[log] To Hell and Back [Tsuba]
Solo missions were a harbinger of many things in ANBU. Extra glances in your direction, well wishes, the donation of extra supplies to one's cause, an offer to deliver letters to loved ones, and a few more pats on the back or shoulder. Tsuba disliked most of them. It never hurt to get a few more soldier or blood pills, but she knew the reason behind the sudden generosity.
Everyone was doubtful that she would come back.
She'd survived two on her own now. With Hige still injured and Ryuu honorably retired it left Kazushi and herself in a lurch. The larger missions required more than two and that was all they could muster to their side. Every other team had their hands full as it was. So they kept giving Kazushi and Tsuba solo missions. On especially late nights, she began to wonder if they wanted Kazushi and her to die.
Tsuba really hoped that wasn't the case and just pushed it aside with the logic that resources were limited and Kazushi was too valuable to ANBU alive and well to just kill him off. Nidaime-sama would have no reason to have him killed. Let alone herself. And it just wasn't proper to be thinking those things in the first place. So she would do her best to shake them off, curl up and get a little warmer, and forget all about them. Until they came up again. It was always harder when she was knee-deep in mud or soaked to the bone and had a good share of blood staining her uniform. Whether it was her own or not didn't matter. The stench blood gave off, dry or wet, was something that roiled her stomach.
In this particular mission there was a particularly sleazy politician, Hitarachi Hiko, that needed to be eliminated. This included, of course, the regular guards that he employed. By the very nature of his small manor - Tsuba failed to understand how it was considered small - it meant that most of the guards would not be as skilled as her, but that did not mean they were few in number. Nor that a few weren't at least Chuunin level in skill. No, her observations had shown that they were more numerous than she wanted consider. If things had been ideal, Kazushi would have set up explosives as Hige and herself cut down a path around the manor and took out the target himself. As things were though...she was left to consider how to kill as many guards without getting noticed and work her way into the fortress.
She could only hope that she would be able to get out alive.
It had been a two day trip to get there, two days of observation, and she was expected back by the end of the week. That meant she would have a day to eliminate what looked like, from her estimations, around twenty men. But she was ANBU and it was her mission. Tsuba just hoped that her planning the night before her assault would be enough. She didn't dare to use explosives, no, that was Kazushi's area of expertise. And even with her experience with the explosives at that bridge she didn't trust herself to not blow herself up in the process of setting up a few of them. Let alone she hadn't been sure she could run a wire correctly. Kazushi's were always so well hidden, while her meager attempts had been far more noticeable.
The layout of the manor was easy enough, though she wasn't sure about all of the details of the core of the interior. Even the most shady informants weren't sure of the blueprints and her raising price of bribery was only met with offers of talking to past employees. She had met with one and found him useless. Apparently even if this politician was sleazy he was sure to keep his inner sanctum all to himself. Or those servants never left his service alive.
More than anything, Tsuba was surprised she was able to get a few hours of sleep in before starting the assault. Perhaps she'd gotten used enough to the imminent danger of death that it was becoming a familiar friend. She chose not to analyze it further, instead sneaking past guards and getting into the main building without anyone noticing her. She had gotten into the manor by a third story window and was silently heading towards the inner sanctum, but things had been too easy so far. Tsuba knew she was relatively skilled at planning assaults, but this was too much.
It all screamed trap to her. And with her being alone...it did not bode well.
She made it all of two hundred more meters before she had to sink into the shadows. The guard routine had drastically changed from that of the outdoor guards and those on the lower floors. She narrowed her eyes and kept her chakra low, watching the guard pass the connecting corridor and counting his pace. The hallway was longer than she'd imagined and his strides seemed...was he nervous? She hadn't been detected as far as she could tell and from the mission report Hitarachi wasn't expecting an assassination. But Intel had been wrong before. Even sleazy politicians proved themselves wiser than they looked on occasion. Were they just waiting for her behind one of the doors in the next hallway?
Tsuba kept her body calm and called on the same emotionless, efficient mindset that had gotten her through so many missions before. Keep the senses sharp. Blade ready for use at any moment. Muscles ready for action. Breathing slow. Think of first the mission - the kill - and second, survival. Moral repugnance could wait until later.
Things always got much simpler that way.
When the guard was just about to cross the doorway she was in position, barely hidden in the shadows, and struck as he came to her path. His head was removed silently and he fell with a dull thud, flailing only for a moment. The hallway was otherwise empty and Tsuba went for the first room with a chakra signal. It felt weak for what an adult man should have, but she was running on too much adrenaline to be thinking entirely clearly.
The door revealed a woman sleeping in a large bed. No doubt a mistress - no mention of a wife had been made. Tsuba was unnoticed so she closed the door just as quietly and was at the next door instantly. She had to work fast if she wanted to stay undetected. The guards were soon to be rotated.
The second door revealed the target, dozing in an armchair with his back to her. There were no immediate guards in the room and she closed the door behind her without a sound. Calling on every bit of silent speed she could, Tsuba reached Hitarachi Hiko and positioned her katana to kill.
Small brown eyes met hers and she felt a jolt go through her. Even with the shadows of the room she knew that face. It had plagued her and in turn she had memorized it. The same child from her ANBU trials - every detail matching - was sitting on the man's lap. But she was ANBU. She had to do this. And she had to kill them both.
There would be no witnesses.
Unable to take her eyes away from the child's, she rotated her wrist enough to change her target. She had to kill the child first. The man was in a deep enough sleep that if she was quick enough, he would never wake up again. She forced the muscles to move, the blade swinging in a perfect arc, severing the child's head from the neck just below the chin. Blood spattered, as expected, and she had no time to delay killing her actual target. Tsuba merely pivoted to get herself out of the sword's path when she made the second blow and rotated her wrist around again. She swung again and took off the top of the chair with his head. No screams had been voiced. No witnesses left that she had seen.
But she couldn't make herself move. Her gaze had shifted to the sightless child's head and it was...just like the other child. She had to leave, Tsuba knew that. But the trouble was to convince her feet of it.
Shouts from the hallway brought her back to attention and she was to the window without a thought. She had enough time to open the window instead of smashing through the glass and fell to the ground, grateful that the guards were at another part of the building at the moment. Tsuba landed with a soft thud and cleaned her katana with a sharp jerk, sheathing it as she ran for the tall fence. She was done, she was uninjured, and she was nearly out of danger.
Hopping the fence, she only gave the building one glance and knew that the solitary light was the same one in the third story window she had vacated only moments before. But it was too late. She was too fast and they would never find her now. She had left nothing at the small room she had rented - there was nothing to impede her return.
And all she wanted was to go home.
Everyone was doubtful that she would come back.
She'd survived two on her own now. With Hige still injured and Ryuu honorably retired it left Kazushi and herself in a lurch. The larger missions required more than two and that was all they could muster to their side. Every other team had their hands full as it was. So they kept giving Kazushi and Tsuba solo missions. On especially late nights, she began to wonder if they wanted Kazushi and her to die.
Tsuba really hoped that wasn't the case and just pushed it aside with the logic that resources were limited and Kazushi was too valuable to ANBU alive and well to just kill him off. Nidaime-sama would have no reason to have him killed. Let alone herself. And it just wasn't proper to be thinking those things in the first place. So she would do her best to shake them off, curl up and get a little warmer, and forget all about them. Until they came up again. It was always harder when she was knee-deep in mud or soaked to the bone and had a good share of blood staining her uniform. Whether it was her own or not didn't matter. The stench blood gave off, dry or wet, was something that roiled her stomach.
In this particular mission there was a particularly sleazy politician, Hitarachi Hiko, that needed to be eliminated. This included, of course, the regular guards that he employed. By the very nature of his small manor - Tsuba failed to understand how it was considered small - it meant that most of the guards would not be as skilled as her, but that did not mean they were few in number. Nor that a few weren't at least Chuunin level in skill. No, her observations had shown that they were more numerous than she wanted consider. If things had been ideal, Kazushi would have set up explosives as Hige and herself cut down a path around the manor and took out the target himself. As things were though...she was left to consider how to kill as many guards without getting noticed and work her way into the fortress.
She could only hope that she would be able to get out alive.
It had been a two day trip to get there, two days of observation, and she was expected back by the end of the week. That meant she would have a day to eliminate what looked like, from her estimations, around twenty men. But she was ANBU and it was her mission. Tsuba just hoped that her planning the night before her assault would be enough. She didn't dare to use explosives, no, that was Kazushi's area of expertise. And even with her experience with the explosives at that bridge she didn't trust herself to not blow herself up in the process of setting up a few of them. Let alone she hadn't been sure she could run a wire correctly. Kazushi's were always so well hidden, while her meager attempts had been far more noticeable.
The layout of the manor was easy enough, though she wasn't sure about all of the details of the core of the interior. Even the most shady informants weren't sure of the blueprints and her raising price of bribery was only met with offers of talking to past employees. She had met with one and found him useless. Apparently even if this politician was sleazy he was sure to keep his inner sanctum all to himself. Or those servants never left his service alive.
More than anything, Tsuba was surprised she was able to get a few hours of sleep in before starting the assault. Perhaps she'd gotten used enough to the imminent danger of death that it was becoming a familiar friend. She chose not to analyze it further, instead sneaking past guards and getting into the main building without anyone noticing her. She had gotten into the manor by a third story window and was silently heading towards the inner sanctum, but things had been too easy so far. Tsuba knew she was relatively skilled at planning assaults, but this was too much.
It all screamed trap to her. And with her being alone...it did not bode well.
She made it all of two hundred more meters before she had to sink into the shadows. The guard routine had drastically changed from that of the outdoor guards and those on the lower floors. She narrowed her eyes and kept her chakra low, watching the guard pass the connecting corridor and counting his pace. The hallway was longer than she'd imagined and his strides seemed...was he nervous? She hadn't been detected as far as she could tell and from the mission report Hitarachi wasn't expecting an assassination. But Intel had been wrong before. Even sleazy politicians proved themselves wiser than they looked on occasion. Were they just waiting for her behind one of the doors in the next hallway?
Tsuba kept her body calm and called on the same emotionless, efficient mindset that had gotten her through so many missions before. Keep the senses sharp. Blade ready for use at any moment. Muscles ready for action. Breathing slow. Think of first the mission - the kill - and second, survival. Moral repugnance could wait until later.
Things always got much simpler that way.
When the guard was just about to cross the doorway she was in position, barely hidden in the shadows, and struck as he came to her path. His head was removed silently and he fell with a dull thud, flailing only for a moment. The hallway was otherwise empty and Tsuba went for the first room with a chakra signal. It felt weak for what an adult man should have, but she was running on too much adrenaline to be thinking entirely clearly.
The door revealed a woman sleeping in a large bed. No doubt a mistress - no mention of a wife had been made. Tsuba was unnoticed so she closed the door just as quietly and was at the next door instantly. She had to work fast if she wanted to stay undetected. The guards were soon to be rotated.
The second door revealed the target, dozing in an armchair with his back to her. There were no immediate guards in the room and she closed the door behind her without a sound. Calling on every bit of silent speed she could, Tsuba reached Hitarachi Hiko and positioned her katana to kill.
Small brown eyes met hers and she felt a jolt go through her. Even with the shadows of the room she knew that face. It had plagued her and in turn she had memorized it. The same child from her ANBU trials - every detail matching - was sitting on the man's lap. But she was ANBU. She had to do this. And she had to kill them both.
There would be no witnesses.
Unable to take her eyes away from the child's, she rotated her wrist enough to change her target. She had to kill the child first. The man was in a deep enough sleep that if she was quick enough, he would never wake up again. She forced the muscles to move, the blade swinging in a perfect arc, severing the child's head from the neck just below the chin. Blood spattered, as expected, and she had no time to delay killing her actual target. Tsuba merely pivoted to get herself out of the sword's path when she made the second blow and rotated her wrist around again. She swung again and took off the top of the chair with his head. No screams had been voiced. No witnesses left that she had seen.
But she couldn't make herself move. Her gaze had shifted to the sightless child's head and it was...just like the other child. She had to leave, Tsuba knew that. But the trouble was to convince her feet of it.
Shouts from the hallway brought her back to attention and she was to the window without a thought. She had enough time to open the window instead of smashing through the glass and fell to the ground, grateful that the guards were at another part of the building at the moment. Tsuba landed with a soft thud and cleaned her katana with a sharp jerk, sheathing it as she ran for the tall fence. She was done, she was uninjured, and she was nearly out of danger.
Hopping the fence, she only gave the building one glance and knew that the solitary light was the same one in the third story window she had vacated only moments before. But it was too late. She was too fast and they would never find her now. She had left nothing at the small room she had rented - there was nothing to impede her return.
And all she wanted was to go home.