War and Cookies; A Twin Tale [Open Thread]

[Osuteno]

Spoiler

Two groups of young girls, wearing Kunoichi Scout uniforms and pulling wagons filled with cookies stared coldly at one another as they approached the same high traffic storefront in the market district. One group had five girls, ages five to seven, and while they wore the same uniform they had some rather expensive brand name accessories such as colourful bows and little metal badges with popular comic characters among children. The other group was a pair of six-year-old twins, who didn’t wear anything not part of their uniforms but had many more actual scout badges on their sashes.

One of the two seven-year-olds from the first group broke the tense silence, “Troop #450, what a pleasant surprise to see you here, I thought you were aiming for second place in the cookie sales competition again this year? Why are you moving into our territory?”

““Change of plans Troop #321,”” the twins spoke in unison, ““have you not seen it yet? The prize list for this year’s competition was just released this morning.”” Karasuko, the twin with black hair, tossed a folded pamphlet at the face of the girl who had spoken first, but they caught it without a change in expression and unfolded it to look at the new prize list.

“... I see.” The girl nodded as if this development was no longer strange and sighed. “So it will truly be a war this year. No matter, Troop #321 will have first place again even if it does take more effort this year. So shall we take this to the alley behind Professor Pork’s Pizzeria or the Candy Shop near Aion’s statue?”

““Dawnbringer’s plaza is closer but the Candy Obaa said she will stop selling to Kunoichi Scouts if we keep fighting behind her shop. The tavern owner there said he didn’t mind if we used his rooftop so long as no one is seriously hurt and it wasn’t later in the evening when his business picks up.””

“That works for us.” The girl began but the five-year-old tugged on her sleeve and whispered in her ear.

“Oh Eiko’s Mom wouldn’t want her to go there so do you mind if she stays behind to watch our cookie wagons? She can keep an eye on yours too. No sales until we have this settled. Or we split from our wagons equally.”

““We can have her split sales while we settle this.”” The twins nodded, their parent’s set particular places they weren’t allowed to go to either.

Several minutes later the group of girls had climbed up the side of the tavern and were stretching a bit before they fought.

The other seven year old looked at the twins and asked, “By the way, have either of it unlocked your bloodlines or got a grasp on your chakra yet?” Considering they were both six it would be completely out of the ordinary if they had but since they were confident enough to make the challenge they just may have done it.

But the twins, in a perfectly synchronized motion, shook their heads. “We have managed to feel brief moments of both our chakra and of our bloodline a couple times now,” started the black haired Karasuko.

“But the inspiration banishes and it is like looking for the exact same fish in a sea of them,” finished the white-haired Yukiko, with an annoyed sigh.

This was still impressive in itself but would not help them at all in the fight if they couldn’t pull the power out of themselves. They were planning on fighting using the power of normal little girls, though highly trained ones.

“That is a shame,” the girl replied, her body suddenly hopping with small sparks of electricity. “Because you should know the Captain’s bloodline activated last year, but mine also activated last month. We aren’t gonna lose this year just because our former Captain graduated from Scouts and went on to the Academy.”

Before she was done speaking, Karasuko began running directly at the Santaru child as if she were going to fight head on. Surprised by the sudden start to the fight and a very inadvisable move, she moved into a defensive stance and punched at Karasuko as she entered her reach with her electrified fist.

“No Sena its a trap!” The Captain shouted, but it was too late as Karasuko sacrificed all her momentum to fall flat to the ground and roll to the side with a balloon suddenly appearing from behind her, thrown a moment earlier by Yukiko using her sister’s figure to shield it from the view of the Santaru until it was too late. The electric child’s fist collided with the balloon causing it to burst with the water splashing all over her and causing her to shock herself and knock her unconscious.

“We did hear you finally awakened your bloodline sixteen days ago Sena,” Karasuko said as she rolled from laying on her back up onto her shoulder and kicked one of the six-year-olds in the chin while performing a backflip to her feet...

“But we also heard you don’t have any solid control over it yet and that you even hurt yourself when you went out in the rain last week.” Yukiko continued.

““And at least until you do, you have actually become easier to handle, even becoming a liability.”” The twins said together as the fight was suddenly two on two as the child who was kicked in the chin hit the ground.

The remaining two were shocked but didn’t pause, the second six-year-old drawing an edgeless training kunai and tossing it at Yukiko but the Captain merely took a defensive stance.

Yukiko rolled behind the heating unit and Karasuko charged at the girl who threw the kunai at her sister and the two had a surprisingly fierce exchange of kicks and punches despite both being six years old. The exchange might have gone a bit longer if Yukiko had not thrown a small packet at them.

Wary of another trap the remaining grunt of troop #321 tried to retreat but Karasuko was a step ahead and took advantage of the lapse in their stance to slide between their legs and pull their feet out from under them, causing them to face plant into the ground.

However in that moment, the twins sensed something was off but before they could react to the fact that the Captain of Troop #321 has vanished from where they were standing, there was a loud thud followed by the sound of a small body hitting hollow metal. Yukiko could not even react to being punched into the heating unit and was out cold.

“Kiko!” Karasuko roared and ran at the enemy Captain stomping on the lower back of the last grunt to knock the air out of them as she charged. But right before she could hit the other, their fist was suddenly colliding with her cheek and knocking her down flat, though still conscious.

Troop #321’s Captain looked down at her, “You can pick up your cookies from inside the tea shop next to Professor Pork’s when you wake up. Don’t feel bad about losing, unlike Sena, I am used to my Seikon bloodline, and no scout who hasn’t grasped chakra yet can challenge me. This year’s competition belongs to us as well, though I am willing to bet my sash you two will probably activate your bloodline and chakra and clear next year’s after Sena and I have moved on to the academy. Be content with that.” She then struck Karasuko in the gut, causing her to blackout.

About five minutes later Yukiko stirred grumbling about a concussion and crawled over to her sister as she was too dizzy to stand. “Suko, wake up, we got trounced.”

Karasuko replied with a groan but kept her eyes shut.

“I know… she was about as fast as we were afraid she would be. I believe so anyway, I didn’t actually catch it.”

Karasuko groaned again.

“Just two hits, one to lay you out and another to finish you? We don’t stand a chance as things are then. I thought we would have a chance since that little priestess of theirs is attending the academy but it seems we are cornered again…”

Yukiko laid down next to her twin and they held hands as they sighed in synchronization. They could scheme to a point, but the gap in strength was a bit too overwhelming.

The twins groaned in a mix of pain and frustration, little bloody nose here, strained to breathe there, both feeling miserable. That girl was also much physically stronger than her size suggested! It was unfair their age and development were behind hers by almost a year or it wouldn’t have been this one-sided! They were sure of it! Chakra paths, hurry and develop already!

A little while later the twins were leaning on each other as they slowly walked down the street, Karasuko bandaged up neatly and almost professionally, and Yukiko looking like a beat up mummy.

They passed the entrance of Professor Pork’s Pizzeria without glancing at it, Professor Pork’s dessert pizza buffet was for victories not wallowing in their defeat, and went on into the tea shop next door.

The proprietress saw the rough looking Kunoichi Scout uniforms and gestured to the corner where a wagon of cookies sat. The girls ordered a pot of tea and some dango and took inventory seeing 4 boxes of standard cookies were sold and the money was accounted for.

They slowly climbed up into their chairs wincing here and there and laid their faces down on the table and looking at one another while waiting for their tea and snacks.

Karasuko simply stared at Yukiko who nodded slightly in response, “I know Suko, but there isn’t much we can do about it until either our bodies develop a bit more to allow us to use chakra or if we… somehow… you know.”

Karasuko groaned because she did know what her sister meant. “Kiko, I think we are more likely to develop chakra use two years early than make… well… friends…”

This statement caused the girls about as much pain as being trounced a few minutes ago did.

Yukiko panicked a bit at the challenge making friends presented, “We don’t technically have to make friends… just find girls age 4-7 who would be willing to join our scout troop and fight alongside us and spend time with us almost every day…”

“...”

“...”

““........””

“So how do we access chakra and activate our bloodline reliably faster?” Karasuko immediately gave up on the alternative.

“Daddy would be the most likely to know but would never go for it. Technically speaking letting things run their course naturally is healthiest and be a much more stable building block for future development. The only thing I can think of that would help is… well... putting ourselves in danger and try to get our bodies to let go of our limitations through survival instincts, which is admittedly as stupid to do as it sounds.” Yukiko laid out what was really their only option for speeding things along.

Karasuko sighed once more, “That does sound really stupid, not to mention Mommy and Daddy would ground us forever if they even suspected we would try such a thing.”

The two sat silently for a while as their tea and snacks were placed on the table and exuded a gloomy air in the room.

 

[Aurora]

Professor Pork’s dessert pizza buffet was a bit early in the hour for the girl to bother. Perhaps as an after-treat for the evening after she had gone through several books on politics and laws, but certainly not now. The eighteen year old blonde known as Asami Santaru (née Akaiyuki) would instead step inside the nearby tea house and make her way to the lady behind the counter. She'd pass the twins as if she was but a mere customer, but the KSIS member had spotted their personal thrift with another group of scouts just prior to that. Kids, future shinobi, duking it out. A real cookie sales war. It wasn't an every day thing to be able to lay eyes on such an event, their little war well beyond the level of the mundane. The kids of non-chakra users would have gone about it differently, or certainly not as physical as these had. Nonetheless, the difference in power as well as the presence, or lack of, activated bloodlines had not gone unnoticed.

"One cup of orange blossom tea, please. And... do me half a box of these cookies in a bag, if you don't mind. I need my sugar when studying."

The lady nodded, moving to prepare the girl's request as Asami instead moved to the twins. Injustice was something Asami always found difficult to deal with, the girl feeling like the scales had to be brought back in balance. While her buying a healthy ration of cookies would not make them win the race, it was more a matter of unspoken compassion. Perhaps a bit of advice could help the two out in a different way. Halting at their table, her rose coloured eyes would rest their gaze upon the two, giving them a compassionate smile before she spoke up.

"Good day, ladies. Mind if I take a seat at your table? I noticed your skirmish. That was a rather unfair fight, huh? Are you two alright?"

If allowed, she'd sit in one of the free chairs with legs crossed, waiting for the tea lady to bring her the ordered goods. If not, well, too bad for her. She'd do the same by sitting at a different table just next to them. Their conversation would still be able to proceed that way unless the twins really felt like secluding themselves from others. When the lady would then bring the orange blossom tea and bag, Asami picked up the spoon and gently stirred the hot beverage.

---

Topic entered with: Aurora's alias.​

 

[Osuteno]

The twins didn’t really pay much mind to the new customer until she approached their table asking to join them and mentioning being an audience to their challenge of troop #321.

““A bit embarrassing to know there was a witness to that.”” They grumbled.

“Please feel free to sit,” Karasuko gave a gestured with her hand without raising her head up from the table.

“Please do pardon our posture, we are alright but very sore,” Yukiko said from a similar position, the cool table too difficult to separate from.

““While we are complaining, we went into the fight well aware we would lose, and we don’t actually believe it all that unfair,”” the two spoke in perfect unison.

“Though admittedly we didn’t expect to be demolished by their Captain quite that easily,” grimaced Karasuko.

“It was mostly an attempt to gather information, if you thought this fight was unfair you should have seen their Captain and Vice Captain last year before they moved on to the academy, if they were still around we wouldn’t have even bothered and probably aimed for the third place prize this year, the second place one isn’t really appealing to us this year.” Yukiko said while pulling out a small clipboard from their wagon with a map of the bill on it and many notes about foot traffic and sales and began to look over it sideways with her head still on the table.

““But this year we must get first place and to do so we need two, perhaps a three to be safe, of troop #321’s high traffic locations in addition to our current territory, or we need to take and defend almost a dozen locations under the control of various other troops but we just don’t have enough hands with just the two of us.””

“But it is starting to look impossible unless our own strength increases tremendously or we get a lot more members in our troop,” Karasuko waves her hand as if trying to wave the thoughts away and sat up just enough to sip at her tea, though it was a bit of a struggle.

Yukiko casually showed a bit of the data in the pages of her clipboard to their guest, “Since last year we have only maintained three territories but they were enough for us to secure second place easily and win the 100000 yen gift card for the shinobi bookstore. We don’t even have to compete for two of the locations since daddy is the Sesshou of the medical branch and Auntie Kahako is both the medical sennin and is married to the Raikage so we have the hospital and the sales for the employee gifts from the village recorded on our sales list, the only location we have to compete for and fight off other troops is the library district but since it is the only point we have to defend most have given up trying to take it and keep it from us.”

““This is a major reason we don’t consider the fact they have managed to develop a little early unfair. Besides, they are the only troop with chakra users, simply the strongest troop overall.””

“Plus they are largely girls from medium or upper tier clans,” Karasuko shrugged, “If Daddy were on speaking terms with his clan it would probably be enough to make the difference since our cousin also moved on to the academy and is no longer a member of #321.”

“But that isn’t happening in the foreseeable future, really our problem lies in the fact that we are only six years old and there are only two of us. A number of Scouts start grasping chakra and occasionally even bloodlines around when they are seven though the current Captain of #321 managed to do so a few months before her birthday and has had almost a year to develop it meaning she is a firm tier or two above the rest of us.” Yukiko flipped to a page with rather personal and detailed information about the troop in question.

““As opposed to Sena who has only had her Santaru bloodline for less than three weeks and can be fried by a water balloon,”” the twins broke their emotionless expressions for the first time this entire conversation to show mischievous little grins, and if one were paying close enough attention for a fraction of a fraction of a second it almost seemed as if their eyes turned red though it vanished as quickly as it appeared, not registering with either girl as they giggled, in a rather odd and mysteriously still in sync fashion, about the scene replaying in their mind’s eye.

They finished laughing as Yukiko held her head and Karasuko held at her ribs and gut and both grimaced and groaned, both returning their heads to the table. ““But from now on they will definitely be careful of that particular little trick and eventually she will gain a firm enough control to not get herself fried like a moron. We were mostly aiming to drop her and the grunts to see how strong their Captain is as an individual.””

Both of the girls sat up in a synchronized motion and gulped down the rest of the hot tea in their cups before leaning back in their chairs and giving a single complaint with great exasperation, ““Too strong!””

Karasuko smiled glumly and addressed the big sis who joined their table “So miss curious grownup, do you happen to have any advice for how two physically limited by lack of developed chakra pathways six year olds can reliably challenge someone who can literally warp reality to a minor degree and has tsundere power surge as a sidekick, in addition to being able to fend them off every time they recover to reclaim their territory?”

Yukiko was physically weaker than her sister so she simply returned her head to the table and continued, “Or do you happen to know the secret to making a lot of friends despite every kid calling us creepy or scary and telling ghost stories about us to their friends?”

““Because we are honestly stumped with either prospect.””

 

[Aurora]

The twins proved to be rather remarkable. Going into a fight they'd know they lose was not quite a common approach to matters, even for chakra kids such as them. All that for the sake of information? Seemed like they held quite some potential for KSIS or ANBU with that attitude. It was yet to be seen if that attitude would remain as they grew up and developed their bloodline, since the power of the blood had its own way of directing one's course in life. Under a sip of her cup of tea, she'd listen further to their level-headed assessment of their own situation and took note of the bountiful details they provided concerning their little war.

The Kunoichi Scouts worked with territories, Asami seeing their little game as a chess-like sort of competition. With three territories under their control, of which two were basically handed over to them due to the influence and presence of their parents. As such, the two of them were protecting only one territory by their own skill. While this had not been a problem in the past, today's opposition was fierce enough to force them into moving. Two, three territories of the stronger opposition, or a dozen of the weaker players. Asami would incline towards stealing from the stronger faction, if not to make a point they were better, then because two or three areas still remained better defendable than a dozen. More territory meant more running around, after all.

Her rose eyes would scan over the page with information swiftly, imprinting the information in her memory while the twins continued their explanation. Information on the opposing players was revealed in the progress, mentioning a Seikon and Santaru bloodline along the lines of detailed information that went well beyond the comprehension of the average six year old. Reserving her comments on the matter for herself, it felt somewhat of an odd consequence to Asami that she, a Seikon born from Santaru and Tsuyoshi lineage was now sitting here and partaking in a mini war-like state. The whole rivalry was as endearing as it was soberingly creepy; six year olds talking strategy as if they were waging a war was no joke. And the pins of red malevolence in their eyes which briefly came up as they laughed didn't make it better, making Asami blink in disbelieve for just a moment. Since the red glean vanished as fast as it had come up, Asami attributed it rather on a coincidental play of the sunlight rather than anything else, and did not think too much about it.

Eventually, having shared all this information, they would address her about the matter. Advice? She certainly had that. The question remained to which extend these girls were willing to go to achieve victory. Asami, who affiliated herself with the arctic ermine, was not shy of a rogue-like approach to matters. The Santaru storm to cause chaos and mayhem, the Tsuyoshi's philosophy of strength. But honour? History was written by the victors; honour was a trivial code the dead would not bring up to discussion.

After another sip of her tea, a pensive look crossing her face as she thought about her answer, Asami would reply with, "You can call me Asami, dears. As for advice: you may lack strength and chakra, but there are always other ways to go about things. Honourable and underhanded strategies. The question is, how far are you willing to go for your victory? What are the standing rules of this cookie war? And which ones do you seek to abide by all means? Which ones do not matter as much to you?". The way she spoke seemed ... distant, as if she spouting mere rhetorical questions to the eager ears. She had no inclination to judge the twins on their approach. The veteran chuunin was not a pawn within this game of chess, the responsibility of their actions not hers to bear. Besides, every good shinobi knew rules mattered only if you got caught breaking them. "But by all accounts, another direct assault would be ill-advised."​

 

[Osuteno]

Yukiko gave a small smile while sighing. “Well, Asami Nee-Chan? I am Yukiko and this is my sister Karasuko. There aren’t many rules at all, but in addition to the Kunoichi Scout Commission, the village itself as a sponsor to the program directly enforces two in particular.”

As Yukiko took a sip of her tea and ate a ball of dango Karasuko took over, “The biggest rule is that Kunoichi Scouts must settle everything between ourselves or by going through the program leadership or declaring official challenges which is a whole other mess. While we can ask for advice or training to a degree, if it is even suspected that an actual shinobi is interfering in the Scout competitions in a direct fashion or providing tools or such a scout normally wouldn’t have access to, one or two jounin will be brought in to investigate, potentially leading to disbandment of the violating troop, early black marks on their career records, and a criminal charge for the offending shinobi ranging from insubordination, tampering with village resources, assault or even charged with something more archaic like… what was it again Kiko?”

“There was a chuunin several years back who was convicted with ‘assault on a child’, ‘rigging an illegal bet’, and the interesting one was ‘tampering with a duel’ which is oddly still in the books despite duels in the original sense the law was made for are illegal now. No one seemed to have a problem with that at the time though, but probably because a scout was greatly traumatized by a genjutsu despite only being 6 at the time and they decided to make an example of the individual.”

““Not that we want to rely on grown ups or big kids to fight our battles for us anyway.””

“Though when it comes to helpers below the age of 8 from outside the Scouts, the rules become murkier and more flexible and no longer involve the village. Girls you really should have join your troop officially though you can… ‘hire’ boys through a sort of mercenary program though it deducts heavily from your sales points, they are limited to defending territory you already control and the number you can hire is one third the number of territories you control. They can’t sell cookies on your behalf either. Though some troops abuse this system… like troop #1618.”

At this mention of this particular troop and odd event where the twins, the tea shop proprietress, a mother of two young sons who also happened to be in the tea shop, and a number of young girls and older sisters, scouts and non-scouts alike, outside the tea shop on the street collectively tsk’d, a number of them muttering curses under their breaths, and the tea shop proprietress even spitting to the side before everyone continued what they were doing.

Karasuko decided to explain, “That troop, also known as the Flowers, is basically an exclusive club of really pretty girls, they even dominate at least four of the pageant’s top five slots every year. In itself that is fine, the problem is that they control 60 ‘territories’ in an extremely loose sense and possess a small army of boys they lead on to fight on their behalf and also spend their allowances on cookies to earn the right to be part of that army which is disgustingly competitive and offsets the mercenary deduction and then some. They almost always place in the top five sellers each year.

Over the years the other troops have come together to try and end that particular nonsense or at least refine the definition of territory but alumni of that troop over the past two decades have defended the tactic using their success as honeytrap operatives and such so they are an eyesore here to stay.”

“Other than getting shinobi involved the only other time the village itself typically gets involved when long term or serious injury or a malicious amount of pain is caused to a Scout. Again not a tactic we would even consider, mostly to keep in mind that poisoning other scouts is almost completely off the table, except for like things like basic itching powders or minor diuretics. We actually do this a lot.” Yukiko said pulling various bottles with droppers out of her sleeves.

““It is difficult for one to defend against an attack when they are trying not to pee themselves in public.”” The twins looked like they were fondly remembering some giggle worthy moments before grimacing, ““Though we got an official warning and a sales point deduction that time we ‘accidentally’ got glue so stuck in the hair of one of the flowers they had to be shaved bald… not to mention Daddy was disappointed in us, though not as much after we convinced him that we were trying to get their feet caught in it and we had to go over and apologize...”” The twins didn’t feel any remorse whatsoever for making that flower a baldie, they thought it was hilarious and well deserved, what made them feel terrible was the sad look on their father’s face and the guilt of lying to him, relieving said guilt towards their father a little being the only reason they apologized to that jerk flower.

““We need to really make Daddy something really nice for Father’s Day… a card and breakfast in bed isn’t going to cut it this year… we will sort it out later.”” After deciding to try and buy their way out of guilt the girl’s went back to the task at hand.

“The only huge rule not covered and is only technically enforced by the scout commission is that cookies are not to be stolen, tampered with, hidden, damaged, etc. The official rulebook has about two pages of verbs filling up that rule but basically they are off limits in every way shape and form, and the same applies to the sales sheets. They belong to the scout program not the troops after all.” Yukiko summed up.

““There are a lot of other minor rules that are more or less common sense, we are fairly confident in not actually being a problem to bend a little, or simply don’t apply to us. Like troops are only able to challenge another troop if they have at least 80% the number of different standard badges accounted for. Considering we have about 90% of the standard badges this rule doesn’t restrict us at all and instead stops a majority of troops from bothering us. Another contributing factor to our dark horse seizure of second place last year.””

“It should be noted though that thanks to the aberrant that was captain of troop #321 up through last year, they are a rather upright troop who have a number of fans due to them handling things through sheer power and an upright reputation. The best bit of gossip we have is that Sena was a bedwetter until well after her sixth birthday and most people know that by now, and she refuses to watch any movies with a dog because she is afraid it will die and when they do she cries for days, a bit too petty even for us. Their Captain also sleeps with a really cute plush hedgehog. Their youngest grunt actually got stuck holding a door for a shopping center open for almost an hour last week because she couldn’t step through it herself with anyone else approaching because she thought that would be too rude. They are all good and earnest girls, and, being honest, it really takes the wind out of our sails to mess with them. It isn’t as fun as when we go after some of the nastier girls, normally we wouldn’t go out of our way to mess with them.” Yukiko stretched a bit trying to work some of the soreness out before leaning forward and opening her mouth.

“But first place this year is too enticing to give up on, so hindering their sales while improving ours is the best possible method for the effort,” Karasuko finished as she fed her sister the last dango ball from her plate, not liking sweets quite as much as Yukiko did, who very willingly accepted the treat with a healthy chomp.

 

[Aurora]

Only two rules established and yet so many more limitations sprung up with it. She had expected that adults were not to intervene, and was already figuring out ways not to have herself directly involved but not tampering with the cookies tended to scratch off a couple of ideas she had. Although... While the cookies couldn't be poisoned, nothing said they couldn't glue the boxes together. Or glue hands onto the boxes. The devil was in the detail, after all. Even then, while the rules didn't seem to cover much on the limitations of the gang's interactions with each other it seemed nothing too gruesome was to take place - they were kids after all. Maiming them for life physically or mentally was by default off the record. It certainly complicated things as Asami, being eighteen, wasn't really used to think in terms of a six year old.

"No poisoning, huh? It'd have been a good way to drive their customers away. Spreading kids' rumours will generally be disregarded by adults. Some might actually get irritated for bullying, so that one would backfire too easily."

The 'accomplishments' of the twins were nothing to scoff at. Other than the uncovered intel, their approach made her think about a certain movie. "The Addams Family", it was called, the girl of that family being as pragmatically cruel as these twins, the family as a whole living aside normal standards of human mortality and therefore didn't interact well with the normies of civilisation. A good movie, as funny as it was eerie. The twins seemed nothing different in Asami's opinion. Little Wednesdays in their own right. And as if to add even more weight to the thought, their name drop of #1618 somehow reached the ears of many more people than she had expected, all of them collectively adding to one curse. Trained in the arts of maintaining a stoic face or not, Asami's brows rose nonetheless when she noticed it. She had personally no clue who those troops were but it seemed they had not made a good impact. At all.

Taking a cookie out of the bag to go with her tea, Asami's mind lingered around how they could go about it. This captain was someone way out of their league, so it was better to avoid that one unless they could properly get the person out of the competition. That meant either sabotage or voice mimicking her parents to lure the kid away. The other option was taking out the members of her squad to leave the captain to run the show by itself. Sell and run strategies could work at that point, one kid not capable of dealing with all the areas by themselves. But how to get that point was the biggest question. No poison, no weapons, no chakra.

"Since the direct approach won't do you any good, you're left with sabotage and deception. Battlefield manipulation, exploitation of weakness, sell and run tactics. That sort of thing. Voice mimic their parents, seal off the streets so people don't go there, lure that one girl into being overly kind again, send in a troop of adorable dogs or pups to occupy the captain. After all, dogs are not adults and are not harmful either, so you should be allowed to use those in your rivalry, right? Simpler said, if you can draw away or occupy the weaker links of the opposing team, the captain will be left by her own to defend all her territory. And not even a Seikon can be everywhere at once."

She'd leave the words hanging for the twins to think about it while she bit off another piece of her cookie. If these ideas didn't work, they might have other, similar options available to them that fell more in line with the knowledge and experience they had cultivated throughout the years. The idea was to maintain control within chaos, an indirect form of combat to grant themselves the advantage in time.

 

[Osuteno]

The girls both exchanged a look at the suggestion that made it seem poisoning customers, even another troop’s, had been on the table at all. Not only would cookies found to be poisoned cause a recall, dropping sales for all the troops, but they were all still of the same village and causing harm to Kumogakuran civilians intentionally went way out of line, and was simply criminal. They didn't say anything, but mentally distanced themselves a bit from this individual.

“We can use things like this to trick them a few times yes, but even they aren’t idiots…”

“Well most of them aren’t anyway.”

““May Raiden bless Sena.””

“But while we can probably have them running about for a while, we have almost four months left of the competition. If they decide we are being too much they will likely come after our territory of the library, not to mention that while they haven’t done so, they currently have the ability to get 4 mercenaries which would likely be their counter to our selling and running in their territory.”

“All of them being from respectable clans, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say perhaps another chakra user or three below the age of 8 might show up. While they won’t be able to fight us unless we try to sell in troop #321’s territories, they are certainly able to tail us and help troop #321 find us themselves.”

““We aren’t saying we won’t take your advice to use those tricks on them while performing guerrilla sales, it sounds too fun not to, it is just that the most we can see it working before they catch on and use pure force to shut us down is…”

“Three weeks?” Karasuko stopped working in sync with her sister to look at her quizzically.

“I believe we could manage at least four if we keep switching targets and throw in some red herrings, up to maybe five weeks which would definitely close the gap in sales, but they would still likely pull ahead before the end, especially after they get their hands on us and beat us into paste.” Yukiko concluded with a curt nod.

“The dogs, so long as they are normal, are fine, though if they are trained shinobi animals they are right out again. Every now and then the organizers have to come in personally to approve Inuzuka pups for use in Scout events and similar cases, but overall they are the only exception and it doesn’t affect our plans anyway. We can already think of an easy way to have Sena waste a whole day trying to guide an oversized dog back home.” Karasuko nodded having the perfect animal in mind.

“But perhaps… Wait, distractions, more than just tricks...” Suddenly Yukiko started giggling.

Karasuko seemed like a record needle that suddenly skipped, her sister was giggling about something but for once she had no idea why.

“Suko, distractions, like Momma or like with Daddy.” Yukiko said while giggling.

Karasuko finally caught up and started giggling as well, though for once out of sync with her sister.

““We need to use those weeks to make those earnest girls find things they care more about than Scouts!””

Love, studies, playing, training etc. To weaken that troop of earnest girls they just needed to find new things for them to dominate their time. They knew a lot about these girls already, they just needed to trick them into revealing more about themselves and exploit that knowledge. Those girls needed to work less and play more if the twins were going to get ahead of their sales. As they giggled once more their eyes had that flash of red, once more vanishing as quickly as it came.

“This has been an inspiring moment,” Karasuko announced.

“Starting this weekend we will start running those girls about and separating them, selling cookies in their territories and tricking them into opening up more about themselves when we have them alone.” Yukiko said while grinning and pouring them both more tea.

The girls had failed to realize a couple things that were odd about this plan, but that was an issue they would probably run across eventually.

“But we are going to need to improve our data gathering tactics as well as find a way to keep track of their Captain at the very least.” Yukiko recovered first.

“Perhaps we should find a mercenary of our own? We do have the right for the one. If not just to watch the library while we are away, to help us keep track or troop #321 while we are selling in their territory.” Karasuko pondered.

“Suko, that requires us to find someone who is more willing to work with us than 321. If you really think about this script, no matter how you compare us with that group we are definitely the villains.” Yukiko said glumly with a bit of a joke thrown in.

“Yeah Kiko… if this were one of our Saturday morning shows that group with how sweet and just they are would definitely be the protagonists… perhaps we should simply dig around in electronics stores for parts and try and make rough espionage equipment?”

“We could try and find something I suppose, as long as we make them ourselves and are able to get the parts from civilian stores we should be fine. We should also probably sell prizes from Professor Pork’s again to build up some personal war funds. Maybe Dad will give us an advance on our allowance as well if we tell him we want to go to a second hand electronics store to collect parts for a science experiment. He likes when we do that sort of stuff. We should probably get a few books on diy electronics as well to see if we can figure out a few designs.”

The girls realized they had fallen into their own little world as they often did and looked back to their guest. ““Asami-Onee, do you happen to know much about how to stalk people, bug bedrooms, get people to open up about themselves, or really anything related to that sort of stuff?””

 

[Aurora]

The twins discussed the options between themselves, figuring out to what extend they would match within their own little war. There was a misunderstanding on the sort of poison, and Asami felt like she should have explained the concept of her sell and run strategy a little better to the kids. The first one was never intended to be harmful, certain lethargic poisons being sufficiently harmless as it was. Strewn at the heart of a territory, rumours could pop up quickly. Perhaps the cookie sale would take a hit, but much like an earthquake the epicentre would suffer the most while those around it would suffer less to varying degrees. Controlled chaos, as far as chaos could be controlled.

But perhaps the twins were right. Perhaps such games were better left to smaller scales or more serious situations than cookies. They had gained some understanding of the direction Asami had suggested, their inspiration nudged into a new ways of operation. More information gathering, distractions and a little bit of out of the box thinking. Stretching the rules but not breaking them. They had an idea for the dog and some personal amusement hinted at even more newfound strategies. an advance on allowance and a bit of playing on their parent's good side. She'd give a faint smile, listening to their next question as she finished the last piece of her cookie.

"The art of subterfuge is letting others believe what they fear or want to be true. And all the while lure them into holding that thought. It's to think two steps ahead. Hide your intent within a trick, and cover that one up by another. If they discover the first, that's fine. People tend to disregard the second disguise once they triumph in the discovery of the first. Victors are easily spoiled. The mind of people conditioned by law, honour and how they were raised."

"To give an example, I used to be somewhat of a rascal when I was younger. I'd dress up to hide my identity and try to mimic the voice of others to throw them off, even try ventriloquism. I lured class students away from their lockers into the other hall, then crawl in from the other side to prank them. Instead of taking both shoes, I took a single shoe and left the other. Why? Because if there is one shoe, the mind reasons the other can't be far. Shoes always come in pairs, don't they? So the student would search themselves silly for the second shoe. In and around their locker, in their backpack, even in the pockets of their jacket. It takes time before their mind come to terms that someone could have stolen a single shoe. After all, no one can use a single shoe. So who would do that, and why?"

She looked at the two twins, eyes darting from the left twin to the right, and from the right to left. Watching if they caught the glimpse of her idea. Whether they did or not, she'd proceed applying the idea on them.

"You two look alike. People expect that. Twins always come in pairs and always look alike. After all the years, the mind is conditioned to take this for granted. If they see one of you, surely the second isn't far off and easy to find. So, scramble it up. Let them see you together for a moment, then disguise yourself differently and take each a direction. Use quick and easy hair dye that washes off with a single rinse, wear coloured contacts or glasses, change your height and your clothes. But don't disturb the conditioned mind. Remain out of sight, like a shadow in the corner of the eyes."

As she spoke, she tapped one of her temples with her finger. One who knew how the mind worked, could use it as a weapon against others.

"The best way to stalk people is by not stalking them. Instinct is a traitor to the hunter. Keep eyeing them and they'll feel your gaze burn in their back. So hide in public and act normal so you can shadow them without being noticed. Learn to use the full field of vision of your eyes rather than your direct gaze. Since the mind is conditioned to rely on facts, it's not that difficult. If they see you watching, the fact is there. You're looking at them, so you're following them. If you seem to act like a tourist, using your sight's full vision potential instead... You're just a tourist to them."

"So how do you place bugs? By giving the semblance that is not your primary goal. Always two steps ahead, girls. What do you want them to believe, and what disguise are you willing to give up so the real goal remains preserved? A janitor doesn't place bugs, they clean. The kid bumping against your target by accident pulls the attention, so you slip a bug in the unwatched pocket on the other s- Oh hey, what a pretty butterfly."

Her last statement would be dropped seemingly out of the blue just after she shifted her gaze to something behind them. Random enough to trick those who weren't paying attention, perhaps sufficiently random to lure in the twins while they were hooked up on her words. There would be no butterfly, of course, as it was just a subtle hint at the idea of the 'butterfly effect', the idea that a small act could have far-reaching effects. At worst, it'd be a most innocent prank. At best, the application of her lessons, hiding another little lesson withing a seemingly simple enough distraction. But having talked quite a lot, she let the twins some time to think about her words and ideas as she took a sip of her cup of tea. The hot beverage was slowly coming to an end, and so her stay would too. She had yet to visit the library and pick up on matter old and new while she had a few days off.​

 

[Osuteno]

Yukiko began writing notes such as ‘mislead with the intention of the trick’, ‘let them think they have cleverly seen through the trick’, and ‘Does her pranks as a child that seem to have been solely for the purpose of causing inconvenience on her classmates has any relation as to why she isn’t spending her time off and out on the town with friends and instead is hanging out with two six-year-olds she happened to meet? Best to be gentle with this lonely lady just in case.’ Yukiko would hide her clipboard a bit more as she wrote the last note.

The twins both grimaced slightly at the mention that seeing one of them people would assume the other way around. This was entirely true. Rather it was rare for them to be more than a few feet from each other at any given time. Their father had even looked at this as an issue. ““Daddy says we are showing signs of rather severe codependency and has been trying to get us to spend a bit more time apart…” The twins groaned as they thought of it. It was always awful.

““We understand his intention and the fact he is right, but it isn’t a matter of one plus one equals two. Rather than a half, it feels like we are a third or a quarter when we are separated. Our duo is more effective than most trios and quartets, but individually…””

Yukiko fell silent while Karasuko begrudgingly spoke up, “We are rather weak.”

“Rather we are too reliant on the other being there and it messes with our decision making.” Yukiko sighed.

““But it is true that no one would imagine one of us being around and not the other. Rather if one of us stood out in the open it would probably be easy for us to force part of a troop to focus on defending and trying to locate where the other twin might sneak attack from.””

“It would probably be simple for me to lay a one person ambush and set a couple one-shot mechanisms to toss training kunais at people from behind to put them on high alert looking for Kiko” Karasuko mused.

“Your combat skills are better than mine so it would be easier for you to pull that trick off,” Yukiko nodded.

“Dyes are a bit iffy, even if many claim to be one rinse Yukiko’s hair is a bit risky to mess with, and they are less effective on my hair,” Karasuko said pointing to their respective hair colours. “Though we do have a few wigs from… occasions. Anyway, at the very least it is true that most would never assume we would split up if they saw us both as she mentioned. The disguises might need a bit of work but daddy has a lot of coloured contacts he uses to hide his eyes since they unnerve a lot of people so those with the wigs and a change of clothes should do most of the work for us.”

“Making the disguises too complex would probably just make it difficult to switch into them quickly,” Yukiko nodded while making more notes.

The woman discussed stalking by using peripheral vision and not really hiding at all rather making it seem they were at a location for a different reason, and following that she spoke about methods for placing bugs though they needed somewhat more relevant ideas on that front since it wasn’t like janitors were going around these girls’ bedrooms and only one of them had maids in their actual home, and putting them in pockets was rather inefficient as well since it was likely they would be discovered or washed later and the twins didn’t have a particularly large budget to make these things to be thrown away so quickly. She tried to get them with the butterfly thing. The twins simply stared at her a bit insulted.

““We are six, not three. Getting someone to look for a butterfly is literally the oldest trick on the playground, not to mention we already have our entomology badges. At least say something that would require one of us to look whether we believed you or not like saying the girl who beat us up earlier is at the entrance.””

“We need to really think about how we are going to use the bugs after we make them and how to plant them,” Karasuko mumbled sipping her tea. “Rather than their pockets, we need to come up with a more effective…”

“Character badges.” Yukiko interrupted her twin suddenly causing Karasuko to wonder why she and her sister were so out of sync today.

“Come again?” Karasuko asked her sister for the first time in her life.

“They always wear and show off those little round metal badges with pictures of their favourite characters and such on their sashes and berets. They take good care of them and won’t let them get washed since that could mess up the pictures. If we disguise the bugs using character badges as a cover, we can get them to wear them willingly.” Yukiko said with an amused grin and a flash in her eyes.

“A lot of the girls are obsessing about that brand new show Necromancer Girl Tiramisu! I saw Eiko from their troop even practicing the poses and spell chants in the bathroom mirror at the last Kunoichi Scout meeting.” Karasuko got to the same page and that glint went through her eyes as well as she grinned on the verge of a giggle as she realized how simply they could trick these girls into bugging themselves.”

"“We have a lot of reading and work to do,”” The twins announced, with devious looks in their eyes. The biggest wall for their motivation was if something were fun or not. The loathed doing things that failed to entertain them, and this was largely the reason they didn’t really want to bother with troop #321. There wasn’t much inherent satisfaction in tricking honest and just little girls. If they were scoundrels or bad people, at least adults, there would have been some bit of an appeal or challenge. But something about getting these girls to willingly put themselves into the metaphorical net was terribly amusing.

"“You have been helpful to us in brainstorming our methods, so if you seemingly continue to lack friends your own age to spend time with and find yourself wandering the streets alone on your day off, you may look for us as kindred spirits. Don’t feel bad for being odd, lots of people might question the fact that you know so much about stalking people or that you are actively giving this advice to six-year-olds and may even call into question your dating history given how experienced you seem to be in this subject, but we find it quite helpful and refreshing that you are so willing to share these tips with us. It is greatly appreciated and we will avoid voicing our suspicions on how likely you are to murder your love interests. Thank you Asami Nee-Chan.””

And with that, they began to gather their things to leave, paid the granny proprietress, and gave little waves before pulling their little wagon Raiden knows where.

[TLUS- (Topic Left Unless Stopped)]

 

[Aurora]

Fervent scribbling down of ideas ensued after all the suggestions. The examples might not have been the best of examples, lacking the context of the situation, but the base idea was grasped nonetheless. Hair dyes were replaced by wigs. The individuality they considered a weakness was reluctantly accepted as a possible strength. Pockets were replaced for character badges about a 'Necromancer Girl Tiramisu', whatever she was supposed to be. And it seemed they didn't fall for a mere butterfly trick. Or did they? Having the subject changed from their topic to personal feelings where they felt a need to point out their own talents and merits was more than sufficient a distraction in Asami's eyes. As they focused on the adult before them with a need to correct her seemed underestimation of the twins, a clone could have hit them from the back - confirming there was no one there before or assuming such the way they had done locked the mind into believing they were safe from harm. Self-assurance, and thus their vigilance would be placated. The twins had yet to fully grasp the idea of 'creating a distraction to camouflage another' in full but at the rate they were already applying her suggestions into their own practicalities, Asami was fairly certain they'd grasp the purpose of her little butterfly trick eventually.

"The oldest tricks are often the best.", she replied to their comment. "Many fail to understand why but I believe you'll grasp the butterfly trick better in time."

But to all fun things came an end, so too to her teaching how to prank the others. The twins thanked her for her time and came up with something that made Asami blink. No friends of her age? Wandering the streets alone? Questioning why she knew so much about stalking or assuming the weirdest things about her dating history? The way they put every of these phrases was rather awkward, making it seem as if Asami was some creeping teenager either too smart or shy for to bond with others. It surely was a... refreshing point of view? She'd frown at the strange assumptions that came out of nowhere but didn't otherwise react to it, wisely keeping quiet. Even if they held such uncomfortable ideas about their 'nee-san', the more people were left guessing about her true nature, the better off the ANBU spy would be.

"Right... Good luck with your cookie war. Go get them, Karasuko-chan and Yukiko-chan. ", she winked as they moved to leave the table. And after they had paid for their share and past her again, she concluded their meeting with a quieter, "And don't forget I know where you live..."​

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