”Coup Intel” said:
Yuri was very nervous on this mission. Not only this was his first mission by himself, but a mission without his body’s original owner. Because Yuu has to recover from his recent transfer into his new Uchiha body, he had to take his place under his place to take the mission. While he was worried that his personality may give others some suspicions, it didn’t deter his confidence as he was already feared in the criminal world as a “blue-haired demon brat”. Though like Yuu, he would have wished to have a better nickname.
Thankfully, the mission for today was to gather intel about a suspected coup against some of the Chuunin in Kumogakure. It might be difficult for other Genin, but because Yuri was never human in the first place, his abilities may able to complete this mission in his current rank for his host’s sake. Besides, if he dies, Yuu might have low chances of survival in his current artificial body.
Standing at one of the buildings of Kumo, Yuri looked down at the streets as he saw what it looked like a shinobi wandering around at night. He would shrug it off as a shinobi in patrol, yet he seemed to look around the area as if he didn’t want anyone to see him. Suspicious, Yuri silently followed the man by using a Transformation Jutsu to change his appearance into an older, but hooded man. However, he has to make sure that the shinobi didn’t notice his presence, so he has to walk slowly to prevent him from hearing his footsteps while keeping his breathing to a minimum.
But just as he can hide once more, his eyes widened to see that he was entering a shady-looking bar right by the alley in Susukino District. It was certainly strange as shinobi aren’t supposed to enter some suspicious building unless it was for mission purposes. Yet, he finally got his answer as he silently entered the bar and saw the shinobi talking to some middle-aged men wearing leather armors and ragged scarves. Curious, he sat down on a seat near the table where the men are seating as he lifted his hair off from his left ear to listen to their conversation.
“Tch… Honor and loyalty, my ass. I have to take more missions just to pay those Raikage and Sennin and all I get is some measly 10,000 yen?!” The shinobi said with a poisonous tone just as the bearded man chugged down one of the mugs full of alcoholic beverage.
“Hey, isn’t 10k a lot for you?” The bearded man asked.
“Yeah, but not to us. I still can’t believe they didn’t catch on that I was one of you, guys. For a bunch of highly trained shinobi, they ain’t very bright.” Yuri just frowned at his words, knowing that his host would be also offended as well. If he knew Yuu, he knew his first reaction was to smack that guy with a Chidori. Thankfully, he was taking his place right now, so he’s relieved that he wasn’t here for now.
“Forget about your job right now, did you able to get the blueprint map of that tower?” The man in a bandana demanded as he glared at the shinobi, which he replied by tossing a scroll in front of him.
“Every detail right inside that scroll.” The shinobi chuckled as he grabbed his mug and drank his own alcoholic drink. “The boss better pays us big with this. I don’t want to risk my cover being blown over this.”
The bandana man also chuckled as he grabbed the map from the table and opened it, which he grinned as he saw its contents. “Don’t worry, Eishiro. Our new boss is paying us big! So I doubt they will know everything. Besides, we just need to get some shinobi inside and torture them until they let our friends out of jail. It will be a snap!”
“Oh, don’t you know it!” The bearded man also chuckled as the shinobi joined in. Yuri, on the other hand, has heard enough as he silently left the bar. He knew that with the map was now in the bandits’ hands, it would mean danger to everyone. He has to report this back to the higher-ups, but he needed to eliminate the mole first.
----
A few minutes have passed and Yuri, who was still in his hooded disguise, was waiting not far away from the bar. He didn’t show any signs of weariness, yet he was still vigilant at his current goal.
As he waited, the same shinobi just left the bar and was going out the alley. Upon he saw this, Yuri silently pursue him as he stayed under the shinobi’s shadow as he followed him. It only took 30 minutes to shadow him as the shinobi entered an empty street of the village, where villagers are now resting inside their homes. But just as the shinobi can able to head to his home, Yuri then spoke out with a threatening tone.
“So, you love your bandit job than being a Chuunin. Am I right, Eishiro-san?”
Hearing that familiar voice was enough for the shinobi to jump in shock and turned around to see him in his hooded disguise with his widened eyes. “W-Who are you?!”
“You may already know me as one of the Genin in Kumogakure, but I think your bandit friends may already recognize me by my true face.”
With a puff of smoke, he let his Transformation Jutsu wear off as he showed his host’s former face. Or rather, the same face who bested the criminals for the past 3 years. In fact, it was enough for Eishiro to drop his legs and shiver at the sight of the 13-years-old boy’s appearance. “Y-You! The ‘blue-haired demon brat’! H-How did you know?!”
“By chance. I was about to report this intel to the higher-ups, but I decided to try eliminating the mole first to prevent any… interference to the village’s peace.”
Those words were enough to make his eyes widened as he slowly backs away from the Genin. “W-Wha-What are you talking about?!”
“Don’t play dumb! I saw you tossing that map of Torre Celeste to one of your ‘friends’. And just so you know, I already saw its contents as well.” He wanted to stop talking and apprehend that man already. But deep down, he can’t help but to confront him and share his disgust at his betrayal. In a sense, he already felt Yuu’s anger of betrayal. “I still can’t believe you worked with the bandits out of greed instead of helping out the village and yet, you still called yourself a shinobi.”
Despite his threatening tone of disgust and disappointment on his actions, Eishiro just grinned as he started to laugh at his words. “Seriously?! Who do I care about this shitty village anyway?! What matters is that I’m going to move up to riches once our new boss pays us big time!” As he said this, he slowly pulled out his kunai from his sleeve when he put his hands behind his head. “Though, I won’t worry about getting the boot anytime soon. Because you’re not telling anybody!”
Suddenly, the shinobi rushed in front of Yuri and swung his kunai through his neck, which caused him to fell on the ground with his eyes widened. Grinning madly, Eishiro dropped his kunai as he slowly grabbed the seemingly dead boy by the collar. “Heh… This is what you get for snooping your nose to places where you don’t belong.”
Before Eishiro can do anything to Yuri’s body, flames started to cover it and before he can react, it exploded right in front of him as they spread through his clothes. The sight of it caused him to scream as he tried to put them out by falling to the ground and rolling through it. He continued to do this until a shadow of a familiar figure loomed over him. His eyes widened as he saw this, realizing that Yuri was still alive standing right in front of him.
“Surprised? I managed to obtain that element during training. Though I didn’t expect you to ignore the rule of ‘expect the unexpected’. So much for being one of the best shinobi of this generation. I only see you as a disgraced and fallen hero in this village.” As he said this, he made some handseals as his focus on his target remained unbroken. “ However, I’m not going to waste my time questioning your ethics. I’m just going to leave the higher-ups with your fate. For now, I have to say it’s time for you to resign your position.”
To Eishiro, he was horrified to hear the young Genin’s voice turned emotionless and threatening. It’s as if his mask as a young boy was unmasked, revealing a cold psychopath waiting to kill him. But to Yuri, it was a sign that he already had his prey. Like a spider managed to catch it with its web. And with the last handseal, Eishiro’s eyes closed, yet he kept breathing.
Despite he wanted to return to his roots and kill him out of cold blood, he still has a job to do and betraying Yuu’s goals wasn’t going to make him happy. Besides, he already has some sense of humanity and he can’t lose it over a corrupted human. For now, he put out the flames and carried the unconscious mole back to headquarters, hoping to report the intel he just got to the higher-ups.
Yet, there was one question remained:
Who was the one who paid the mole and his friends? And how in the world did he managed to get the map of the tower?
In any case, he just wanted to finish up this mission and head back home to see Yuu and his family. Yet unknown to him, his actions were well-known in the underground as he was now known by his new nickname: “The Shadow Spider”.
[MFT/WC: 1675]