The Shadows of Nishiwa

[Valkier]

The Shadows of Nishiwa Perched amid the boughs at the edge of the forest, Naohiro stared out towards their objective in silence. Just ahead of them, the woodland quickly gave way to a line of fields on a gentle downhill slope until, rolling fields of near-ripe wheat that continued until meeting the main road that wound northwards towards the town of Nishiwa. The road was well-maintained here, paved and bordered with a low wall, and beyond it rose a second, shorter but steeper hill, which ended in an almost sheer cliff. Atop that cliff sat their target - not the town itself, but the citadel that overlooked it from the south. A grand, five-tiered fortress of wood and stone that stood sentinel over the terrain for miles in every direction. The young Genin wanted to laugh in disbelief, but the reality of the situation was all too sobering; this was what he and Kirino had journeyed for, all the way from Kirigakure. Somehow, it was up to them to steal into the clifftop castle, undetected, find and steal evidence about its Lord, and escape, all in one night. "... Do you ever feel like you're being tested?" He asked Kirino innocently, while his eyes searched out options at the castle. "'Oh, no big deal'", he muttered quietly in imitation of the clerk at the Mizukage's office who'd given them their task, "'just run across this open field, scale a sheer cliff and the stone wall above it, arrow-slits and all, break into a fortress grand enough to stop armies in their tracks, avoid the man who's been killing the Daimyo's emissaries - and his guards, however many hundreds there could be - pilfer away his most closely hoarded secrets, and come back before anyone notices'. Sure, no problem." He raised an eyebrow at Kirino, his expression grave. With a muffled sigh, he began thinking through his inventory. Darkness was at least on their side, so getting to the walls unseen shouldn't be too much of a problem. Vertical walls also posed little challenge to a trained shinobi, but the guards? How many might be on patrol tonight, watching from windows and arrow-slits? Dozens? His partner-in-crime might be able to call his mists to cover them, but there was always the chance that ninjutsu such as that might be recognised for what it was. The rope tied around Nao's waist could be useful without a doubt, but he didn't have nearly enough to scale much more than two storeys of the castle at most. The two ninja sat there for a while longer, watching and mentally preparing themselves for the ordeal ahead, then eventually dropped to the ground and began a low, crouching run around the edge of the field. The crops, tall enough in the night to hide them, provided good cover, but pushing straight through the field was a sure way to make excess noise. Better to follow the edge down to the road, cross quickly, and hope to reach the wall before any hawk-eyed sentry noticed their dim forms in the night...