conversation to be had she cleared her throat and then entered the room “I take it that you are Di. Well, I am here to assist you in some manner. We are ‘partners’ I suppose one would say. My name is Kaguya Machi. It is a pleasure to meet you Di.” She said easily enough as she walked towards him her hands folded behind her back as she did so. When she stood next to him she stopped and looked up at him “Well, what have you found out, and where should we go now. I scanned the grounds beyond the normal boundaries of the house found nothing. I have a few ideas, but nothing as full as steel yet.” She said glancing with just her eyes at the family in the room.

593

[exiting due to inactivity]