Mission:

The ever present blanket of ghostly fog blanketed the entirety of the allied forces camp. There where hundreds of forces in the outskirts of the city, the whole of the gates and part of the residential district that bordered the gates where seized by the allies. Hotaru and Malacanth where housed in multistory blown out buildings second floor. Below them was the husk of what once was a hotel, its various furniture was covered in a thick film or dirt and grime, splatters of blood still stained a wall adjacent to the entrance. The building was once filled to the brim with Seven Bells' men, with the initial invasion force, they where all but wiped out. The invasion force, spear headed with some Jounin and Special Jounin reportedly made it to the beginning of the market district before the resistance and the casualties took their toll on the force and they where recalled. Hotaru himself was only a chunin and was sent in with a back up force of genin and Chunin from Sunagakure. Hotaru detested that village, but yet if he did not want an early grave he would have to play their little game and be a good pawn. What had the village ever given him? Fucking nothing, that's what.

Hotaru sat up in the couch that he was using as a bed, putting his head in his hands. He began to think back on yesterdays conflict. He and Malacanth had been sent on a mission to protect the hospital while patients where evacuated. Hotaru was assigned the mission after nearly being killing in and ambush with his former group of fifteen ninja.  All but three of the group walked away from the ambush alive, himself and two others whom he did not know or care to know. They where most likely decomposing corpses in one of the various nooks and crannies of Kirigakure.

He had seen so many fall in this war, none of them needed to die. Hotaru knew they only fell because of their own weakness, but what infuriated him was that this war was because one village couldn't hold their shit by themselves. Instead they called in Sunagakure and they in turn ordered him to sacrifice himself for a cause he did not believe in. The village only used him to further their own ends, it sickened and angered him that he was being taken advantage of. But, he would have to contain it for the time being. War did do one thing for Hotaru though, it gave him a first hand look into what being a ninja was all about, killing.

Hotaru sat up from the couch and brushed himself off, he was still wearing the torn and blood soaked clothing he had worn on his first mission. The blood was dried and gave off a metalic smell. Hotaru did what he could about his morning routine. Brush his hair, give himself a whores bath and finally eat. They where all equipped with food rations, simple stuff, bread, rice, vegetables. It was an alright meal for a military ration, nothing to complain about.

Still clutching his MRE cup, he opened the door to the long hallway that would lead down to the first floor and looked out the window. With each bite he took in more of the war torn village. Mostly debris and the husks of once proud buildings now broken. He could still spot blood stains and corpses which had not been recovered further out into the distance, a small fir or too illuminated some buildings windows. He had seen enough and turned to head back into his room when he seen an envelope taped to their door. He took it in, closing the door behind him.

Hotaru unfolded the letter, what caught his eye was the signature of the commander of the intelligence division. Hotaru read the note out loud so Malacanth could hear him:


"You and your partner(s) have been selected for a very special assignment, intel reports that field teams have observed the enemy stealing the clothes of the deceased and posing as the dead. We’re aware that there are some new faces in our midst, they are on high alert, though they must be lying in wait for something, some cue, or moment to attack. Locate these spies and either eliminate them, or capture them alive!"

P.S: May justice be swift

The letter cut off their. He remembered the bit about justice. During his and the many genin and chunin of Sunagakure. Their was a code phrase that all the ninja on the battle field would know: 'Justice is swift, but which murderers go unpunished? The ones who kill to the sound of trumpets.' It was a code phrase to be used if their numbers forces where compromised with hostile impostors. Hotaru gave a sigh and sat back down on the couch. "Did you get all that?" Hotaru would ask Malacanth.

839/2500

Malacanth slept on a slab of stone in the corner, blood staining his back that was not his to his knowledge. He had wondered why the stone had red paint on it at the time and it seemed fairly idiotic of him to not assume its the one thing that seemed to be the decoration for everything around. It was nice to rest and especially nice to have a room to his and Hotaru's own. He knew that their was a reason for them being here as it was on the outskirts and Kirigakure probably thought they would be a buffer between an attack. He almost felt like being the smart ass who brought up the fact that all of Kirigakure's shinobi were clustered in the center but it would only cause problems that he would have to deal with later.

Malacanth's ears perked up as Hotaru read out what was most likely more grunt work. " They better not have us on the front lines again, the higher up bastards can come and make me if it is." Malacanth was surprised though as it turned out to be ferreting out spy duty. Interesting that they would choose Sunagakure shinobi rather than their own. The reasoning probably was that the Seven Bells could have spies amongst their own. Malacanth slowly forced himself up slowly as the letter was finished. " Guess they are starting to trust us, better than trusting their own at least." Malacanth knew Hotaru would not mind his cynical attitude as they shared it, and even if he did mind it he wouldn't care. If he wanted to complain he would.

Malacanth did some quick maintenance on Perfection as they prepared and Malacanth had a few questions for Hotaru anyway. Without looking up from his task, he asked " So how are we suppose to tell who the spies are, not like we know every Kirigakure shinobi. Should we just kill everyone? " Sadly this wasn't a joke for Malacanth and he saw it as the perfect solution to the problem. As the maintenance was finished he activated the chakra strings, animating Perfection to what he called pseudo-life. The puppet drew the newly added wakizachi that he borrowed from a not so living Sunagakure shinobi. It was a rusted thing and obviously a family heirloom for the kid but it was his now. He stood next to the broken wall that led to the outside and said to his acquaintance " Well, let the hunt begin." He then jumped from the roof and moved towards where the the Kirigakure refugees were forcefully relocated.
449/2500
195/200 chakra

Spoiler:

Hotaru listened to the comments of his partner, Malacanth. The puppeteer always had a cynical remark or two, he did not mind though. Their opinions on the matter of village loyalties differed slightly. But for the most part they shared a disdain for being controlled by the hierarchy that resided in their village. It was good to have someone half trust worthy to watch your back, although Malacanth's apparent blood lust would have to be nipped in the bud to prevent unneeded hostilities between the two. He did not care what Malacanth did, as long as it did not drag himself into his dark dealings. He would have to have a talk with him if their relationship proved to be more than just reliance in a time of war. He would not mind the young puppeteer as a support to himself. It wouldn't be a bad idea come to think of it. Hotaru was more of a close to medium ranged fighter, Malacanth a more medium to long ranged. If the two mixed, they would be covered from all ranges if they both did their part.

Hotaru finished his MRE and threw it out of the hole in the wall, the plastic cup landed with a small clink. Malacanth raised a pretty idiotic question about how they would find the spies. He should have known this from their breifing in Sunagakure before they left; he would have to spell if out for him. "'Justice is swift, but which murderers go unpunished? The ones who kill to the sound of trumpets." He would say this outloud while Malacanth finished the preperations on his puppet. " Its the code phrase they taught us during our briefing back in Suna. You should have payed better attention Malacanth." Hotaru sometimes wondered how Malacanth kept that puppet in working order, his attention to details, at least mission wise, was severely lacking. With a sign Hotaru slipped on the mini black coffin that contained his iron sand and followed his partner to the blown out hole in the wall.

His puppet seemed to be sporting a new sword, a Wakizashi perhaps? Hotaru was not that great at differentiating swords from each other, they looked the same in his eyes. He had his weapon of choice since he graduated the academy, finely grained iron sand. It was ground from high caliber iron, according to his caretaker, it took the blacksmith weeks to ground the sand from the piece of iron, his sanding tools would snap frequently. Those where happier days, when he was still blind to the alienation that all ninja undergone in the academy. Love thy village, worship thy village, listen to orders, and die for your village. It was a bunch of shit anyway.

Malacanth connected his chakra strings to his puppet and leaped to the adjacent building with the usual cynical comment. "Let the hunt being"? Hotaru rubbed his face before jumping after him, what was he going to do with that boy? They where headed to where the brunt of the army amassed to either receive orders, train, do their jobs or just fuck around. It was a tent city that took up almost the entirety of the inner and outer gates and the welcoming center beyond it. From his perch on the rooftop he could see hundreds of heads bobbing, droning on through the light fog. Some sported Kirigakure headbands, others wore Suna, Kumo, even Konoha headbands. They didn't matter to him, if there was a spy among them, he would find them. It there was a spy he would be hiding in plain sight, but not in the midst of a tent city, somewhere more secluded; probably in the outter reaches of it. There where only two outer rings of the 'city' one inside the village which stretched almost to their apartment and another which stretched outside of the village gates. Most likely any spy would be trying to get outside the village, this was where the intel division, supply line, and various items and weapons armories where.They would have to search in and outside of the village gates." Spies would most likely try to take out our supply line, intel base, or our armories. These are all in and just outside the village gates, that narrows down our area to search."Hotaru would say this to a hopefully close Malacanth. A secondary target would be central command, but that is in the middle of tent city, a lot well guarded than the supporting roles would be. Hotaru would then go to the edge of the perch, and with a "Let's get started" he would jump and start his search.

OOC: Lets look around together for a post or two to give us something to lengthen the mission. We will quiz some ninja in those posts then finally find the team of 2 and fight them.

839+779=1618/2500

Hotaru expecting him to pay attention was a surprise to say the least. "With all the time we've been together, have I ever once shown you an inkling of care for orders other than kill?" With that psychotic thought, he moved towards command. It took them a while and the trip only highlighted how weak Kirigakure would be even after the war. Buildings were in shambles and some could barely be recognized for their original purpose. The bleak gray and fire of this village could have been mistaken for hell. Its hard to say if their was ever a vibrant community in this village. Fires raged where command deemed insignificant for the war. Such a bleak existence this world has fell too he thought in a rare moment of sane thought. Chaos rages and even the might of five villages can't take a group of missing-nin. It will be surprising to see if peace even lasts once the Seven-Bells is taken down. Shinobi and their villages pray on the weak to gain power and a village this weak would be a perfect target for any of the other four. "Hotaru, maybe we will be the next invaders, it would be easy pickings in the eyes of our superiors."

They arrived at central command and Malacanth was honestly lost on where to start. He knew he could start randomly asking everyone the question but that would allow the spies to hear information that would make his task impossible. If they heard the question being asked to everyone then they would grow suspicious. It would also allow them to hear the answer if they were near. They would need to find suspects another way before starting to interrogate. Malacanth spoke softly, just loud enough for his partner to hear "Look for suspicious activity, people sneaking around important tents. Won't always mean they are spies but it can start narrowing down the suspects. Don't ask the question until there is a high likelihood. As soon as they overhear one of us ask the wrong person, they will know." He knew Hotaru wasn't a simpleton like most of their colleagues but it was always good to make sure to be on the same page and if it annoyed him, all the better. He split off from Hotaru after that, walking around as if it was a casual stroll around the park, albeit with blood on his back and a puppet a couple feat ahead of him. Some gave him dirty looks as he passed for various reasons. Some remembered him being the guy yelling at the meeting, some he annoyed while on assignment, others resented puppet masters as a whole for what the seven bells have done to their comrades. No matter what the reason, he basked in the hatred. If you seem to enjoy it it deflated most of the people angry enough to fight him.

He looked around for suspicious targets but it was not as easy as one would expect. Shinobi were secretive and suspicious by nature of the craft. All looked like they had something to hide and many did. The hard part was discerning what would be suspicious and spy-like. Sadly he wasn't having any luck at the task. He was never really good at discerning odd behavior from what others would consider normal, possibly because of how odd he himself was. He soon decided that hunting around for the spies is to ineffective for his patience. He would hang around the command tent and other key information areas like logistics. The spies would eventually end up there as they do need to look for information to be spies. With that thought he headed towards central command, hoping that the spy would be dumb enough to head for where the insane puppet master was going.
1094/2500 words
190/200 chakra

Spoiler:

Hotaru split off from Malacanth after hearing his instructions and headed for the supply route. This part of the tent city was outside of the village gates. Almost all of the war supplies arrived by this path. Hotaru walked out of the enormous blue gates of Kirigakure. Most ninja where doing generally nothing, down time most likely. Some played cards, flirted with ninja from other villages, just talked. The normal things that people take for granted where now luxuries to those at war. Just being able to relax, a thing almost everyone can do, could not be done here. Sure, everyone might look happy and go-lucky. But down inside they where suspicious, afraid, and nervous. It was a normal reaction to the stress of war. The enemy literally could be anyone around them. From their commanding officer, bunk mate, or a new squad member. Everyone had a reason to eye up someone else, Hotaru had one more than others.

He would slowly walk and observe the general going on's. A small glimpse into a tent, eaves dropping on a conversation or two. They where just a few things Hotaru did, some people found it a bit odd, giving him strange looks which he passed over.He didn't care much about them, only that he did the mission and was payed. One thing Hotaru had begun to try and find where torn clothing and wounds. It might have been strange at first but it matched up well. If someone had a gaping and bloody cut on their shirt and no wound underneath, it warranted a bit of attention. After all, these spies simply exchanged their clothes for that of another shinobi, Nothing special. Using a transformation jutsu would have been easier yet would have brought unneeded attention. If someone who knew the person saw you, detection was imminent.

But, searching for spies was way harder than it seemed, it took him until sundown to get his first bite. A lanky ninja, pale, with a Kumogakure headband was posted up by a newly delivered supply cart. He had the village flap jacket, but it wasn't right. It was ragged, multiple cuts with a large one that went straight through the chest plate of the jacket revealing his pale chest. Hotaru watched the ninja, he was still, no posse or friends around; just melting into the backdrop of the camp. He was defiantly suspicious.

The ninja took two looks to his left and right making sure that the ways where clear of witnesses, and disappeared between two supply carts. Hotaru followed immediately after, catching the ninja placing a small rectangular piece of parchment on each cart. The ninja did not hear or see him until Hotaru revealed himself."A little late to be out surveying the equipment, don't you think?" Hotaru posed the question nonchalantly, his iron sand flooding silently out of the canister and hiding behind him. "Ummm, no, this is the uhh... the mail cart. I'm trying to see if i have any mail from home", the ninja gave a small smile.""Justice is swift, but which murderers go unpunished?" Hotaru posed the question, if he did not answer correctly, then he was done for. "Wait, what are you talking about man?"
"Wrong answer", Hotaru spat the words out.

The iron sand that was camouflaged behind Hotaru shot out like a bullet, its form in a bludgeon. He had to take the spy alive. The weighted ball of iron sand hit the ninja's knee cap, knocking it to the side and out of place. The bone make a clanking sound as tendons and ligaments rearranged sickly into their new form. The ninja gave out a scream before trying to form a kai, he was too slow. Hotaru whipped another wad of sand to the side of his head, knocking him out. Looks like he found his spy.

Hotaru took the paper bomb off both carts and placed them on the spies back, if he every tried to run, he had insurance on him. With his iron sand, Hotaru picked up the spy by the waist. His knee sickly sticking out the left side. He began his trek to the main tent to turn him in. Hopefully Malacanth found the other one.

839+779+722=2340/2500

Malacanth finally found a bitter when a ninja with a hard stare was eavesdropping by the command tent. The man had multiple rips in his Kumogakure outfit and the rips showed their were no wounds. Either he was a great medical nin or a man who pilfered clothes from the dead. While the clothes by itself did not warrant the question, he would definitely follow him for a bit. The man moved off after a while, as dusk hit and took a zigzag path that eventually led to the outskirts of camp. The man relieved another from guard duty and relaxed under the same tree. Malacanth assumed this was meant to be a meet up with a contact from the opposing army, or simply guard duty. He liked to believe he had found the spy though and walked up to the man. He put his puppet on the other side and sat down right next to him, sandwiching him between the puppet and master. " So buddy, hows guard duty." He gave the usual weird glance and nervously said "good.......good." Malacanth sat there for five minutes, enjoying the last glimpse of sun. The man grew increasingly nervous. He kept shifting his gaze towards a group of buildings outside of camp, as if it had importance. Suddenly, the man spoke up " Hey, could you just leave, your making this spot conspicuous to the enemy by having three bodies up here." Malacanth was reluctant about it, but he did get up. Just before taking a step though he said " Justice is swift, but which murderers go unpunished? " The man looked up, confused at the perceived philosophy question from the weird man. " What? " With a sadistic grin, he willed Perfection to pull out the wakizachi and put it directly onto the man's throat. " Oh how I will enjoy this. " The man, taking a more serious tone " Die you Sunagakure scum. "

A puppet jumped out of the tall grass right next to  Malacanth, its design similar to the ones he fought  while defending the hospital. One of the many spikes came for his back but with a great amount of amusement, willed his puppet to shoot a crossbow bolt at the spiked hand. It pierced straight through and pinned the puppet to the ground, a mere foot away from Malacanth. While it made Malacanth look like a great strategist, as if the puppet had been noticed long before, he actually had no idea and it was just his great mastery over puppetry that stopped him from dying right there. A single bead of sweat ran down his face before he noticed the spy do something else. He had pulled a kunai out and slipped it between his throat and the offending wakizachi. Pushing it away from him he rolled away and stood up. Perfection quickly moved to be in between her controller and the spy and good thing Malacanth had because a kunai was thrown with a paper bomb attached.The puppet released the mechanism which sent out a kunai from the knee and jumped so the kunai and the other kunai collided in midair, sending it off course and passed Malacanth. Malacanth moved away after that, putting some distance between the spy and his puppet. The enemy puppet finally worked off the bolt and now was ready for battle. Perfection released the senbon claws from one hand, wielding the wakizachi with the other. Perfection moved for the spy, trying to force the puppet to defend it's master, which it did and they met in the middle. Perfection sliced at a link between an arm and the main body, forcing it to retreat. Then shooting out at the other with a senbon claw. This one caught the link and snapped it, leaving the left arm on the ground, useless. Malacanth pushed the advantage and Perfection'ss knee rose to catch at another link, this one to the left leg. The spy figured out what was happening though and did a full retreat with the puppet. He threw a kunai at Malacanth to make sure the puppet escaped. Perfection slashed with the wakizachi and hit the kunai in midair, pushing it to the ground. Malacanth quickly noticed something else though, a paper bomb wrapped around it. Perfection immediately dived and rolled back to its feet, avoiding the explosion. As soon as Perfection got to its feet it charged  for the puppet master himself. The spy must have assumed this to be a ploy or something as he just got his puppet to charge at Malacanth. Malacanth wasn't worried as he had planned on doing something anyway. His puppet's head swiveled around a crossbow bolt went loose. It hit its mark and Malacanth could smell victory as the link between the leg and body broke. The puppet fell to the ground, now practically immobile. The spy widened his eyes as he realized that he couldn't defend himself faster than the puppet could attack and grunted as a wakizachi buried itself into his shoulder,  nailing him to the tree he had previously rested under. A flurry of hand signs ensued from the spy, a last ditch effort most likely. Malacanth forced his puppet to retreat. As the final hand sign was complete, he went to his mouth and started to blow through his a hole he made through his hand. Malacanth's eyes widened as he realized things were going to be quiet a bit hotter and immediately hit the floor with his puppet. A fire ball shot out and flew over his head. He could feel the heat from it as it was above him. He immediately knew that he needed to knock the man out and his puppet rushed for him and hit him with the flat of the wakizachi's blade. The force pushed him into unconsciousness. As if they were waiting, two men came up over the hill and asked what was going on. Malacanth didn't say anything though and simply pulled the wakizachi out of the man's shoulder. He then got Perfection to carry him and he headed towards high command. They would probably want to see what he had.

As he went back through camp, he heard whispers amongst other shinobi, wondering what he was doing and a few even said is that another spy? He hoped that meant Hotaru had got the other one. It took him until midnight to finally find a person who could take the spy off his hands. He had been told good work  by his superior and was sent off to rest. He had felt like complaining or saying something that would probably get him reprimanded but he stopped himself as he just wanted to sleep. He made the long slog towards the outskirts where Hotaru and he had to call home for the war. This forced him to walk through the cemetery of the fallen, something they could skip by going the rooftop way like before. This was where hundreds of dead shinobi rested. No grave was a proper one, only getting a single broken panel of wooden floor or a couple of large rocks to signify a body was buried here. Such a waste of human resources he thought, the bodies could be put to such a better use. He hoped to not join them as wasted resources as he finished the walk through. He finally made it home to his burning wreckage of a home, whispering " Home, sweet home." as he did. It hadn't changed from this morning, still barely recognizable as a home. He walked up the stairs to the second floor and did maintenance of his puppet for a few hours to calm his nerves after the fight. A war would do that to someone, even as insane as he is. Always being wired up, never relaxing, it would make a sane man insane and an insane man more insane. After Perfection was up to his approval, he relaxed on a slab he called his bed. As he closed his eyes to finally get sleep, he wondered if he would ever see the sands of Sunagakure before dying. Despite being quiet an outspoken detractor of the village, he did enjoy his homeland and living there. As his mind reclused to his less than sane dreaming, he wished for the first time in his life, for peace to finally occur.
2501/2500-complete
185/200 chakra
-exit-

Spoiler:

Hotaru did not feel the weight of the spy, only the slightest drain on his chakra pool. It took next to nothing to control his sand. The spy had not come out of his unconsciousness for a full ten minutes or so, he hoped the spy wasn't dead. A dead man didn't pay as well as a live one. The order where to eliminate or capture two spies, and Hotaru had found the first one. That only left the second to Malacanth, he hoped he could get it done on his own. Or else it would be a sleepless night for them, hunting down spies.

The spy would groan or mumble incoherently here or there, once in a while shift his weight to which Hotaru had to re-position his sand. The walk from the supply depot to the command tent was a fifteen minute one. Most gave him an odd glace, whispering to their neighbor. There was mumbles about him being a traitor, maiming their own, others found more plausible answers such as a war criminal or spy. The command tent eagerly received the criminal with open arms. Hotaru was greeted with a 'good job' and a hand shake. Hotaru left before they all crowed around him. He was sweaty and tired, he was off to rest at his home away from home.

839+779+722+223=2500+/2500

Mission completed