24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Fri Jan 26, 2024 4:35 pm

24 hours to midnight.

The day at the hospital began. It was ever a busy rush, and Nakano was only ever just an assistant here. She had trained with someone once considered the best in all the land - her name had been Chiaki. A real missed opportunity for Nakano that she hadn’t spent more time with the woman. She could have learned quite a bit more. Instead she just learned all the secrets of the medical field that she knew already. She was a woman who was not easily disgusted, and worked primarily with wound care considering her nature. This meant that she often saw the aftermath of what happened to people who had been injured in battle. It was a shinobi’s lot in life to get hurt. To fight and kill, to be hurt and die. She couldn’t feel pity in the slightest with these people. It wasn’t because she lacked empathy for their situation, it was simply that she thought the whole of it was such a beautiful experience time and again. The screams of agony were lullabies to her. She would gently and lovingly give aid in the most comforting ways as possible, and yet she would enjoy every ounce of pain she inflicted as she performed the healers arts.

Nakano was not a nice person

Yet she knew that she was a bombshell. She had let her dark hair grow out and had eventually cut it off, leaving her as a blonde with shoulder length hair. Her decision? It was once made based on what Takeshi had considered a throw away comment - that he preferred blondes. She didn’t know if he was lying and being polite, or if he really had the preferences. Regardless, she had decided to become his ideal. Changing makeup and hair in ways that would attract him infinitely more.
She knew she was a bombshell, and she wanted everyone else to know it as well.
Thats why she always wore her clothes in such a tight and tempting manner. She had trained for this purpose after all, the emotional manipulation. She knew the day would come when she would get deployed. It was only on the technicality that she was a genin that she didn’t get deployed immediately. She just simply didn’t have the skills on the qualifying level yet.

Until that day she would bide her time and perform her duties.

This man who had just arrived in the hospital was one of Nakano’s patients. He was one of several patients that Nakano would prep for the doctors today. They would examine his wounds, debris any dead tissue, apply as much of the mystical healing palms as they could and let him be on his way. Stays in the Konoha hospital tended to be rather brief, as there was typically only two ways one left this place - on their own two feet or in a body bag. Such was the miracle of modern Medical jutsu that virtually any injury could be healed as long as the patient had the stamina for it. Sometimes they didn’t, and those patients would die.

She applied a simple numbing jutsu to him before she went about the work of cleaning the wounds with another jutsu. Despite what one could do with chakra, it wasn’t completely painless, and it still couldn’t be completely painless even after placing numbing chakra on them. Still, she did her part in preparing the patient, taking pictures of the wounds and calling for the doctor to come see the patient now that he was ready.

As Nakano turned the flag on the door as the doctor approached he paused her.

”Nakano.” He began, ”We had another patient die in the room over. I need you to escort the body down to the morgue.” He explained. Nakano nodded realizing that this was likely the code blue that had been announced not too long ago. ”What about the patient, do you need an attending nurse?” The doctor shook his head. ”I’ve already ask Kairi to cover for you. If you could please head over there as soon as possible.” It was no sweat off of her back. As the doctor entered the room with the patient, Nakano sought out the dead body.

She put him in a body bag and rolled him onto a stretcher before heading directly into the morgue. It was a grisly sight, but it had never bothered Nakano. She barely had feelings of any kind, except the darker ones. Anger, violence, lust, and jealousy. She could feel those and she did in abundance. So much so that she wore a seal in her mind to keep herself in check, graciously applied by the ANBU of Konohagakure. She took a special elevator that didn’t connect to the areas that guests had access to and moved to the basement of the hospital where the morgue was.


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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Sat Jan 27, 2024 6:14 pm

As she arrived into the Morgue there was a sight that gave her pause. An ANBU was sitting on top of a cabinet in the back corner of the room. Naknao’s hand instinctively went for her weapon pouch as she narrowed her eyes at the ANBU. Had they come to play another game with her? Last time they placed the Yamanaka seal inside of her mind. She couldn’t kill anyone in Konoha, but she could fight in self defense, and she would consider it self defense if they tried to kidnap her again. ”Anbu-san, how delightful to see you again.” It didn’t matter if it was really wasn’t the Anbu she had interacted with before, she wanted to plant the seed of a mind game into this Anbu in case something did happen. In case a fight did erupt.

”Enough of that Nakano. I’m here to induct you into the ROOT program.” He announced. ”That means that you are training for Special Assisination and Tactical Squad: The Anbu Black Ops.” He didn’t move at all and remained completely relaxed. Nakano couldn’t read his face because of the porcelain cat mask, but his uniform matched the Anbu - t he Sleeveless shirt and vest. The dark clothes, the tattoo. They were on of the only forces in Konoha that had such a uniform. She relaxed just a tad but not fully. ”I presume you will tell me what this is all about Anbu-san? Or will I have to play 20 questions to get an answer out of you?” The Anbu said nothing but gestured to the desk in the corner of the room nearest to Nakano. It was littered with the usual paperwork and had its share of photos of wounds taken post mortem of various cadavers being used for different reports. There was also a scroll with a seal on it.

”Relax Nakano. If I were your enemy I’d have sliced you open as soon as you looked at the scroll.” Nakano just realized that she had tensed up like he had said as she chanced a glance at the scroll he had pointed at. ”as a member of Root your are hereby sworn to secrecy. You may only communicate your Root activities to other Root members or to the Anbu. Your missions for Root take highest priority, always. As reward your stipend will be increased appreciatively while you are in the training program. ”

Nakano approached the desk, leaving the cadaver she had been escorting to the morgue where it was so she could look at the scroll. She picked it up and was about to break the seal when she turned to check on the Anbu Black Ops only to find that he was gone. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and break the seal and proceeded to read over the scroll.

Root Trainee.

As you know, due to the current situation with the war Shinobi forces of Konoha have been mobilized, as a result there is a lack of manpower at home. This necessitates your involvement with a classified mission. In the Morgue you will find the body of one Kurosawa, an arms dealer known to have business in Konoha with the standing shinobi forces. Kurosawa was recently found dead in his apartment, a supposed suicide, but we of course know better. Your mission is as follows: Locate the killer of Kurosawa and evaluate the threat level and take appropriate action to protect the village of Konoha. This scroll will be destroyed upon your complete of reading it.

As if true to its promise, the scroll burst into flames and turned into little more than ash on the floor of the morgue. Nakano clucked her tongue. She hadn’t been expecting this tonight. She moved the body she had brought and placed him on ice before searching for Kurosawa’s file. She looked through the drawer and the files in the morgue, and realized that it was missing. Perhaps it hadn’t been completed yet? No, there was something in the corner of her eye. Nakano leaned down and peared into the trashbin - a burnt manilla folder that she could partially read the name of Kurosawa was there. For whatever reason the file had been burnt and destroyed. What exactly did that mean though?

Nakano returned to the full height. ’Someone knows about Kurosawa and was trying to hide something. But what exactly could that be?’
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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Sun Jan 28, 2024 7:51 am

Nakano would need to perform her own autopsy and inspection of the body, but first she would need to make sure she would not be missed from her other duties, and while the morgue was empty of staff at the moment they would likely return in short order and continue with their regular order of business. She found that it would be well within her authority to just take the body. Seal it in a scroll and examine it later, but that caused a different issue of would someone notice the cadaver had been stolen? Besides she would need the facility to examine the body, and this one was the only one that was well enough equipped. It was clear that whoever had destroyed the autopsy file was likely a member of the hospital, otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to access this area. The most suspect were the staff of the morgue itself.

They would have been the first to find out about the autopsy and it would have been a simple matter of waiting until everyone went on break to make the file disappear. That meant that they would likely try to hide the body as well, and If Nakano took the body early to facilitate her own autopsy it would tip off whoever was trying to cover things up that someone else was involved. Another player had joined the game. This was the first of many tough decisions that she would likely have to make. She was likely to think herself into circles at this rate trying to determine where the least amount of risk was. There was one simple fact of the matter though - to find the killer she had two leads. The first, whoever was trying to cover things up, and the second was the body.

While seeking after the person would become inevitable, there may be details that would be found on the cadaver that she may need. She just didn’t have the time to examine the corpse before the staff came back to their duties. She would have to risk letting them know about the fact that she was on their trail. Nakano opened up the slab with Kurosawa’s corpse and quickly sealed it in a scroll. She closed the slab and removed the name plate and quickly went through the other paperwork to make sure that no one in the regular operation would miss the corpse, only for her to pause as she realized that the sneak had already done the same thing.

They must have been waiting for the opportunity to get rid of the corpse, but Nakano received her mission at just the right time. How long had that Anbu been there? Perhaps he was the one that had discouraged any actions from the staff. With any luck they would suspect it was the Anbu and not her that had run off with the corpse. Now then, to leave for now and perform the autopsy later when she had time and security.

Nakano left the morgue, bringing back with her, and properly sanitizing the stretcher she had used to bring it down here. The rest of the day went by with the added tinge of frustration that there was now something on her mind. It felt like that scroll with the cadaver was burning a hole in her hip pouch. A sense of paranoia that it would disappear before the day was through had fallen upon her like a thick blanket. Suffocating. She needed some kind of relief! Yet it would be odd if she stopped performing her duties for the day. She had to continue things as normal to keep herself some kind of cover and insurance against whoever was trying to cover things up here.

She attended the rest of her rounds until finally she was released from her service, and a heavy weight was off her shoulders. It was certainly getting later in the day now. She would need some privacy for what she was about to do next. It turns out that finding somewhere private in the middle of a hidden village was surprisingly difficult. Day to day life claimed most places already and the few places that might be suitable would require trespassing. She wasn’t quite sure she wanted to try performing an autopsy in her own apartment - what if she wanted to have guests later and besides there was no way she’d get her deposit back if she did. She eventually settled on trespassing.


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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Sun Jan 28, 2024 3:45 pm

The place that she had settled on as a decrypt building. It had once upon a time been a restaurant, but now the windows were boarded up and sheets had been placed over all the furniture. As lacking in sanitation this might be, Nakano knew that Kitchens tended to have drains in the floors which would allow her to clean things up easily and hide the evidence of her presence. She pulled off the sheets from the stainless steel rolling tables and moved them away from the wall and over a drain. She put two of them together to accommodate the body. Then she handled her own sanitation. She put on a disposable gown and gloves and at last unsealed the body. She could see the marks where the previous autopsy had been done and sutured up. With a kunai she went through the careful process of undoing the work so she could see if she could examine what they had found. The procedure was well on its way when she clucked her tongue. There was nothing. No leads. But why did they hide the autopsy? Did they remove something from the body? She combed over every inch carefully against - looking for signs that something had been taken.

There, on the thigh. The word ‘memory’ had been scratched into the flesh. She immediately went to his fingers and checked the nails, and though she could see that they had taken samples she could see that indeed they had been bloody. He had clawed that message into his own leg before he died. But why?

Memories were stored in the mind, the brain. It became the next logical place. Nakano had initially overlooked the brain because it had looked like the skull was fully intact, but upon the closer edxamination she had discovered that there were cuts here as well. She removed the top of the skull only to find that the brain was gone. She narrowed her eyes. None of the other organs had been touched, but someone had removed the brain from this body. The fact that Kurosawa had clawed that word into his thigh as well pointed to one thing - the reason why he was killed was because he knew something and they were trying to retrieve it from his dead brain. Memories and minds were the playgrounds of the Yamanaka. Had the Anbu assigned her this mission knowing of the proclivities of her clan? She personally had not trained that hard with the techniques of the mind, at least not at this time. ”I can probably figure it out though…” Nakano commented to herself.

Nakano cleaned up the kitchen, storing the body once more in a scroll, sanitizing the tables and washing everything else down the drain. She burned the gown and gloves to remove all trace of her presence here. She returned back to her apartment and cleared a wall and set up a particle board with pins and notes. Strings. Conspiracy style. It was time to get organized.

First, Kurosawa. She pinned his name to the board. Another Pin,’ memory’ scratched into the thigh, and brain missing. Were added. Autopsy file destroyed. Morgue Staff. All the strings lead to the morgue staff for now. This would be the next step then. She didn’t know the staff extremely well. It would be important to get a census of the staff and obtain information regarding the morgue staff, and she would have to do this without getting caught or detected as well. She could break into the offices and examine the company files, and then do background checks on the staff. The difficult thing about this, is that Nakano knew that she needed to narrow down her search. The Morgue was still much too vague of a search. She would need to figure out how to infiltrate the hospital offices. It wasn’t like there was a down time in the hospital. As a 24/hour services operation that meant that there would always been people and there was no after hours for her to take advantage of. The time line would be extremely narrow. She would have to watch for opportunities and slip in perhaps during a lunch break for one of the shifts so she could have an opportunity to rummage through their files and find what she needed. Just a list of names of the Morgue staff. Most organizations were loath to create an org chart for security reasons, but as organizations grew larger they would always have to make one. It was inevitable.

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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Sun Jan 28, 2024 7:26 pm

The plan would proceed in the morning. Nakano got up and followed her normal routine of getting ready. Showering and cleaning herself, and making sure that her clothes were neat with a neurotic attention to detail. Then the smell check to make sure that the applied perfumes were good and not too strong. Make up next - it needed to look natural and not too fancy. It was a type of weapon that people often overlooked, but she would use hers. The day begin just like any other. She headed to the Hospital, stopping only briefly on the way to get something to eat. Work at the hospital proceeded as menially as ever. The only difference was the sense of tension that was in the air. As Hanako made her rounds she had to pause and she heard the Nurse’s Haruka and Shizuko talking about something.

”Did you hear that the morgue lost a body?” Shizuko was a dark haired woman with a petite frame. She wore the same uniform as the rest of the staff here and she was busy at the nurse’s station reviewing the nurse assignments which were written on a board. She was correcting them while she gossiped. Nakano moved over to the side of the hall and pretended to be busy looking fr some files. It wasn’t completely unexpected for a nurse tot need the documentation for one reason or another.

”Ugh, that sucks. Can’t wait to stumble upon an unused room only to find a week old cadaver.” Haruka complained. Shizuko looked from her work at Haruka and pulled a face. ”Are you for real? There was an Anbu down in the morgue all day yesterday, everybodies been talking about it. I bet you almost one hundred percenter that he had something to do with the disappearance.” Shizuko shook her head in frustration.

”If the Anbu took the body though, wouldn't they have given their authority to the dean of medicine?” Haruka countered.

Haruka did have a point, but of course it wasn’t really the Anbu who had taken the body, but it was Nakano out of concern for the body’s security. Since the Anbu had left everything in her hand she was going to do everything in her power to resolve the situation with the resources that she had. Nakano thought that this conversation just happened to be one that she might be able to use to her advantage. She stepped over to the two nurses arguing about the missing cadaver.

”Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear. Are you saying that a cadaver is missing in the hospital?” Nakano pretended that she didn’t actually steal the cadaver herself. The two women turned their gaze to her and seemed overjoyed to be sharing the news. They took on a conspiratorial tone. ”Yes! It might have been the Anbu.” Haruka explained.

”It’s probably just lost. ” Shizuko countered. ”How about you, what do you think happened to the cadaver?”

”Hmm… It wasn’t the one we took down yesterday right? I wonder who has been asking about the corpse?” Nakano tried to feign ignorance and plant a seed that would encourage the conversation in the direction that she was looking for.

”No, I heard its a different one.” Haruka explained. ”He was supposedly some John Doe who was wheeled in and guarded by Anbu, but last night the Anbu and the body disappeared together. So I think that there might be something going on.”

Nakano paused… The Anbu had brought the body in, and had been guarding it all yesterday. Didn’t that make him one of the culprits? Why would he give her this missions if he was also actively trying to hide information. Wouldn’t he have seen the autopsy? If he was in the room he would have seen the file get burned as well.

Should she change her plan from investigating the morgue staff? There was just a few things that didn’t make sense, and that included the fact that the Anbu would not have ordered her onto this mission if he had been involved with the traitors who had burned the autopsy. The only reason he would have burned the autopsy report would have been if there was some kind measure of national security mentioned. In that case it would be well within their rights to destroy the scroll to keep enemies from getting the hands on it

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Post by HotelBravo » Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:14 pm

”Do you think that…?” Nakano lowered her voice to a whisper so that both Haurka and Shizuko were forced to lean in closer to her. ”...because the Anbu are involved that something sinister is happening? Who was on duty in the morgue when the cadaver went missing?” She asked in a whispered tone of voice.

Shizuko pulled back and shrugged. ”Well, you know Anbu involvement and all… It’s probably something top secret I bet..” Shizuko seemed like she was really wanting to talk more about the conspiracy side of things but that wasn’t really what Nakano was after. She saw Haruka present microexpressions showing that she had something to say. Before Shizuko could ask more Nakano held up a hand to pause her.

”How about you Haruka, did you have something to say?” If Haruka had any kind of insight into this, she needed to make sure that she was given the opportunity to speak and didn’t miss her chance to speak what might be a valuable insight. The conversation halted for moment as Haurka seemed to be conflicted about what she was going to say next.

Haruka tapped her chin thoughtfully as she considered Nakano’s questions. ”I suppose it was just the usual morgue staff who was asking about the cadaver yesterday - though I did hear that Kaito-san was asking around about the cadaver. I expect that Kunekida-sensei gave him a dressing down after losing it.” THERE! Kaito was it? Nakano tended to be more familiar with the Morgue Staff than most, but if he was searching for the cadaver did that mean that he was somehow involved in all of this?

From what she knew, Kaito was said to have been an assistant when he first started working in the morgue and he worked his way up through his meticulous nature and keen eye for detail. He was currently studying forensic pathology involving shinobi casualties. Nakano tried to figure out how he fit in with everything but the dots just weren’t connecting. It wasn’t immediately apparent if he was involved or not. She would need to speak to him and figure out what his angle was.

If he was the mystery man trying to cover everything up, then she would need t o confront him sooner or later. He also had that brain - that is - if he was the man behind the cover up of the evidence.

”Kaito? Thats interesting. You think he might know something more?” Nakano asked. She had to pace her tone and prevent herself from getting too overly excited about this. Pace yourself. Pace yourself. This was the kind of work that she was trained to do after all. She had to finish this conversation with these two before she just rushed straight to Kaito. Whats more she needed to make sure that their conversation wasn’t overheard. If Katio wasn’t the person covering things up, then the conversation might be overheard by the real person and then the jig would be up.

”Who knows? Kaito’s always been a bit of a gossip. But he seemed more… curious about this one.” Haruka continued. Nakano was chomping at the bit, but she kept her face under control and avoided showing her eagerness to leave. So far neither Haruka or Shizuko seemed to be aware. One of the patients was calling for a nurse and Haruka cursed. ”Sorry you two, duty calls.” She got up and walked in the direction of the patient’s room who was calling for a nurse. Great. One down, just one more to go.

”If an Anbu’s involved, curiosity could be dangerous. Maybe I should chat with him just out of concern that he might get into trouble?” Nakano played coy, like she would be doing Kaito a favor.

”Might not hurt. If there’s something more to this story, Kaito might slip up or say something useful.” Shizuko commented. She was already going back to her work. ”Fingers crossed, let us know if you find anything out, Nakano.”

”I will!” Nakano turned to look over her shoulder as she began to walk away, leaving the two gossipy nurses behind. It was a test of will power to not just run down to where Kaito was right there and then. Nakano didn’t like what this was turning out to be, but at the very least this meant she could do a much more targeted background check.

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Last edited by HotelBravo on Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by HotelBravo » Tue Jan 30, 2024 9:46 am

It was time to look into Kaito a bit more. It was true that this would be for the purpose of looking into if he had any potential connections to Konohagakure no Sato’s legendary Black Ops, the Anbu. It was likely that it wouldn’t be so obvious, but Nakano would look through his record and detect any discrepancies that would hint that his placement here was suspicious. Thus, she made her way to the administration wing, armed with a clip board with some paper and a pen. She was already wearing the uniform of the hospital staff, but the clip board would help her fit into the administration wing a bit more. While she wasn’t completely familiar with the administration staff, since they processed all the paperwork of the hospital she didn’t doubt that they would recognize that she belonged to a different department and wasn’t supposed to be wandering around the Administration wing.

There were multiple facets of the administrative wing. She was specifically looking for the Human Resources files that would have kept the information on the Hospital Staff like Kaito. She exchanged basic pleasantries with a few people in passing, but she didn’t stop to talk. It was important to walk with purpose, and the illusion of purpose served as armor to deter people with questions about what she was doing. No one wanted to get in the way of someone who was walking with a purpose after all.

There it was, the Human Resources File Room. It was a room that was managed by a document management team, and had a door that was secure. Most importantly other people weren’t allowed into the file room, so this would be a challenge, but she needed to get in there, locate the file she needed and get out. She got the feeling that the situation was already escalating, so the quicker she could accomplish her task the better.

The door was closed.

That was good news for Nakano. That means that the file room team had left for whatever reason. Judging by the time it meant that it was most likely lunch break for the team. Nakano approached the door - a simple lock was barely a barrier for a shinobi. This was a hospital in a ninja village so it was still more complicated than just a lock, having some rudimentary seals placed to prevent entry to even the likes of a shinobi. Fortunately, Nakano had the benefit of being a member of the hospital staff which had given her knowledge of how the seals worked for this express purpose. She released the seal and used a hair pin and a kunai to torque the lock and open it.

There. The file room was an impressive sized room with shelves full of documents. Some were meticulous and organized while there were plenty of papers and scrolls scattered about the work areas - seemingly needing work performed on them of some kind. Nakano shut the door behind her so as to not draw any suspicion to her current task. She wandered the shelves until she found the cabinets containing the hospital personnel records. With no one to stop her it was a quick and smooth process of combing through the records for what she wanted. Kaito…Kaito… There. Yamada Kaito? Why did his surname have to start with a Y - that put it alphabetically at the end. She chuckled that she could have saved herself a minute starting there instead. She pulled the file and began to look through the documentation.

Yamada Kaito started at the hospital as a simple assistant butt worked his way up due to his meticulous attention to detail. He has a background in forensic pathology, having undergone education and formal training regarding autopsies and investigations into shinobi casualties. Nakano reviewed his credentials which all seemed authentic to her eyes.

”Did you forget to set the seal?” A muffled voice came from the otherside of the door. Nakano’s breath stilled. She took a final glance at Kaito’s record to memorize his information and address and slipped the file back into the cabinet. She crouched low to the ground and hid among the shelves. ”I could have sworn I had set it.” she heard the sound of keys pressing into the lock and the bolt coming loose.

She could probably talk her way out of getting caught, being hospital staff, but she would undoubtedly lose her position with the hospital and face disciplinary action from the village as a result if she was caught.

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Post by HotelBravo » Tue Jan 30, 2024 12:22 pm

The File room clerks opened the door and began to pour into the room, and they shut the door behind them. Fortunately this was the kind of door that had one portion swing open so the door could act as a window for people to make file requests to the clerks from. They opened the window portion of the door and stepped away to begin their work. Nakano sped towards the window the first opportunity she had and leapt through the window and landed on the wall outside of the file room, having used the wall walking technique to allow her to control the noise her activity. She gently set herself back onto the ground and promptly left the administrative wing.

As far as she had been able to tell, there was nothing that was particularly outstanding from the file she had read. His credentials had been valid, as well as the background listed in the hospital. The hospital already ran its own background check as part of its hiring process and while reviewing the file she hadn’t been able to find any connections to the shinobi forces. He hadn’t even been a shinobi at all it would seem. Was he then just staff ordered to find the Cadaver? Maybe it was a dead end after all. There was no other option but to talk to the man himself. It was still lunchtime for so many of the staff, and this meant an opportunity for Nakano. Perhaps she could catch him for a casual conversation in the cafeteria?

She sped towards the cafeteria and poked her head in. She had seen him in passing before and recognized his face by the photo he had in his personnel file. Great! She had really lucked out. She swung by the lunch line and got herself a tray before she moved over to Kaito’s table.

”Hi there! It’s Kaito right?” She feigned an excited girlish greeting. ”Do you mind if I sit with you here? I don’t really know anybody else.” Despite what he said, she was already taking a seat and establishing a dominant posture with her body language. Social norms would force him to agree at this point even if he didn’t want to.

Kaito looked up from the food and book that he was reading at Nakano. He set the book down. ”Oh, uh sure. Yeah, it looks like there aren’t many places to sit here. You are…Nakano? You bring cadavers down to the morgue sometimes.” He looked back to his food, a bento box that looked home made from the amateurish way it had been organized.

”Thats right, you remembered my name! You know, despite how often we work together we’ve barely ever talk. The morgue must be a challenging place.”

”Yeah, I don’t usually get out much, the morgue keeps me quite occupied. Though things have been a bit unusual recently” He played with the rice in his bento using his chopsticks. Cute. He didn’t seem like the talkative type, time to press the question just a little bit.

”Unusual? How so?” She feigned curiosity into his situation and moved closer. She could tell he was uncomfortable, but in a good way. It always stroked a man’s ego to have the attention of a pretty woman, even a recluse like Kaito was turning out to be. He was either acting or… something else. Nakano didn’t want to imagine that all of this with Kaito would be just another Dead end.

”Well, you know… the missing body incident? It’s not something that happens everyday.” Kaito began. Nakano couldn’t help but dance in her mind around the invisible scale in her minds eye. One scale - guilt the other - innocent. Which would it be? This delicate dance was taking place behind the scenes while this conversation was occurring. She would weigh and measure each word he said…

”I heard about that. It honestly sounds like something out of a mystery novel. Must be a bit unsettling for you guys. She replied with mock concern. Ah but it wasn’t just mock though. She was a kunoichi. Controlling her expression was a part of what she did on a regular basis. She did it here and now. Her mask was impenetrable.

”It is. We’re not even sure how it happened. There’s talk about ANBU involvement, but no one knows for sure.” Kaito’s tone fell as though he had finally let all the stress in the world seep out of his voice. He sounded like a man confessing the amount of pressure he had been placed under. Nakano couldn’t help but wonder if it was actually real.

”ANBU huh? That does add an element of intrigue. Were you there when it happened? Nakano lowered her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. He was a bit of the gossip was the rumor. Time to see if he would take the bait.

Kaito clumped up a ball of rice with his chopsticks and took a bite. He began to speak in between chews. Not exactly, but I’ve been trying to piece it together. Its not every day that ANBU gets involved with something in the morgue. Nakano eyed her own cooling plate. She hadn’t eaten either and decided that she needed to keep up appearances as well.

”True…It must be quite a puzzle. Any theories? She scooped up the noodles she had in her own bowl and began to gulp them down. It was good manners to slurp ones noodles in Konoha - and so she did. She smirked as she saw the Kaito look away from her. Perfect. Another pervert. Nakano liked Pervs, they were easy to manipulate and control.

”I have a few ideas… but its all speculation. I’m just trying to make sense of it. I mean, why would ANBU be interested in a John Doe?” Kaito gestured with his chopsticks, then help up the box to his face and began to shovel in rice. He was going to finish soon and she’d lose her opportunity. She realized she needed to work fast.

”It makes one wonder what was so special about this particular cadaver… That reminds me - my department has been looking for an autopsy report but we couldn’t find it anywhere. Its honestly been a headache. She spoke casually, trying not to draw any suspicious as she stirred her ramen with her chopsticks.

”Uh, yeah something like that. Some of the guys misplaced some reports, I think.” Did he actually seem a little embarrassed? Cute. His responses were all so genuine and few had the scent of deception. She would have continued to doubt him if he hadn’t had such a clean record. This just meant that he wasn’t the one destroying the evidence. Was it someone else in the morgue then?

”Misplaced, huh? That explains why its been impossible to get my hands on the autopsy report for that body that we sent down not too long ago.? Nakano began to steer the conversation in a way to get use of Kaito’s skills. Perhaps she could have him look into the autopsy report that was destroyed. It was worth a shot at least.

”Yeah it does have us a bit on edge. We’re usually careful with documentation. Its just been a rough couple of days to be honest. Maybe I could help with that? Are you able to give me a description of the John Doe or any other details? We go through a lot of John Does.” Kaito volunteered. Inwardly Nakano smiled, gotcha.

”It was a strange John Doe that had Memory carved into his thigh. The Physician upstairs has been talking with the police - apparently they think he was murdered.” She explained in a pitiful manner. Yes, take pity stupid man. Give me what I want.

”that’s weird… They should have just come to our department. I’ll see if I can’t dig it up. If it is recent, it shouldn't be too hard, even with the chaos going on right now.” Kaito stood, his meal finished.

”You’re really the best, Kaito. Perhaps we should go out to eat some time?” Nakano didn’t regret the offer. This was being done as part of her official mission, Takeshi would understand, and besides she didn’t find the meek behavior all the attractive. She preferred someone with darkness. Someone more bold and prone to action. The nice guy type was pretty much utterly boring and predictable. Always bad with women, and nervous. Weak. At least Kaito was useful.

She watched him leave and then began planning her next moves. Kaito didn’t prove as useful as she had hoped, but she had managed to cut off that lead. If she was lucky he would bring back more information that she didn’t already have. Nakano inhaled… Dead End. for now.

To the crimescene then. It was the only avenue left.

1500 / 750 +2 Chakra pool - cashed out
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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Sat Feb 03, 2024 7:39 pm

”Sorry, I’m not feeling well. I think I’m going to use some of my sick time. I’m heading home.” Nakano blatantly lied to her boss at the hospital. She didn’t leave much room to argue, as she was already leaving by the time anyone had thought of a decent argument as to why she should stop. Nakano didn’t actually care about the hospital, but it was nice to work with the injured and dying, not out of any sense of care or duty, but more so she had a sadistic side and while treating them she enjoyed the pain she inflicted. Yeah…

It wasn’t that hard to get Kurosawa’s address after a brief visit to public records. With an odd stroke of luck she also determined that the apartment was the place he had been killed at. She was already on her way to the deadman’s apartment, hoping to catch two birds with a single stone. The only unfortunate part to all of this is that the shinobi police, anbu, and probably the killer had likely already gone through their fair share of sweeps of the this place. As Nakano dashed between the rooftops she paused as something caught her notice out of the corner of her eyes. She turned to look and saw off in the distance a cloaked Anbu had been tracking her movements. Once she had taken notice, they vanished in a trail of leaves. Was it the same Anbu who had given her the mission?

Why were they following her? Was it that she was not actually trusted to complete this mission? The curiosity was that they had entrusted this mission to her in the first place. Thus, she found it obnoxious that they were still keeping an eye on her. If they wanted to micromanage her they should just get down here and finish the seal in her own mind and make her dance to the puppet strings. Unless… was this some kind of test? She had been initiated into the Root program - the Anbu training program and certainly the activity had been brutal, but seeing the potential for her career had been exciting, that and the fact that they had reached out to her about this whole thing. Could it be a test? She had to keep asking herself if this was a measure of her performance and if it was what metrics were they measuring this by?

Here she was. Nakanao came to a stop. Kurosawa’s building looked like it was on the older side. T had th older charm that so often got forgotten about in Konoha. A place that would be destroyed and rebuilt rather than remodelled and renovated. It was a multi-story structure made of sturdy wood and stone and blended a tradition style with the practicalities of modern life in Konoha, for example the second stroy window had a balcony - this style of balcony was specifically made for Shinobi who didn’t necessarily travel via walking into the front door. The front door was typically much more of a threat than anything. The building was located in a narrow alley and similarly sized houses dwelled around it.She hopped down from her perch on top of another building and approached the front gate. She examined the name on the nameplate - Kurosawa. She pressed through the threshold into the Konoha version of what one might call a yard. She marched up to the front door and tried the handle. Locked with police line across. The only difference is that this one also had a sealing jutsu attached to keep the home closed. She would have to break the seal to get entry.

Nakano wasn’t a fuuinjutsu specialist, but at this point she was getting the feeling that she really should take a look into the style. If things were going to keep getting sealed when shinobi were involved. Now that she considered, it was honestly a necessity to seal things if you didn’t want shinobi to get into them. Seal took time even for shinobi to break. There was only two ways to break the seal. One was with Fuuinjutsu, and the other would be with excessive force. Perhaps there would be a way to get around it instead. She moved towards the windows and tried to put a kunai into the gap between the window seal and the window - she felt a very real force preventing her from even making the attempt. There had to be another way to do this, she really didn’t want to force the seal open, it might damage some of the evidence.

Nakano began to walk around the house testing the sealing jutsu. There had to be some kind of weakness. She eventually made her way to the back of the home and here she found the seal had some give. Huh. It was the furthest point from where the seal had been placed. This should do then. She Hammered in four Kunai into the house, forcing them through the barrier. From there she expanded the opening, using the kunai as pitons to hold the barrier back and make a Nakano sized hole. She backed up and then did a leaping flying kick into the back wall, kicking herself through the hole and into the back of the building with only a minimal of sound. Admittedly there had been sound, but it was acceptable for the level that should be in a neighborhood. It would wouldn’t do to have blown the thing with explosive tags after all.

The interior apartment was a fusion of traditional and contemporary. It seemed that Kurosawa was a man that had a love for the things of the past. The floors were Tatami matts and she was half tempted to remove her sandals out of respect, but in this situation after blowing a hole in the back wall she was a bit too far in to this situation to be thinking about respecting the home of a deadman. The first room that she entered seemed like a study. Shelves of books lined the wall and a desk sat with its drawers pulled open and the contents scattered all about the floor. Many of the books had also been pulled from the shelves. Nakano examined the ones on the floor recognizing that they seemed to share some kind of pattern. Archaeology? It was clear that someone was looking through Kurosawa’s books searching for something, and the topic seemed to be related to the findings of the ancient past.

There were many books about the feud between the Hyuuga and the Yamanaka as well. Nakano had never really felt the connection between her clan and herself but the hint of it was enough to give her trouble in her love life with Takeshi. This place had been ransacked three times over, just like she had thought. Everything had been tossed virtually. The actual evidence was not likely to be here it seemed, but maybe there was something that the sweeps before had missed? It would have had to be something subtle enough that a shinobi wouldn’t think to look there - Nakano looked up at the vents and saw that they had been removed. Hm. So they had already looked there. Nakano moved over to the desk and began to check it. False bottoms were common when it came to the business of secrets, and she could see that the false bottoms here had already been discovered. She clucked her tongue and pushed the drawer close, but she felt something… odd. The way the drawer closed wasn’t quite right.

She pulled the drawer out of the desk and crouched down and examined the railings where it normally sat. the part of the desk above the drawer had come loose. She pulled it loose, and gasped hearing the sound that she had just broken a seal of some kind. In a puff of smoke a man appeared. It was Kurosawa, and he looked alive and well.

”I see I have a sneak thief.” Kurosawa said as he glanced around the room. He pulled out a kunai and prepared to approach Nakano. She was so shocked that she didn’t even try to defend herself at first. She caught her senses and held up her hands in a placating manner. ”You’re Kurosawa right? You body was found last night and is now resting in the morgue. I’m trying to find clues about who did this but there isn’t really any leads on who did it.” The clone gave her an incredulous look. He didn’t believe her in the least. It looked like she might have to do this by force. She pulled the scroll out from under the desk and the clone of Kurosawa attacked her at full force. She hadn’t been expecting it to be so strange, and Nakano was even knocked by by the force of his attack.

Nakao picked up a a book and threw it back at the clone
1500/500 +3 Endurance (event, sheer determination - Scaled)
Last edited by HotelBravo on Sat Feb 03, 2024 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Sun Feb 04, 2024 8:13 pm

”So…I’m dead…hm…” The Clone of Kurosawa looked around the building and examined things. ”And I see they have already cleaned this place out…” Kurosawa examined Nakano before he seemed to come to some kind of conclusion based on her appearance alone. ”It looks like you were telling the truth. If you had ransacked this place you would have inevitably triggered some of the traps left behind. Meaning.It must have been one of my close associates who ran through this place.” Kurosawa postulated. ”So you have nothing to do with this, but I really don’t want to believe that I’m dead. I know that I’m just a clone, but its just a hard fact to accept though.”

”Listen, I need your help. What exactly where you protecting? I broke the seal and you were summoned - I presume to protect some kind of secret?” Nakao reached back into the desk, but the Kurosawa clone stopped her hand. ”Unfortunately yes. I’m here to make sure that whoever disturbed the secret doesn’t get access to it without the password.”

”Memory.” Nakano commented. The Clone paused and released her hand. ”Pass code accepted? But how did you find out what the code was if I am dead?”

”Your corpse had the phrase scratched into your thigh.” Nakano reached into the secret compartment and pulled out an old leather journal. ”And what is this exactly?” She looked over to the clone, who glanced at the journal. ”A Journal recording notes on the latest archeaological dig. I was keeping details there and hiding it because it was a matter of national security. Since you know the password and have the book there isn’any point in hiding anything. You have me for about 5 minutes. Then I’ll run out of chakra and that will be the end of Kurosawa on this world.”

”I’m sorry.” Nakano lied. She put a comforting hand on the clone’s shoulder and gave it the most reassuring tone she could manage. ”I need to know who killed you though.Who killed you and what were they after?”

”I wasn’t there when I was murdered, I only have the memories that Kurosawa had when setting this trap. Based on what I’m seeing happened in this apartment, it looks like a fight occurred and then they completely tore the place apart and managed to deal with most of the traps. If I wrote the word memory on my thigh I must have intended for someone to find this book - meaning that only someone who was involved in my research would have known and had motive to kill me. And yet I can’t really think of anyone who would do such a thing.”

”Doesn’t matter. I need a list of your associates, the ones you were working with that had knowledge of the journal.” Nakano slapped a piece of paper onto the desk along with a pen and ink quill. The Clone picked up the chair from its side turned position and set it up right before he took a seat and began to scribble a list of names. Nakano sat on top of the desk watching him write.

”They also took your brain. Any idea why?”

Kurosawa paused. ”My b-brain?” Nakano nodded in confirmation. Kurosawa’s pen hovered over the paper as he considered the meaning of this. ”If they couldn’t have what was in the journal then they decided that they would take what they wanted directly from my dead body. From my mind.” Nakano waited for the clone to continue. He made a face and went back to work on the list of names. ”Telling you what I know could potentially get you killed. I’m really reluctant.”

”Look, someone already killed you over this. Do I really need to explain how if they are willing to kill over this how this might be escalating out of your control? How it already has escalated out of your control?”

”I can’t deny that you’re right. Listen. We found an ancient artifact while doing some excavation for renovation, and the work crew discovered an old research facility belonging to the Yamanaka clan.” Kurosawa eyed Nakano’s hair color. It seemed he was not completely ignorant of the detail, but as Nakano made no objections he continued. ”It was an old Weapon that the Yamanaka had created to defeat their rivals the Hyuuga. Do you know about the time before Konoha’s founding? How.. your…clan and the Hyuugas were in conflict with each other?”

”I’m only recently acquainted with my relations to the Yamanaka clan. Tell me about the weapon.”

”We call it the Mind’s Eye. As far as we can tell it utilizes the Yamanaka’s techniques on a larger scale. We had been studying its capabilities and had essentially learned that it was capable of using those Yamanaka techniques on a large scale. Do you know what that means? You could implant memories on a mass scale, remove them, control people’s minds. The Yamanaka clan were effectively going to wipe out the Hyuuga with this technique. Not just the Hyuuga. Anyone. And now it has fallen into our hands. We had been studying it for years and haven’t been able to make any progress. ”

Nakano was flipping through the journal pages while the clone of Kurosawa spoke. and paused as she reached the most recent entry. ”At least until a few days ago.” Nakano corrected him. She opened the journal and showed the clone the most recent entry. The man slumped in the chair and held his temple. ”That means… From the time that I died, you may have less than 24 hours to figure this out. Once they can get the information from my brain and activate the device it will take 24 hours for it to gather the chakra enough to cast the jutsu. Only this time it won’t be the Hyuuga. Whoever killed me - whoever they want - their memories could be erased to become willing drones. And the worst part is that no one in Konoha would ever even know.” The clone looked down at his hands which had begun to lose opacity. ”It seems like my time is just about up. I hope you g-”

The Clone poofed into a cloud of smoke with an almost comedic sound effect.

Nakano sat down in the chair that he had just been sitting in and began to rummage through the journal pages searching for more detail. A Yamanaka would be needed to use this device it seemed. If she got her hands on it… she could use it to mold Konoha into the image of her desires. The Seal wouldn’t be able to stop her from changing everyone’s beliefs in the city. She could make them all reflections of herself. She could become a goddess, and the only ones who would be able to stop her would be the Yamanaka clan, the Anbu who assigned her on this mission and the person or people who killed Kurosawa.

She picked up the list that was written by the clone. Five Names…

Hina Sato
Taro Yamada
Kazuo Takahashi
Mina Kobayashi
Akio Fujita

Nakano picked up the names and slipped them into her weapons pouch. She finished going over the rest of the house just to be thorough and found nothing else of note. Then she left through the same hole she had created. She leapt onto the rooftops and began making her way back to public records. She was going to need information on who these people were and where she could find them and all this had to be done within the next 24 hours. She would need to identify each and determine if any of the were Kurosawa’s killer. Whoever it was - was likely the one that had Kurosawa’s brain and would attempt to activate the Mind’s Eye.

As Nakano leapt onto the next roof she caught something out of the corner of her eye. The Anbu!

She stopped in her tracks and faced the man. He wore the smooth anub mask, the some one as before and the cloak to hide his weaponry and poise. Nakano didn’t like it one bit. Why was he here? She recalled the words of the gossips at the hospital about the Anbu and the mysterious circumstances about why she had been delivered this mission.

”You’ve done well Nakano. You’re off the mission.” He stated with a cruel finality. Was there a sting to his voice? Why would he be mad or upset? Something didn’t make sense about this.

”Oh? I suppose you would just report a dead end. I on the other hand have obtained a list of suspects.”

1500/500 = +3 Speed

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24 Hours to Midnight [Lonely]

Post by HotelBravo » Tue Feb 06, 2024 11:41 am

”Surrender the evidence and return to your standard duties Nakano.” the Anbu ordered.

”You know, I found it strange how evidence was tampered with and destroyed. Kurosawa’s Brain was stolen, and the autopsy files were destroyed. Who would have both motive and Opportunity to do such a thing? Who indeed Anbu san?” Nakano glared dangerously at this man. ”If you wanted to keep this all covered up you never should have assigned this task to me. I honestly don’t understand what you were even thinking.” Nakano’s hand hovered just above the shuriken holster on her thigh.

”No more acting then.” The Anbu gave a sigh of relief and seemed to relax. ”Yes, it was a mistake to have you perform the investigation. You were supposed to just report a dead end on this case. Once the dead end was reported we would have been allowed to move to the next phase of our operation with Mind’s Eye. Instead, you had to find evidence of foul play - and now I need that evidence to disappear. So hand it over.”

”Did you kill Kurosawa?” Nakano looked upon the Anbu suspiciously. He wore the robes of just a rank and file member, and she actually started to wonder if he was even an Anbu or just an operative in disguise. No, he must have been a real Anbu, otherwise he would not have had the authorization to do some of the things he had down at the hospital. He wouldn’t have been allowed to sit around the Morgue all day, and he also knew that Nakano was in the Root trainee program. So there was some legitimacy to what he had done, but she couldn’t wrap her head around WHY he had done all of this. Was he actually the one who had Killed Kurosawa?

The Anbu, held out a hand expectantly. It seemed he was prepared to accept the evidence. ”No, and I didn’t take his brain either.” He answered. Nakano saw a subtle shift beneath his robes and knew he was lying. If she surrendered he would kill her. There was a blade waiting beneath that robe, and it had her name on it. Well, she wasn’t going to fall for something that obvious. He would have to work for his victory. She still didn’t have all the pieces to this puzzle, however. The Anbu seemed like he might have been involved in a conspiracy in some way. Nakano could certainly see how if this was reported as a dead end, he and his conspirators would be able to use teh Mind’s eye with impunity and without the oversight of the Konoha Anbu. He had the means and the motive, but he claimed he didn’t do it. Well, he could be lying.

”But you know who did?” She settled on asking him. She eyed that suspicious movement beneath the cloak. He was giving himself away. Why was he being so obvious about the blade under the cloak? Did he… A slow realization began to dawn on her.

”Last warning girl, hand over the evidence and forget about this ever happening or I will be forced to do something drastic.” the Anbu stepped in, he gestured with his hand once more. Demanding that she surrender to him. That she place those documents into that awaiting hand and accept her death. She knew too much and became a liability. He would eliminate her and proceed with his plan. He’d report Nakano as having attacked him and people would honestly believe it. Nakano was really annoyed that the people of Konoha thought so little of her despite that seal in her mind regulating who she could and couldn’t kill and maim.

”Like what? Bend me over your knee? You know Mr. Anbu, I have a little seal in my head that prevents me from aiding Enemies of Konoha, and you are looking like an enemy right now. We could just… maybe get to know each other a little better first?” Nakano cocked a hip to the side and put on a charming smile. Maybe she could manipulate him into changing his mind about killing her. She leaned forward in a dangerously seductive pose. She couldn’t read his facial expression but he didn’t move at all. So. This wasn’t going to work. It had been worth a shot at least.

”Hah, that seal? Did you know since I was in charge of your mission I had the encryption for the seal to release it? It’s sounding to me like the seal was broken and I was forced to put you down.” Nakano felt a sinking feeling. This was exactly what she had been concerned about, only it was that much worse. He’d be releasing the literal monster inside of her and would be completely justified in killing her. The seal screamed at her - PROTECT KONOHA! PROTECT KONOHA! PROTECT KONOHA! Over. Over. Over again. There was nothing she could do. For a brief moment she was paralyzed as she watched the Anbu’s open hand turn into a handseal instead. ”You had your chance, psychopath. Kai.” A waive of release hit Nakano. It was euphoric. The Screaming of the seal died like the dying of the light, and she felt like her senses had become so much sharper than they ever had been. It felt like she had been asleep and now was finally awake. It felt… good. Having lived with the seal, It became more obvious now how much it had exactly been influencing her mind. She could feel the desire and urge to kill. To split this man open and spill his guts on the ground, and now without the seal to stop her, she could take her time and enjoy herself.

”Ugh! Hmm… I think you’re going to regret that Anbu-san. I’m not just a genin you know.” Thousands of thoughts about what she would do to the Anbu flooded her brain as her imagination was finally allowed to run free.

The Fight was on. The Anbu closed the gap in an instant, although Nakano wasn’t a slouch when it came to speed, he definitely had the advantage. She was already flashing through a series of handseals, and as he pulled up he drew a tanto and slashed for her throat. She ducked beneath the arc and completed the set of seals and broke off a piece of her mind and had itt invade the Anbu’s. She could see the Anbu immediately become sluggish as a result of her mind interfering with his. She followed up her technique with a genjutsu. His limited thinking combined with the illusion meant that he would have trouble escaping the technique. His mind would not be capable of processing the illusion’s discrepancies before she finished the fight. She drew a kunai and stabbed the Anbu in the throat, only for him to revert into mud. Nakano gasped and dived as a fuuma shuriken flew where she had been. Its large blade would have bisected her if she had remained in that spot. She glanced to see the shuriken bite into a stone wall. She followed its path back to the attacker.

”You didn’t think I was stupid enough to fight fair against a beast did you?”

Nakano clucked her tongue and unleashed a volley of shuriken against the Anbu operative. He deflected them with his Tanto and unleashed a massive fireball with just a single hand seal. Nakano countered with a water shuriken that evaporated next to instantly but bought her enough time to drop from the ledge of the building and watch the fireball fly overhead. She slid and gripped onto the side of the building. She leapt across the street and ran up the side of the building that the Anbu was on. As soon as she peered over the ledge a tanto was stabbing down at her. She danced to the side at the last possible minute feeling its blade slice through her flesh and cutting a line in her turtleneck shirt. She wouldn’t let him get away with that for free. She formed a chakra scalpel on her hand and cut the tendons wrist and hand. The Tanto fell loose as the fingers lost their strength and Nakano caught the free Tanto and turned around to attack with it,but the Anbu retreated backwards. He reached his hand behind his mask and bit his thumb, forming a series of seals and activating a summoning technique. A Sea of Fur came to life in the form of a giant shadowy wolf with red eyes.

The creature lunges at Nakano, its paws force her to the ground while its teeth snapped at her - she jammed the Tanto into its mouth as a bit to prevent it from biting her, and allowing the blade to slice the creature from inside its own mouth. This forced the creature to back off, but Nakano lost the Tanto as a result. The Anbu was preparing another jutsu, but the Shadowy Wolf was about to charge her again. She had no choice but to deal with the wolf first. She pulled an explosive tag out of her weapons pouch and placed it on the ground. When the Wolf leapt at her again she rolled backwards and away - leaving the explosive tag where it was and detonating it as the wolf landed on it. The creature was destroyed in an instant and dissipated into smoke.

Blasting through the smoke was a volley of fiery darts. Nakano dodge the first preparing her own Water Jutsu and spat volleys of water jutsu to counter the remaining fire release techniques, creating a screen of hot mist as the fire and water combined to cancel one another out. With the benefits of the mist obscuring Vision, Nakano used her sensory techniques to locate the Anbu. She created an illusion of herself in the mist, and waited.

The Anbu lunged for it, and the illusion would vanish, only for the real Nakano to hop onto the Anbu’s shoulders and slam a kunai into his heart. She could feel the kunai slip on the flak jacket’s plate before it started to give way, but this bought the Anbu some additional time. He pulled his glove off with his teeth revealing a fuuinjutsu on his palm which detonated in a flash of light. Nakano was taken aback and was thrown to the ground. She cleared her eyes and was ready to fight another round only to find the Anbu dropping a smokebomb and her chakra sensory jutsu identified that he had retreated.

He had run.

”Damn it!” Nakano cursed. She felt unsatisfied. The seal was gone and she had no limitations now. She licked her own blood to savor its taste and wondered how his blood would taste when she got through with him. She was free now. She could do whatever she wanted, kill whoever she wanted. As she weighed and measured the choice, she recognized as she had before the seal had been placed that Konoha was a valuable resource to her survival. That, and Takeshi. She wouldn’t betray him as well. Killing randos would not be approved by Konohagakure no Sato.

Her fight with the Anbu would be reported as well. Perhaps it would be insubordination? She knew he was going to report that her seal had broken and that she had attacked him…

In this case the only logical conclusion was to get her hands on the Mind’s eye, find Kurosawa’s killer - and perhaps she could even use it to wipe everyone’s minds of this event, except for herself. Hm… if it really worked like they had suggested, she could actually take control of the village with a thing like this. She could transform everyone into a reflection of herself. Their minds would be clay in her hands to mold as she pleased.

2000/500 =+4 pool
Last edited by HotelBravo on Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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