Teru Uchiha stretched both of her arms out in front of her and yawned. It was a long day, and it was going to get even longer. She was busying herself with missions now that she was promoted. The feeling was good, and she was looking forward to accomplishing all that she could. For a little while, she was worried that she would pass out along the way. Not much sleep blessed her body, and she was yawning more than usual during the past day. The thought made her pout. If it were not for the odd sounds she heard around the manor, she could have gotten a good amount of sleep before taking on the mission. That was what she thought to herself. It would have been a futile complaint that would give her nothing in benefits. That was why she was quiet about it. She felt there was not a good reason to openly talk about the happenings that took place at home. And, soon enough, the thoughts in her head shifted away and got out of the way of new topics. The mission at hand. 

At one of the surrounding islands, a band of smugglers were actively doing their work with illegal subjects. The subjects were not people. No, no, no. These subjects were weapons and other pieces of cargo meant to be used for their own, personal benefit. It was her job to go out to the islands where they were currently based, and she would have to take them out and retrieve the cargo for Kirigakure. Considering the fact that these men were conducting illegal business within the territory of Kirigakure, she assumed that it was safe to say that these smugglers should be executed for their actions. They were acting against the village, not for it. If they wanted to do what they wanted, then it should have done good for the village rather than bad. Those kinds of people made Teru upset. But, she did recognize that life had its little groups of villains. On another note, there was nothing new about a mission like this. She had done away with another band of smugglers a while back with the aid of a friendly face. 

Teru inhaled a relaxing breath and clamped her eyes shut for one minute. The mission document in her hand crumpled towards the lower, right edge when she applied pressure there with her thumb. It was a little hard for her this time around to determine a way to perfectly get the mission done. Last time, it was someone else who was in the lead. She was not the one directing the most effective points of action. The Uchiha scratched her head and examined the wrinkling paper in her hands. Her eyes were focused deeply on the words. Perhaps it would be easiest to simply blow it all into flames. Ah, but she could not do that. It was required of her to claim the cargo and other illegal weapons for Kirigakure. That meant that she could not destroy anything. Well, not that it was a major problem. There were plenty of other ways to handle the mission. This would make stealth and precision Teru's ultimate ally. She did recognize the dangers of using her fire so recklessly. To make the mission a success, or to try and make it a big success, she would rely on her talent in Doton. 

Instead of standing around and doing nothing, Teru exited the building where the mission board was and started down the road to the docks. It took her nearly 20 minutes to walk down to them from where she was. A man wearing a straw hat stood at the docks as if he was waiting the entire time for her to get there. It was he who would transfer her closer to the island in question- the one where the smugglers were waiting. She boarded his vessel and sat where there was an open seat. No one else got onto the boat, fortunately for her. The man was not the type to openly speak to ninja, it seemed. So, Teru rode along on the boat in silence. The fog is getting thicker... Teru observed her surroundings. It was a rolling mist that lurked up ahead, going no higher than a foot above the water's surface. Now, the boat she was on got caught up in the fog, unseen by any hidden eyes in the wilderness. As dangerous as it was, the fog made for perfect cover. She departed from the fisherman responsible for taking her to the next island, but not before thanking him. And, as soon as he was out of sight, Teru roamed through the fog to a place close to where the smugglers were supposed to be.

There they are...

Teru exhaled a breath that was held in for much too long. Her eyes were steady as they locked on to the single vessel sitting in the water. The dock over in that direction was busy, not like it should have been. There were not supposed to be that number of people over there at a time like this. The crates they were in possession of were great in number. A number of men walked up and down the ramp that connected to the dock, and each one carried a crate. She was not able to determine the identities of their faces, for the fog was capable of obscuring that much. Teru would have to get closer to do that. And so, she did. She did not go in a straight line to the vessel, but through the bushes to the open water. Using her chakra to keep her body on the surface, Teru ran quietly around the dock and through the fog to the side of the vessel where the smugglers did not actively occupy. She climbed up the side of it and over the railing to get onto the vessel. No one had spotted her, or caught on to her arrival. This was very good. 

While the men were too busy caring for the cargo, Teru slipped into one of the quarters. Ah, she should have noticed it before. There were men inside, too, and in the same room as her. Before they noticed her, Teru hid in the shadows of a hall and watched as two of the smugglers chatted with one another. "This is a good bunch of cargo we got together," one of them said. "We're going to be filthy rich, you hear?" the other would say. They were older men, maybe in their early 40s or 30s. Teru peeked around the corner of the wall she stood behind. Their backs were to her... Perfect. "If it were up to me, I'd--" The smuggler on the left was about to speak, but he froze. He wobbled on his feet a moment, causing for his ally to become concerned. It was a moment later when he fell to the ground, a kunai sticking out of the back of his head. "What the?!" 

Teru took this as another opportunity to strike, and she stabbed the other in the back of the shoulder with another kunai knife. He was still standing and tried to cut her with his sword, but it missed. She skillfully maneuvered around him, having activated her Sharingan, and sliced the side of the side of his neck. He also fell to the ground, and both had pools of blood around their bodies. That was two of the 10 taken out. "Hey, who let the brat in?" A booming voice from behind startled Teru as she stood over the corpses. "Eh? You little tramp. You killed them!" He was right about that. Their blood was on her hands, but she did not regret it. The smuggler used a fireball technique to try and do harm to her, but Teru took cover behind the wall. With the flick of her wrist, the kunai in her hands launched and planted itself in the throat of the assailant. Three down.

What a loud voice, though. He had alerted the rest of the crew, and they all came running to see what the problem was. She heard their feet pounding against the hard, metal ground, and prepared her remaining kunai. One by one, they came in. To easy! Teru grinned and threw out the kunai to pierce their bodies. Only four of them were hit, but that was fine. She formed the necessary hand sign and blew out a large ball of fire. Being in a confined space, the flames traveled much faster and burned the flesh of the smugglers. The fire was explosive when it blew out the door, but that killed them. Quickly, she counted up the bodies and determined that only two people were left. The captain and his partner. 

The kunoichi sneaked through the few quarters there were and up to where the cockpit was. It was her lucky day. They were there, together. The man at the vessel's controls muttered a few curse words. He was the subordinate of the captain, who was too busy drinking a cup of brew. "Those guys better be treating my goods with care," the captain said. "I'll be docking all of your pay if anything gets lost or broken. Hundreds of ryo for every crate." A bloodied kunai was gripped in her hand, but it was quickly discarded into the spine of the lowly smuggler. He dropped in pain, but was not dead yet. "What?! Who are you?"

"Your killer," Teru said simply, walking through the entrance of the cockpit. She moved past the captain and toward his fallen comrade. Mercilessly, she removed the kunai and stabbed him in the back of the neck. Well, the captain of the smugglers attempted to kill her. Attempted. She ducked his assault and stabbed him in the abdomen. Her fist dealt a harsh blow to his jugular, which resulted in him choking up on his breaths. It slowly began swelling. He staggered back as Teru inched toward him. "I'm putting an end to you. Now!" Using the base of her palm, Teru struck the point at which the kunai protruded; thus, it sunk into his stomach and poked out a little from the other side. 

It took some time, but the captain did die at her feet. This was good news for Kirigakure. With a sigh, Teru walked over to where the controls were. "The goods are secured." she said to herself. It was not going to be long before support came in from the village. They would take over the scene for her and take the goods back to the village for processing.