Jo nodded satisfactorily at the students transformation jutsu. He was right; it wasn’t the best, but it would fool any non-shinobi on first sight. Jo was slightly impressed that Shin had gotten the idea to transform into a fellow Jashinist in order to fool his target. Jo wondered what sort of plan the boy had as their mark turned down an alley. The chunin leaned against one of the walls at the alleys mouth, reaching into one of the interior pockets of his trench coat and removing a polished rosewood smoking pipe.
Jo knew it wasn’t healthy to smoke, but Jo wasn’t too worried about getting cancer, not with his body being constantly repaired from within. He nodded to the boy as he turned down the alley, fishing out some sweet smelling tobacco and tamping it down into the bowl as the soon-to-be shinobi faded into the gloom. The boy had a personal vendetta to attend to; that was a private business for anyone who felt wronged. A sweet, earthy scent filled the air in a billow of grey smoke as Jo ignited the tobacco with a touch of a chakra-infused fingertip. Letting the pipes curved neck rest the bowl on his chin, and holding it in place with his teeth, Jo tugged a modicum smoke into his mouth, mulled it around for a moment to enjoy the flavor, then exhaled it from the corner of his mouth not taken up by the pipe.
From his position in the mouth of the alley, Jo kept a lookout for the boy while simultaneously eaves-dropping on his interrogation. What? Jo had always intended on keeping an eye on Shin during his confrontation with the Jashinist. No offense, but he wasn’t quite sure if the boy was going to be able to control himself if he had the opportunity to kill the man. Instead, Jo found himself mildly disappointed in Shins performance. The wet, meaty sound of flesh on flesh, followed by the flopping sound of a body, announced that the boy had knocked out his mark before changing back into his normal self and exiting the alley.
”Of course not,” Jo answered the boys inquiry, removing the pipe from his mouth as he spoke. ”But first, a lesson. Come with me.” Jo traveled down the alley to the still form of the dark priest, tucking the pipe stem back in his mouth before slipping on a pair of leather gloves and kneel down to check the mans pulse. ”First off; you did well planning your encounter: studied his routine, knew his path back would take him into a secluded location, and took advantage of his trust in those who worshiped the same deity as him. How long did you stalk him before deciding on this course of action?” Jo paused for a moment to allow Shin to answer before continuing. ”Well, be that as it may, you could have done a better job extracting the information. From what I could tell, his opinion of these Makaibatsu cultists wasn’t very high to begin with. A simple bribe would’ve not only gotten you the information, but also could have given you a potential contact in the future. As it is, you now have a victim of a violent crime performed by an Academy student. Assault with a deadly weapon and battery have very serious consequences when they’re not performed under the regulation of a contracted mission.”
Jo let the idea of the boy getting in trouble for what he’d done sink in for a second; though honestly, if the boy was willing to go this far to find this cult, he probably wouldn’t care about the consequences. Jo stood up with a smooth fluid motion, and walked over to a nearby dumpster, fishing around inside for a moment before finding what he was looking for; a section of lead pipe and a two-by-four piece of wood. ”Now, from what I could glean from the situation, these Makaibatsu cultists have sealed a demon inside of you. Am I wrong?” A few seconds to answer were given willingly, a feral smile breaking across Jo’s face at the affirmative answer. Suddenly, Jo’s eyes changed from hazel to a glowing scarlet; a dark aura emanating from his form as he spoke in a voice that wasn’t his own. ”Fear not, little welps. You are among friends.”<i></i> The statement was directed to both Shin and Zansatsu, the demon within Jo surfacing to offer some solace to the boy, and give the demon something to consider in case it attempted to make a rash decision.
Then, just as quickly, Jo was back to normal. ”The thing is; Kumo frowns upon anyone creating an unregistered Jinchuuriki; national security concerns, and all that.” The up-till-now still form of the Jashinist began stirring, a low moan escaping his lips. ”In fact, it would fall directly under Kumo’s jurisdiction to eliminate such a threat. It would be a state sponsored mission; a mission that would, no doubt, be handled by my department. You see, my department specializes in clandestine assassination and strategic covert assault missions. Our soul purpose is the executing of targets in such a way that it can’t be traced back to Kumogakure shinobi. As head of my department, I’ve decided to go ahead and sanction this mission. If anyone finds out a way to summon and seal demons without shinobi training, it could be used to harm the Village. It would be better if no one knew it was possible to do so.” The body of the Jashinist began to stir, arms and legs twitching and repositioning as they tried to pick him up off the ground. ”This,” Jo said, motioning towards the priest. ”Leaves us in quite a predicament. If we leave this man alive, he would know it was you who interrogated him and killed the cultists; thereby linking Kumo to their deaths. Even if others of his religion know about your secret, they’d never know it was you who killed the Makaibatsu’s. It would be left up to speculation. Ergo, we must dispose of this witness, and in a manner which would prevent us from being suspects in his death.”
The Jashinist finally found his feet, holding his head and moaning from where Shin had hit him. Before he could even register what was going on, the two-by-four slammed into his gut. All the air whooshed out of his lungs as Jo brought the lead pipe down on the side of his knee, snapping it messily. The man didn’t even have enough air in him to scream as Jo slammed the two-by four into his back several times before bludgeoning him over the head with the lead pipe; the pool of blood forming around his head and blankness of his eyes testimony that he was well on his way to joining his dark deity in the afterlife.
Jo tossed the improvised weapons back into the dumpster, then bent over and rifled through the now dead mans pockets, removing everything of value; cash, jewelry, his purchase at the market. Hell, even his boots. Pulling a plastic shopping bag from a different coat pocket, he dumped all the valuables inside, then tied the handles tightly overtop. The whole ordeal was over and done with in only a couple of seconds, and no one on the street was any the wiser. Jo stood, tucking his loot into his coat for disposal at a separate location. ”When the cops find him, they’ll think he was just a victim of brutal mugging. Now we have our intel, and no witnesses.” Jo turned and exited the alley, motioning for the boy to follow. ”Over all, I’d give you a C+ on this one. You could do better; but, then again, you are still a student. You’re getting close to graduation, yes?” Jo recalled the boys file, noting he only needed a class or two to finish his time at the Academy. ”Well, I hope you’ll refrain from attacking that cult until after graduating. Perform reconnaissance, learn their routines, watch them for dangerous activity; but do not attack them. When you’ve met all of the Academy’s prerequisites for graduation, I’ll use this mission as a final exam for you. Then we’ll see how much you’ve learned from this experience, and how much you still have to learn.”
Jo tossed the bag of ill-gotten goods into the refuse bin in front of a café several blocks from the scene of the apparent mugging, the little bundle looking for all the world like a bag of trash. Jo kept walking in silence, allowing Shin to ask any questions he may have, or make any statements he wanted to. Then, Jo reached into his trench coat once more, removed a small white business card, and handed it to the boy. ”When you’re ready to proceed, or if you need any advice or help… about anything… Come to the Torre Celeste and give the receptionist this; ask for Narashi Jo. She’ll direct you to my office. Until then, Shin, I wish you good hunting.” With that, Jo turned and left, his form seeming to vanish into the crowd of shoppers. When the boy took the time to study the card, he would find no name, no title, no division information. On one side he would see the sigil of the Main Branch, on the other, a black hand print.
{Topic Left Unless Stopped}
[OOC: Sorry if you don’t like the minor G-modding of an NPC. He had served his purpose, and now he is with Jashin.]
