Mission Details:

The rain had stopped earlier, but there were still few people walking the streets of Kirigakure's south district. Few souls would be out tonight, given the recent deaths of shinobi patrolling the outer limits of the village, it made sense that the atmosphere held a somber tome. Kaito had been pushed into patrolling the inner city, dealing with petty crime and such due to his insolence. Forgoing a proper reprimand do to the service he had provided for the city in bringing an end to the Raijū named Aoimoku, a demonic wolf spirit that had terrorized the village for the past three nights and killing more than a dozen good shinobi.

While slightly insulted, Kaito understood why he'd been placed on crime watch, he had disobeyed a direct order from a shinobi that far outranked him and went against the wishes of the village. Still, he had a hand in the Raijū's defeat and so he had been granted mercy to an extant. For the next week he was forbidden to leave the village, to even step foot outside the walls that guarded Kirigakure. The only exception was when he went home between assignments. Even that was only because his house technically fell outside the limits of the wall that protected the village, since he lived in a small shack next to the beach.

The case tonight had to do with a wealthy family in Kirigakure, not a shinobi clan by any means but a trading powerhouse. Kaito wasn't well verse in economics and so he'd never really heard or cared about the family until today. Appernely some sort of family heirloom had been stolen, an emerald necklace worth more Ryo than Kaito would know what to do with. There wasn't much worth in material things beyond their value to the village in Kaito's eyes, but orders were orders. Retrieve the necklace, along with any other valuable that had been stolen, and arrest the individual that had committed the crime. Simple really.

His betters has still seen fit to provide Kaito with a partner for the mission, despite the relative lack of danger in it all. The most difficult thing to overcome was the lack of decent information, but Kaito had ideas on that front. After all, such a valuable couldn't be sold on the black market without someone knowing about it. The south district was the perfect location to learn about such things, most of the criminals either lived here or had dealings in this part of town. Even the rich and powerful amongst them consorted with the lowest amongst their ranks in this part of town, where else could one hire a criminal to complete the tasks not covered by the shinobi of the village?

"I'd like to start by checking out the Murky Waters tavern, if you don't mind Eishi." Kaito spoke to his partner for the evening. With any luck, the two of them would be able to find some decent information. All they needed at the moment was to find out where one might sell such a valuable asset while not attracting the attention of the authorities., such as the stolen necklace.

Eishi seemed like a nice enough guy, from what Kaito could tell, though they hadn't had much time to get to know each other before being thrust together on this mission. The guy was roughly the same age as Kaito by the looks of it, and the two genin looked surprisingly similar, at least where their hair was concerned. As always, Kaito had worn his white and blue kimono, rather than his shinobi uniform so as not to attract unwanted attention. His headband was stashed in his back pouch for similar reasons, though the genin was still armed with his senbon and kunai as per usual.

Not really knowing how to dress informally, the silver embroidered kimono Kaito wore drew plenty of glances as he moved to enter the tavern from across the street. Plenty of shady looking people had come and gone already, and Kaito knew he'd find something useful from among the patrons of such a lowly establishment. They knew the type of item they were looking for, as well as it's value, that alone would give them all they needed to locate a proper fence for their needs, from there, their thief couldn't be far from their grasp. Find the fence, find the thief, and the stolen property to boot.

The tavern air smelled of stale bread and washed out ale, not to mention the permeating stence of old fish. The floorboards were almost entirely covered in a grey sand like grime, who knew when the place had last been cleaned. Kaito counted thirteen patrons, at least two waitresses, and the barkeep just on this floor. There was also a cat parading about in front of the fireplace. Two men were placing a board game in the corner that looked like nine men's morris, while a few others took bets on who would win. "Well now, aren't you a sharp looking taffer my dear? Care for an ale?" One of the waitresses asked, stepping up and caressing Kaito's cheek as her foul breath threatened to make Kaito spew his dinner. What did this woman drink? Rotten fish umami?

A lot had happened to Eishi since the last chuunin exam which he casually visited (if only to stay away from home). After he returned to Kirigakure no Sato, he had to confront his militaristic father who took the liberty to punish the young lad for slacking around too much. Ikazuchi, being the drunk he was of late, armed himself for war and chased his son across the forest, resolving to violent jutsu when necessary. The genin did what he could to dodge the frozen bullets but when things went out of hand, in the dramatic tension between two particularly harsh techniques, Eishi slipped and took the full impact of his horrible parent's rage. The clash almost crippled him (or even worse), but it was due to the Hitsugi Мēkā that the boy managed to preserve. The Hitsugi Мēkā which Ikazuchi formed.

Ashamed of what he did but too proud to admit it, Ikazuchi kept Eishi locked in the frozen coffin until he figured out how to proceed. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Afraid for her son's life, Eishi's mother finally notified the authorities and they incarcerated the ex-ANBU, taking the genin to the hospital where he would be stripped of his ice block for good. Unfortunately, the Hitsugi Мēkā wasn't meant to endure that long – it was a tactical one-shot jutsu that was meant to last for a few days, not months of time. As a direct result of its excessive abuse, the genin's sensitivity was permanently damaged and his skin had gained a slightly blueish overtone which (thankfully) faded away. Eishi though was never the same again.

The mission came as a surprise for the boy who was still going through rehabilitation in the local hospital. Apparently, the Mizukage wanted him back on the streets, details uncluding stolen jewelry and a partner. A great deal of the medical personnel stood against the idea, but the director of the unit saw an opportunity for the traumatized shinobi to socialize and... he stamped the papers.

Kaito seemed like a nice lad, but Eishi didn't bother to judge his character any further. In fact, the Yukki wasn't his usual self, being all cheerful and goofy, rather he was a bit distant, although trying to act friendly and not bother the allied ninja. Which was good, for Kaito seemed intent to finish the job and recover the piece, following orders swiftly. He even took the care to wear a disguise.

"I should probably go after your example", Eishi agreed and removed his headband before they entered the Murky Waters Tavern. A horribile place, a pit of stinking evil, of debauchery and, if you were to let your imagionation take you on a quest for specifics, murder. The scattered tables were used for... well, it was best not to think about it too much. Right now there were a couple of patrons, waitresses, a barkeep and... a cat? "What's with those floorboards", the Yukki whispered just before a woman approached Kaito. She seemed... unsightly, a breed between a sick dog, an old camel and a limping horse's butt. "Ugh-oh", Eishi thought and slipped into the shadows. "I am sure he can handle that."

The frost ninja went straight to the game where he joined the foul-mouthed men in their bets for glory.

"I stake 15 ryo, a sammwich and ya mamma's titties that he would chop da effah and claim da booty."
"Oh yeah? Dat scardy. I ain't foolin'. He'a, take dem 20 ryo and mah beer, and mah wife's corny lips dat he would shake da shakah."
"Really now", a third man gasped. "You all be playin'. I bet da game would be a tie and I would claim da pie in a shy-shy."
"No, no", Eishi ruffled in a harsh voice. "Dat ain't a shicckly. I bet a pickly in a jiffly dat he would win a kickly."
"What?"
"Yeah, what the f..."
"Erm... sorry. I thought that using some made-up words would help me blen..."
"Just who the f... are you, bro? What the f..."
"Yeah, bro, what the f..."

The conversation seemed to be getting out of hand, and quick. Eishi drew too much attention, the corner was getting loud and rousy, the game was being interrupted by the commotion and...

"Wait. Is that a stolen necklace you are hagglin'?

"Oh sh...!"
One of the gamblers jumped from his seat and plunged right into the window, breaking the glass, crawling into the alley, jumping back on his feet, running and yelling: "They found us! They found us!".

As for the tavern... well... as soon as the broken glass alarmed the thieves, bottles started smashing and fists started flying. It was a clustermatch and the hospitalized shinobi was right in the middle of it.

"Kaito, here-", Eishi ducked to avoid a kick while quick-drawing his staff. A flashy spin and some hits later he was back up, only to duck down because of a thrown chair. Then the ninja had to block a flurry of fists, jumping back up and somersaulting on a shaken table, spilling the glasses and having the barkeep shout a couple of curses. The whole place was falling into complete anarchy and chaos, chaos which the crafty culprit would most probably use to his advantage.

"Get the guy in the corner! Get the g..."

Kaito shrugged off the apprasive woman as Eishi moved to investigate elsewhere, leaving Kaito to make his way over to the barkeep. Ordering a shot of saki, turning Kaito watched the tavern. There was a woman and a man eating in one corner, they looked to be travelers and seemed to be keeping to themselves, so nothing of importance there. Kaito did notice a bit of contraband here and there, but that wasn't of much interest to him, while Mizu no Kuni had no need to import goods, it didn't mean the citizens had no desire to buy and sell between countries. It wasn't until a small commotion in the corner where Eishi had wandered off to, that Kaito noticed anything of note.

It seemed Eishi had gone over to try and get a hand in on a gamble over some stupid board game. Gambling had always been a distasteful concept to Kaito, not that there was anything wrong with wasting one's Ryo on sport, if that was really what you enjoyed. It was the idea of taking an unnecessary risk in the hope that it paid off that Kaito disliked. If you couldn't be sure of something, your best bet was to tackle the issue with a conservative attitude, ironic as that was. The point that caught up the young genin was the unnecessary nature of the risk at hand. One did not need to spend money on a new book, but the only risk was that you might not enjoy the book, there was no risk of not receiving anything and being short money as there was when it came to gambling. The objective was clear, the pay off easy to understand, but the factor of risk meant that in gambling you could end up with less than you started. It was an uneven exchange, where as buying something was a bartering of values, gambling was to offer something with the hope of getting something in return. How anyone could buy into such a thing was beyond Kaito.

Kaito went on the move before everything developed into fists and overweight guys screaming incoherently while beer was thrown through the air. The genin wasn't having any of this today, he might have been put on inner city patrol, but that didn't mean he wasn't already combat trained. Causing chakra to pulse through the skin in his head, kaito's shaggy white hair grew longer and thicker, before fifty pointed and sharpened strands of hair flew from his head like senbon. It had taken a great deal of focus, but after a few seconds, everyone in the tavern other than himself and Eishi was pinned against the wooden walls, tables, or the floorboards, the white haired senbon piercing their clothing to point they were unable to move.

It wouldn't be difficult for anyone to escape their current predicaments, but Kaito was quick to squash the rising revolt. "Next person to assault a ninja of Kirigakure will be under arrest, and remember we are under the Mizukage's orders not to take prisoners." It was true, everyone in the Hidden Mist knew it well, being arrested meant two things, getting interrogated and then being executed. No one was quick to move after that, watching the two shinobi as Kaito began walking towards the now broken window to give chase to his real target. The man had only gotten about twenty meters or so, but Kaito could easily out run him. "Eishi, we can have fun later, come on." Kaito fully intended on having some fun too. An item of value like the necklace wasn't simply sold in a tavern, no one would be foolish enough to bring that kind of cash to such a place. No, there had to be a dead drop somewhere, if Kaito and Eshi could get the thief to talk, they might be able to secure a little of the funds for themselves.

Kaito quickly infused the soles of his feet with chakra, allowing him to rush forward at incredible speed, bringing him well withing range of the middle age man, who was screaming for dear life as Kaito unleashed a pair of senbon into the backs of his kneecaps. At such close range, the needle like weapons would hit their mark with incredible accuracy, causing the man to cry out even more as he landed face first onto the pavement, breaking his nose in the process. The senbon had been targeted at the man's lower meniscus on each knee, shredding the thin cartilage and tearing the tendon underneath. Even with the proper medical care, which Kaito could easily provide, the man wouldn't be walking for at least a week.

Walking forward, Kaito stopped just above the man, grabbing the bag that contained the stolen goods, he checked it to make sure there was everything they had been told to find. Now all that was left was to get the man to talk, and tell them where they could find the buyer. "Look, we can wait for my friend to arrive, so he can beat you with his big stick, or you can tell me where you were planning to get paid for this necklace. I promise if you tell me where the dead drop is, I'll heal you once I remove the senbon." Kaito smirked down at the man writhing in agony. It'd be easy to leave him here while they went to arrest the buyer too, plus it'd save to interrogation corps from having to extract it from him later as well. Kaito was particularly interested in the Ryo though, not that he'd take all of it, just enough to split a fair amount for both him and Eishi, the rest would be taken in as evidence.

Jutsu Used:

Before he could finish his sentence, Eishi had to dodge another case of a flying beer glass and then parry a hit with his staff. The boy was worried that the commotion he caused would aid the thief in running away, but there was nothing he could do about it right now; it was a matter of survival. Even so, he thought while avoiding some lousy blows, why would the culprit bring the jewelry in here – a public place where you could so easily be spotted and even terminated for having deep pockets? Was the white-haired genin too quick to judge? Was all this fighting even necessary? Well, there was all the vented anger which the thugs probably wanted to burn for a very long time, on the one side, so this particular (and accidental, should we add) crawl was kind of a good thing for them. A catharsis, so to speak; a misinterpreted case of an awful catharsis. And the Yukki was the fool to unleash it all. "I am such an idiot... why did I have to bring the topic of stolen goods in front of them? Probably everything in this blasted place is stolen! That broken vase over there? Stolen. Those drapes? Stolen. That cat? Probably stolen. This guy's fat head? Stolen. The... woah, is that a friggin' knife? Careful there, big boy, or I may have to use a jut..."

Sharpened strands of hair flew all over the room and pinned everybody on the wall in a quick succession of hits. "Next person to assault a ninja of Kirigakure will be under arrest, and remember we are under the Mizukage's orders not to take prisoners."

Woah! That guy Kaito wasn't playing around. He said that deadly serious. It even made Eishi blink, a mixture of surprise and cold-blooded respect. Were they really under such orders?

"Eishi, we can have fun later, come on."

The frost shinobi nodded after the disappearing ninja and before he followed him outside, he threw a last glance at the tavern. Everybody was shocked. Stunned. Helpless. Was this the power of authority? Or was it the impressive display of ninjutsu? "I could learn a lot from that guy. And I should probably pay more attention to mission briefings in the future. If we make it back before I do something that will cost us our lives, that is."

Back in the alley the previously running dude was now squirming in pain, begging for forgiveness. Apparentely, Kaito had told him something, for when Eishi approached the man started crying and blabbering about a stick. "Please, please, I'll tell you everything, just don't..."

"Hey, man, Kaito, bro, I know that's not a good time, but props to what you did back there. Guess I really messed up a bit. I saw that guy's pack and I thought that he had the gems so... I slipped. Way to blow up our cover, huh?"

"... took it and then we were supposed to meet..."

"See? It all happened because I let my tongue loose, bro. Like... what are the odds of something so..."

"... and then we were..."

"So... sorry, man. Wait, what? Did you say something, beardy?"

The man was shaking and crying even louder now. He was spilling bits of information on the go, trying to overcome the state of agony he was into.

"Oh, just shut up!" Eishi hit him with his staff. Once. "Tell us what you know! Where did you get those valuables? Why did you bring them here? Do you have a partner? And what was the name of the kitten back there?"

Muffled sounds and the gurgling of blood combined with the crackle of shatered teeth.

"Sniffles? Really? That's just lazy writing!"
Another hit landed on the bearded guy's head.
"Now answer the less important questions, you schmuck! And quick. We have a mission to finish."

Kaito simply glared down at the man begging for mercy while Eishi made his way over. The man actually started begging Eshi not to hurt him, spilling all the beans he could while Kaito was left in between tow conversations. He was focusing more on what their target was saying, so he just ended up looking at Eishi with a slightly confused expression. "Wait, what are you talking about? Who cares about keeping up our cover, you found the guy that's all that matters. Good job." Kaito said with a bit of pride in the new guy. He had no way of knowing how many such missions Eishi had been on, but seeing as how he was a bit of a rambler, Kaito doubted it had been long. Perhaps he had been another transfer, such as Kaito himself, though he didn't recognize Eishi from the hospital.

Kaito wasn't given much more time to think about Eishi, as the white haired boy started to beat their captive with his staff. To be fair, this did get more information out of the man, but Kaito hadn't really thought his fellow genin would do it, he'd only said such things to scare the man into telling him what they needed to know. "Eishi, relax if you'd have been listening to him, he already told us everything we need to know." Kaito spoke, placing a hand on the other shinobi's staff to remind him of their role in this. The man was to be interrogated properly by whatever twisted servant of the ANBU ended up having the pleasure of getting their hands on another victim. Being able to hunt down the fence when they were done with their current task was only meant as going the extra mile on the two genin's part.

Moving to remove the senbon, Kaito pulled them out without being overly gentle, not that he could have spared the man much pain anyway, before covering his hands in healing chakra to close the wounds. There would be no healing of the internal damage, as Kaito couldn't simply do that in an alleyway, but between him and Eishi, they would be able to carry the man most of the way before they found members of ANBU patrolling the street. They would be able to take the man in while Kaito and Eishi reported back to the patrol office, either for their next assignment or to be told they were done for the day. Kaito would prefer another task or two, if they took as little amount of time as this did, but that wasn't up to him to determine.

"Come on, help me pick him up, if we hurry back perhaps they'll assign us another mission for the day." Kaito was bit eager to get back into the good graces of the higher ups, so what if they hadn't wanted genin to handle the wolf demon, it was still dealt with. Either way, with his transfer out of the hospital and into proper field service still pending, another mission down would only further his merits as a combat shinobi. Tracking and arresting petty criminals might not seem like much, but such tasks would only help to prepare Kaito for his real goals.

Their new prisoner was less than enthusiastic about being forced to move considering his knees wouldn't be functional for another couple weeks. Kaito had have a mind to ask Eishi to hit him again, only hard enough to knock the man unconscious, though that seemed rather unnecessary. "You know, you could always just go ask the bartender what the name of the cat is." Kaito offered with a snicker as he took one of the man's arms over his shoulder and heaved the now screaming man up. "I hope he passes out from the pain, I'd hate to have to deal with this much noise the entire way." Kaito smiled over at the man, causing him to spit in Kaito's face.

Simply dropping the man so he'd fall to the ground, Kaito was about ready to continue the damned interrogation right here in front of everyone. "Your sure the mission details said they wanted him alive right?" Kaito asked, turning to Eishi as he wiped the spit from his cheek. He didn't much care for killing the man, not that he cared much if he lived either, but Kaito also wanted to get the idea in the man's head that further insult would only compound his problems. "Alright, fine, if you don't want us to carry you, we'll drag you instead." Kaito marched down the alleyway until he came to a set of crates next to a small cart. Inside the cart was a set of rope. It looked partially moldy so Kaito doubted anyone would miss it all that much. "What do you say Eishi? want to do the honors?" Kaito asked, offering the rope to his fellow genin, all the while the man was begging for mercy in the street, something or another about his family.

"Yeah, sure thing", Eishi answered carelessly and got to tieing the screaming fence who had already seen his fair share of beating for the night. The Kiri genin was certain that the mission briefing explicitly opposed murder, but he was amazed by how little he cared by now... or rather – how little he and his partner cared. "What's wrong with me? If that happened a while back, I would've been shocked by the brutality of Kaito's style. Yet right now... I feel nothing. Or perhaps even... no, no. I definitely didn't enjoy smacking that dude's heck out, did I? Well, I... I think I actually did..."

There was something odd about Kaito, something particularly odd that just felt... kind of right at the moment. It was as if Eishi's moral compass was beeping and turning, churning and buzzing, yet an inner force, a spontaneous pull was drawing him towards a certain behavioristical pattern. Of course, it wasn't Kaito's fault that the previously cheerful lad had turned sour, but it was his influence that made the Yukki feel comfortable with his repressed anger. In truth, Eishi was admiring his team mate ever since he saw him go with the confidence and strength of a Kiri ninja, probably at the bar, perhaps even a bit before that – as they moved towards their target, approaching the tavern. The boy couldn't say how or why he got so inspired by the Osoroshi, but there was no doubt about it – he believed that it was a good thing to be here, that the doctor was right to let him on the mission; that the Mizukage purposly did a scheme or two to have them cross paths. Or perhaps that was just his imagination. His reawakening imagination.

"You are right. I should've asked the barkeep about the cat's name", Eishi laughed. And laughed. And laughed. He was shaking with laughter, all the stress pouring out of him as he was going a bit too far on the knots. The man yelled again, this time swearing at the kids. "Just shut up", the Yukki laughed in response. "You are lucky to be alive, you know that? And you are awfully not-so-lucky to be in the Mist village. For we... we... I SAID SHUT UP!". A fist landed on the guy's chin, knocking a tooth out. "There. That wasn't so hard, was it, you whimpering, fat, bald-coughing, boot-licking piece of bastardly sh...!".

The white-haired genin clenched his fist again, but quickly regained his senses and sighed. "Let's go. I guess I have a lot of things to consider. A lot of stuff to take care of. Weighs on my mind. Makes me go bonkers. I am certain, we are not to kill anybody. Kage's orders."

For the rest of the night – or at least for the duration of the travel – Eishi would keep quiet, delving deep inside, trying to figure out who or why he was. It would be a grim philosophy, an inward journey towards the self, encouraged by his recent loss of sensitivity. Nothing the boy touched responded through a feeling – there was no warmth, no cold, no ruggedness nor smoothness; the genin had no sense of taste, no sense of... anything he used to love. It was just bleak. Bleak and frustrating. Everything was... enough to confuse him, to make him different. Everything was... nothing.

If Kaito were to engage him in a talk, Eishi would try to part with a few words, hoping to avoid the topic of what just happened. He would be a bit amazed by his own lack of empathy, but otherwise he would try to keep to himself, trusting in his ally's discretion.  

Their roof-to-roof jumping would eventually take them to a house, the very home of the thief who the fence ratted to authority. Perhaps due to the (inconsiderately) harsh interrogation, the man had provided the genins with a bit more than what was required of him – a personal intel on the night's most wanted, and his blissful family.

"Two kids and a woman", Eishi would mutter. "Hope he won't put up a fight in there, less we endanger civilians. Do we have a plan or do we improvise? I am down with both."

Kaito was a bit worried by his teammate's display of hysterics, at least on Kaito's part he only did it to scare the fence into submission, but Eishi seemed to be on edge, going from zero to one hundred in about seven hundred and thirty words or so. For now, Kaito wouldn't say anything, as they needed to focus on the mission at hand. It hadn't taken them long to run into a few ANBU, or well, they ran into Eishi and Kaito, taking the captured fence off the two genin's hands to do whatever they saw fit to do with him. It wasn't any of their concern now. Luckily, the genin had made short work of locating the house belonging to the actual thief, Kaito had been rash and figured the fence for the culprit, but it didn't hurt to capture both of them in one night.

Peering into through a small window in the roof designed to let in sunlight on the days where the sky wasn't filled with rain. It seemed the man had used the money from the goods he'd stolen to buy his family dinner. From the looks on woman's face, it had been a long time since their family had afforded such a nice meal. The two children, a boy and girl, both looked slightly more thin then they should, seemed to be just as excited about the food before them. "Let the man eat with his family, we'll strike when it's dark out and they go to bed. That, or take him in should he leave. If it's going to be his last meal with his family, and you can bet that it will be, we should at least show his family this one kindness." Kaito spoke from experience, having lost both his parents and any relatives he had had as a child, he would have given anything just to hear his mother's voice again.

It'd be a few more hours before the family turned docile. Hints at what was happening inside could be heard through the roof now and then. The children getting into a fight, dishes being cleaned, hugs and kisses before bedtime from all. Eventually, once the house had gone dark and silent for about an hour, Kaito slid a senbon into the edge of the window before prying it open as silently as possible before slipping in side, senbon in hand. The house was small, slightly larger than Kaito's own, but small for a family of four. Their living room was well kept together, and Kaito made sure to move towards both of the children's rooms, closing the doors to make sure if someone woke up the two genin would be alerted by the opening of a door.

Once Eishi was inside, Kaito made his way over to where the parents bedroom was, senbon in hand as he turned the nob and walked inside. Signalling Eishi to move towards their target on the far side of the bed, Kaito instead moved towards the man's wife. As soon as Eishi was in place to take the man in his sleep, Kaito would put a hand over the woman's mouth, pulling her from the bed as he put a senbon to her throat. Should the man attempt to fight, Kaito would only draw enough blood to prove a point, as he wasn't about to kill an innocent civilian, but he wanted their target to believe he would. As the two adults were violently waken from their sleep, the woman tried to scream, though she was muffled by Kaito's hand. The husband and wife would be facing towards each other, on opposite sides of the bed, but Kaito would be the first to speak. "Silence, no need to wake the children. Your husband is wanted for crimes against Kirigakure no Sato and her people, he's coming with us, and we are willing to use force if necessary." The woman was shaking in his arms, but Kaito's resolve wouldn't falter.

They needed to get out of here before one of the children heard muffled voices and came to investigate. With the his family at stake, the man wouldn't put up much of a resistance. If he did, he there were multiple ways the two shinobi could injure him silently, a senbon to the gut would make him submissive rather fast, but it seemed the look of terror on the face of his wife would be enough. He knew what he had done, it was likely his wife knew too, but that was no concern of the genin. As the man relented and allowed himself to be put under arrest, Kaito would let go of the woman, only for her to turn around and slap him. He'd let it slide, as she made no other attempt to assault him or stop Eishi from leading the man out the front door. "Tend to your children ma'am, I'm sure they'll need you to comfort them." If the thief was lucky, his sentence would cost him a hand, and he'd return to his family before the following evening. "Tell your children he went to work, if he lives tell them he lost a hand in an accident, if he dies, tell them the same story." Kaito told the woman as her tears turned to sobs. There was no reason those two children needed to think less of their father, and if mourning was to come, better for them to think him an honorable man.

Eishi couldn't help but notice how focused Kaito was during the time they spent travelling towards the culprit. That didn't ease the boy's blabbering though – with no sign of remorse on his part.

When he asked his partner about their next move, the white-haired genin was struck by an unexpected revelation of kindness; his new ally had suddenly turned soft and insisted that they wait for the thief to dine with his family in peace. Or wasn't that as cruel as the senbon act back in the tavern? Judging by his own experience, the Yuki would be thankful if – in the midst of his own family time – someone would break in and take him away – as far as possible – from home. He even decided to speak against such precautions, but was quickly turned down by Kaito's deep-in-thought expression. "Fine. We'll do it your way. I owe you."

It was a painful wait. Both silhouettes stood atop the nearby building as hungry shadows, waiting for the light to pass away. When that finally happened, they swiftly moved into action – Kaito used his senbon technique to unlock the window, then the shinobis slithered into the house, creeped through the corridors, closing all doors and proceeding towards the bedroom. It was Eishi's job to comprehend the man while his partner dealt with the wife.

"Hold your tongue before I decide to cut it off", hissed the white-haired genin in his target's ear after pressing his sleeping body against the bed. "You are under arrest." It was a shocking thing to hear, but the man had no time to react; his wife was already taken care of. In his panic, he tried to scream, but his mouth was hard-pressed by Eishi's elbow. "Shh. Your wife is alright. Stop... hey... don't make me... do you want us to slaughter your whole family?!". It was a bluff, a horrible bluff, but it worked for the thief froze in time. "Good. Now be a lad and come peacefully, 'less we tie you with your kids' intestines."

Yikes! What was happening? Was Eishi on a roll? He was overdoing it... hard. Then a slap echoed in the chamber; having realized that the situation was under control, Kaito had let the woman go and she used this to her advantage. Thankfully that didn't trigger the ninja. "You are under arrested", repeated Eishi, tieing the man's hands with his bedsheets. "Now come along."

The three of them were gone as soon as Kaito exhanged some words with the grief-mowed woman. They used the window to disappear in the night – as silent as they came to being.

What happened next was of no concern to Eishi. He received his payment and unmoved by the job, returned to the hospital, knowing that something was... different. But how so?