[U]ltimate [P]ostal [S]hinobi [Exam/Mission]

[Kogami Ayumu]

Benni​

Even if Benni wasn't totally into the "sense-play" Tomo was subjecting him to, he had little choice after he had his hands cuffed behind the chair. But he was more than willing to cooperate. He wasn't a stupid person, but he wasn't thinking right now and that much was very clear. "Well, you do have your kinks, don't you?" Benni noted, chuckling. Offering no resistance, Benni allowed himself to be blindfolded, his ears plugged and even his nose clamped. For Tomo, this now meant he no longer needed to hide his true appearance which alleviated the constant drain on his chakra and allowed him to focus on other things. As the true Tomo searched, his ink clone got kinky but not too kinky with Benni in order to distract him. A side effect of having his nose plugged, the little whimpers that Benni was emitting at the touch of the ice sounded hilarious.

As the clone bought him time, Tomo made quick work of searching diligently for the package. It wasn't anywhere in plain sight, but Tomo had the luxury of being thorough and after some time he opened the right cabinet door. Finding the familiar brown package at last, he pulled if off the shelf within the cabinet. As it came off the shelf, the bottom of the package suddenly fell open as Tomo realized too late that it had been upside down. From the box fell a cascade of packaging peanuts, but also something else. A small, unassuming poker chip fell among the foam peanuts. Making a roll for dexterity, Tomo's hand shot out and caught the chip as the packaging peanuts scattered onto the ground making a profound mess. Feeling the chip in hand, it had a weight to it unlike the others Tomo had handled earlier. It felt different. He had little time to consider that, unfortunately. A knock came at the door.

"Benni, sir?" a muffled voice came from the other side of the door. Benni was, of course, unable to hear it. Another knock followed. "We need to speak with you. It's about Bikuta."

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Tomo's elation at seeing the package was his downfall as he quickly yanked it from the shelf without a proper inspection. The contents spilled from the box, and only thanks to his nimble hands did he catch it among the shower of packing peanuts. It was a chip, though obviously heavier as Tomo lightly tossed it up from his hand and let the odd weight fall again upon his palm. With his attention dedicated to the chip, the sudden knock on the door startled him, causing him to pocket the chip in one of his pouches protectively. Turning on his heels, he lightly cursed under his breath, as Benni was in no shape to answer...and now hearing that this minion had something to say on Bikuta, Tomo didn't want the casino owner to reply.

Thinking fast, Tomo hid the peanut evidence by using a small gust of wind to blow them back into the cabinet, closing it behind them. He power-walked to the door and gave Benni a quick scan, as well as the jacket lying on the ground. Tomo pointed to his rear as he looked to his clone, and it gave a nod. It stood in front of Benni, covering the man from view should Benni on the other side get a peak within. Tomo's regular visage should be enough to fool a man to think him a woman from only a quick glance. Tomo himself transformed into Benni with surprising accuracy. His attention to detail was a blessing from his archery training. About the only thing that could be off was the man's height, as Tomo had little time to get to analyze that.

He breathed in and out once before opening the door quickly. He stepped out, motioning for whoever it was in front of the door to back up if he was too close, and hastily closed the door behind him. Tomo went for a more perturbed look, hoping that would be the proper 'Benni' reaction. "I'm entertaining presently, and you are interrupting, so make this quick. What about Bikuta?"

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Benni​

Waiting outside, the guard was beginning to get slightly suspicious at the lack of answer, but fortunately Tomo opened the door just in time. That combined with the mention of "entertaining" gave Tomo a decent alibi for the few moment's wait in answering the door. Fortunately for Tomo, the chair where Benni sat was out of line of sight from what the guard could see from the door. As Tomo spoke, he noticed the guards eyes darting slightly up at something ever so often but otherwise he didn't seem too suspicious of Tomo. The aggressive nature of his impression was fairly close to the real thing.

"Well... the courier that he hired... the one we buried yesterday, he was seen at Bikuta's house earlier. A woman came out right after that who nobody ever saw go in. We haven't seen the courier since and Bikuta was alone when the ones watching him forced their way in. I know you're uh... entertaining, but there was the woman who left his house and we just wanted to make sure there wasn't nothin fishy going on with your guest, see," the man spoke, clearly a bit nervous. Meanwhile, his eyes kept darting up above Tomo's eyes from time to time. At last, he seemed to work up the courage to say something else.

"Er, sir... you've got a... a uh, packaging peanut in your hair," he said, averting his eyes as if he was bringing up some greatly shameful subject. While Tomo dealt with the interrupting guard, Blissfully unaware of the guard interrupting the fun, Benni sat in his chair where he was noticing a distinct lack of interaction suddenly. Was she teasing him? He started to call her name, but fortunately the Tomo clone was quick enough to silence him one way or another. "What was that?" the guard questioned, peeking furtively around Tomo for the source.

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Tomo's inner fretting was hidden thanks to years of acting. He should have been more cautious from the start, but how was he to know this creep would be watching Bikuta randomly? But Tomo would do his best to see his promise through. He had to turn things away from his rescuer. His nose scrunched in annoyance. "If there was nothing in his house, then it must have been some trick of the mind. We buried that kid good and dead. A ghost maybe?" He gave a nasally snicker before becoming serious again. "As for the woman..." Tomo trailed off, as he realized the henchman before him was distracted by something.

Finally it was revealed that Tomo had made a mistake, not thinking to ensure his body was peanut-free. He could play this off, he was still in control, though it was getting more and more difficult with each passing moment. Especially when that idiot Benni gave a call from the other end of the door. His face winced lightly, and he willed his clone to do something he'd hoped to avoid. Clone Tomo shoved his tongue into the man's mouth. Tranformed Tomo, standing before the minion, smirked as he grabbed the peanut from his hair and crushed it in his hand. "That woman is a freak, that's what. She's in a very compromising position, so I'll handle figuring out if she's legit or not." Tomo performed his best creeper smile. "I'll let you know if she's a fake. If not, don't disturb me." Tomo waved the man off before turning to once again enter the room.

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Oh, the sacrifices Tomo was making for the sake of the mission. If only he had a sock to stuff in Benni's mouth instead. Still, he had stopped the noise before Benni had aroused too much suspicion from his guard outside the door. On the plus side, the noise had distracted him from the packing peanut on Tomo's head a moment ago. In response to Tomo's excellent impression of the creepy casino owner, the guard chuckled and nodded understandingly. "You dog, you. I'm jealous. All right, I'll let the others know to leave you alone for the night, heh heh," he said, tapping Tomo's shoulder with his fist. With that, he grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it shut behind him as he left. Crisis averted. And hey, at least it was just clone Tomo that took the fall, right?

Now, Tomo was once more alone with Benni and would be for as long as necessary. Benni was totally into Tomo's weird fetish play, especially after the unfortunate kiss. Tomo had the contents of the package in hand and Benni was pretty much completely indisposed. Now it was more or less just a matter of getting out of there and finishing the delivery. As far as options for escape, the suite had plenty of windows behind their curtains. Tomo also had the option of walking back out the front door, of course.

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Tomo closed the door behind him, sighing in relief as he released his transformation jutsu. He would definitely need to master this jutsu after the mission. It was proving more useful than he thought it would. He rubbed his forehead as he approached Benni. The strain of maintaining transformations, a clone, and ink materials was starting to strain him. But he needed to keep pushing. Just a little more and he could be done with this ridiculous mission. The clone pulled away from Benni, gagging a bit as it turned away from the ear-plugged man and returned to its inky origins. Tomo grabbed a few pieces of paper from his notebook and wadded them together, fusing them permanently with his chakra. He shoved the paper ball into the cuffed man's mouth, getting it deep enough so he couldn't remove it, but not enough to cause the gag reflect to kick in. Tomo removed the ink earplugs and tossed them at the ink puddle formed from his clone. The less he had to maintain, the better, and he'd clean it up before leaving.

Tomo slipped in close to Benni's ear, raising his voice to match his previous alias. "I'm glad to see you like it rough, because things are going to get a lot more violent soon enough." Tomo finished piecing together his performance and began. "You killed him...my lover. He told me. You know how? Because when a shinobi dies, they don't stay dead, especially one of his ilk. So I'm not going to get revenge by killing you. That would be letting you off easy. Instead, you can expect your little establishment to be haunted. Shinobi ghosts are the worst kind of ghosts. They don't just flicker the lights and toss around objects. They like to be flashy. So have fun with that." Tomo formed a hand seal, and the pool of ink formed into a tendril. It slammed against Benni's head, knocking him unconscious. Tomo released the ink handcuffs, and returned all of the black liquid to his ink well.

Groaning sounded in Tomo's brain, and he muttered under his breath. "About time." Tomo-boy, I do say, that was incredibly unpleasant...whatever it was...what happened? A few moments of searching Tomo's memories led Haruki to his answer. How utterly despicable. Burying a specimen such as we under disgusting piles of dirt. Another moment of silence resulted in laughter. Oooohoohoohoo! My Tomo-boy. Your little revenge plot is quite remarkable. Who knew you had it in you? Tomo shook his head. Even he was surprised at his ingenuity, but he couldn't take all the credit. Growing up in a performance troupe meant he was surrounded by 'creativity' at all times. As well as revenge plots. Those were plentiful in his family. Something was bound to rub off sooner or later.

Tomo neared the door and locked it, keeping his voice low in case someone was listening. "So you think we can pull it off?" Indeed Tomo-boy! Though I believe I would be the better choice for the role. "Not a chance, just show me how to do it." Oh, fine fine. I guess you deserve this, seeing as you had to play Tongue-of-War with the enemy. Pay close attention. It's a high-performance jutsu, and improper utilization can result in injury. Tomo nodded as he watched the imagery Haruki pushed to his mind. He gave his pouch a pat to make sure the chip was secure before performing the appropriate hand seals. This caused his body to take on a sickly green aura. Turning a hint transparent, Tomo looked down at himself. His clothes were still dirty from his premature burial, but being a bit more theatrical couldn't hurt. Some ink special effects would do nicely. Ink oozed from its well and created dark splotches on Tomo's clothes, hair, and skin. It took on the green hue, making it appear more like mud than ink. From some of the splotches, small wiggling tendrils formed, impersonating wriggling worms. He mussed up his hair, and pulled some of it over his eyes to get a more disheveled look.

Feeling satisfied with his transformation into a sickly poltergeist, Tomo phased through the door, his face wincing at the pain. Though his body was spectral, he was still very much alive. Thus, passing through objects, especially solid walls, disrupted his body, causing a bit of damage. Once on the other side, he floated over the steps, with some help from his wind jutsu, and passed through the wall above the door, traveling through it so as not to be detected. He was going to have a few bruises after this was all over. Once he was above what he believed to be the center of the casino area, or somewhere close, he lowered from the ceiling, letting loose an *insane cackle. After a quick scan of the area around and below him, Tomo electrified his surrounding and began raining lightning from above. He avoided hitting anyone, focusing instead on a few machines, some light fixtures, and empty space. He spoke, keeping his voice in that pitch that oozed psychotic. "You thought you would get away with killing a shinobi?! Though my body rots below the earth, my spirit will haunt this place for ALL ETERNITY AHAHAHA AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" He held his hands up, his eyes flitting about the room for dramatic effect, as well as to watch for any moron who thought to try and attack him. If he saw such an attempt, he would summon his Spectral Senbon and disarm the possible attackers.

Once satisfied that enough people had seen him and were thoroughly mortified, Tomo released the wind holding him up, and fell from the air. He passed through the floor and as he reached the earth underneath, he formed hand seals and sank within using his Inner Earth Reflection Lure. He released his Ghostly Form, sweat pouring from most of his body. His breathing was ragged as he pushed through the ground, forcing himself to keep going far past where he thought the casino ended. Though his chakra pool was larger than was common, all this effort was working him to his limits. When he felt he was a safe distance from the casino, Tomo moved himself closer to the surface. He found a place snug between two basements, which he deduced meant he was within an alley. One more time. One more transformation. Once he was out of the city, from the eyes of Benni and his gang, Tomo could finally return to his true form and rest.

Since he didn't need to infiltrate, all Tomo had to do was not look like himself. However, to conserve energy, he wouldn't get crazy with it. Knowing that transforming into someone he knew, especially with close genes, would be the easiest to sustain, he closed his eyes and morphed into who else but his twin Tama. Well, they didn't look like twins as much these days. She was shorter than him by two inches, and her frame was a hint more muscular. Instead of the blue and black of Tomo's hair being parted vertically, hers transitions horizontally from blue roots to black past her shoulders. It was in a braid, and he wore her usual purple combat performance gear.

With his transformation into his twin successful, Tomo placed a hand on the layer of earth above him, making sure nothing was over him. Feeling confident that he wouldn't emerge underneath anyone's feet, Tomo opened the ground and pulled himself onto the surface. Hopefully no one caught sight of this, but if he noticed someone, Tomo would give the person a devilish smirk, the same one he'd seen his sister give since they day she learned to smile. Though his imitation of her was quite impressive, he couldn't hide the sweat that still formed on his body. He needed to make this quick.

Tomo gave his surroundings a quick scan, contemplating how he should go about finding Kiritsugi Taiga. He was surprised he even remembered that name. In the end, his tired mind could only think to ask around. He kept his eye out for any obvious Benni thugs, making sure to avoid speaking to anyone that may even remotely get him caught. He did his best to keep his Tama persona as he questioned the first person who he felt comfortable asking. He puffed out his lacking chest and placed his fists on his hips. "Hiyah! I'm lookin' for Kiritsugi Taiga. You know where I'd find him?" With luck, it would only take one person. If not, he'd just have to keep asking. He also kept his eyes peeled for the man in question, as he had put to memory the picture Sennin Kogami had presented to him.

[WC: 1,463]
[MFT]

*Think crazy Jafar laugh from Aladdin

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

As Tomo began speaking, Benni became visibly more distressed as he continued beginning to squirm and try to get out of the chair he had moments ago been happy to occupy. He was thoroughly bound, however, at least enough to keep him from quickly escaping and with one quick blow to the head he was out. The casino owned slumped over in his chair going quiet. Tomo, at last reconnected with Haruki, began to quietly formulate a plan. Their short meeting was uninterrupted, as Tomo had assured by his acting as Benni moments ago. Preparing his costume and acting chops, he passed through the walls and entered the casino proper, lowering himself into the center of the large room where all eyes were quickly drawn to his ghoulish appearance and a silence fell over the room- save for the slots that were still spinning and Tomo's maniacal laughter. As Tomo began speaking and raining down lightning, screams rung out and patrons began to flee in terror out the doors leaving their chips strewn across the floor.

The lightning strikes hitting lights and machines overloaded the circuit breaker and the whole floor went dark before moments later the emergency lights clicked on. Some of the guards in the room were those who had participated in Tomo's premature burial. The ones that weren't fleeing with the patrons drew guns and began firing, though their aim was poor in the low light. Thinking quickly, Tomo launched his senbon at their hands to disable them and cause them to drop their firearms. With no apparent defense against the spectral nightmare before them, the remaining guards fled, some letting out shrill screams while others waved their arms wildly in the air as they escaped. Tomo's theatrical performance was more than enough to clear out the establishment. Most of the people inside had never seen a shinobi to know of such terrible powers, let alone a shinobi's vengeful ghost. With nothing left to do, Tomo dropped through the floor and traveled through the earth to a suitable location to emerge.

Rising from the earth in the alley, he returned to the surface just in time to see two of the patrons from the casino fleeing past the alley oblivious to Tomo. Determined to finish his mission at last, Tomo took a new appearance and began asking around for the client. It didn't take long before someone recognized the name and pointed him in the correct direction. A quick jaunt across town found Tomo in front of a large manor. After a knock at the door, a butler appeared who seemed to be expecting Tomo, albeit much earlier than now. Tomo was invited into the foyer where he was given the option to sit on a very comfortable chaise lounge while he waited for Taiga. Looking around, the floor of the foyer was marble, a chandelier much grander than Benni's hung overhead and a grand staircase led to a second floor. After a few minutes, Taiga himself appeared at the top of the stairs and began descending.

"Oho ho ho, there you are!" the man said as he reached the middle point of the stairs, waving to Tomo. He was wearing a fairly plain but comfortable looking kimono and had his hair tied up in a loose knot. He looked much like his picture, down to the grin on his face. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he picked up a clock on a side table and checked the time before setting it back down. "Wow, we were expecting you last night... you didn't run into any trouble, I hope? Oh... I don't see a box?" he said, looking Tomo up and down with a somewhat worried look upon his face. He even walked around Tomo slightly, as if checking to see if it was behind him before stopping and scratching his head.

[OoC: Since you've made it to Taiga, I'm going to go ahead and say mission complete and promotion to Chuunin acquired! Congrats, Tomo's not the forever-Genin anymore! Tomo can go home proudly to Saeko! You can go ahead and request your banner now~]

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Tomo couldn't be more thankful when he received directions to Taiga's household. He did his best to keep Tama's usual pep in his step, but it was proving difficult. He reached the mansion, and was invited in by a butler. The Mochizuki admired the inner decor, becoming even more curious why a guy with a home like this would want a poker chip. But it wasn't his place to ask, and as his body continued to feel heavier from strain, he eventually didn't care.

Hearing the laugh before he saw him, Tomo whipped to face Taiga. The man was humbly dressed, and seemed out of place amongst the fancy things within his abode. Tomo straightened to attention, forgetting his Tama persona as the need to be professional overtook him. Luckily, he didn't forget to speak like her. "Oh, well, there was a mishap with some casino guy. Benni was it? Not sure if that rings a bell, but seemed he wanted the parcel." Tomo pulled out the chip from his hip pouch. "Sorry about the unpackaged state, but it should be in top shape. It was still packaged up until the point I had to take it back." Tomo bowed deeply as he held out the poker piece to the man. He held the bow longer than usual, to show the sincerity of his apology. Though he had successfully delivered the item, it didn't excuse the fact that it had been stolen and opened. Once it was received, Tomo popped straight and gave a salute. "Through weather, thieves, and terrain. For your mailing needs, trust the Main." He clicked his heels together before giving another bow. "And now I must depart sir. Please, have a nice day." Tomo awaited Taiga's reassurance that it was okay to leave before exiting the building.

Tomo's pace quickened as he drew closer to the city's outskirts. He remembered the location where he had been ambushed, and wanted to make sure he was a good mile or so away from that certain spot before returning to his true form. Once it was safe, and not a soul was around, Tomo jumped into a pine tree and released his jutsu. He rested upon a large branch, wiping the sweat from his brow with a gloved hand. Oooohoohoo! That was quite the adventure Tomo-boy. Tomo gave a nod. "Desk job, here I come." Little did Tomo know that he wouldn't be so lucky.

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