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———
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Tern rubbed the inside of her palm as she gazed at the bullet point notes on the podium, then looked up at the forty or so shinobi sitting before her, chattering as they waited for her to start her mission briefing.
It was okay, she told herself—she had done this before, it had just been a while.
She looked upon the people gathered.
The first three rows of eight, split in halves by a walking channel in between, were taken by the ANBU genin operatives and staff members. She could feel the distrust rolling off them; they were aware of her clan background. It didn't surprise her, but it wasn't exactly pleasant. She was glad that their masks hid their faces, so neither side could see what the other might be thinking.
The rest of the seats behind them in the room were occupied by general Leaf shinobi selected for the mission. ANBU wasn't big enough to spare thirty of their operatives on a single mission. It was a common practice to involve Leaf shinobi in bigger ANBU missions. They were selected by ANBU's general administration, which handled everything from background checks to availability to contracts. Unlike the operatives, they seemed to be excited to be in the room. Being selected by ANBU made them feel a sense of pride and specialness. And they didn't know her background. To them, she was just an ANBU-nin—the one in charge of the mission. Some of them were eager to please, having arrived early to the briefing just to create a lasting first impression.
And then there was her boss, sitting in the back corner of the room where the dimmed lights didn't reach. The poor men and women sitting around him sat stiffly. After a couple of months of working with him, she realised that he more often than not meant what he said. He said she was in charge and hadn't done anything to undermine her like others had done before.
Their eyes met, and he tapped his wrist, urging her to start.
"I'd like your attention, please," Tern addressed the crowd that went hushed as she spoke. "Our target this time is an unnamed village settlement… It's home to the Scorched Wolves, a mercenary group that primarily operates within the Land of Fire…"
The staff member assisting her placed a map printed on a transparent plastic sheet on the illuminated panel of an overhead projector, which displayed the image on a whiteboard. The small village was situated near a small stream, which served as its primary water source; however, it wasn't located near any other villages or towns.
"Their choice of jobs over the past few years has brought them to our attention. Involved in extortion, intimidation, destruction of property, murder, among other things, they have specialised in intimidating workers complaining against poor pay and working conditions. Their employers hire them to crush any worker movement before it gains too much steam."
When a single employer was responsible for employing the majority of a small village, it created a monopoly over the job market, giving the employer an excessive amount of power over the village. But the employer relied on the workers, and any wide-scale protest could halt their business. So, when the employer didn't want to agree to the demands but wanted the protests to end, the Scorched Wolves were called in to break them up by means of intimidation.
Fearful for their own safety and that of their families, the workers were forced to drop their support for the protest until it was snuffed out altogether.
That wasn't why ANBU was interested in them; cases like that weren't in their usual wheelhouse. Instead, they were interested in their ties to ROOT. Danzo had connections to various powerful individuals around the country. Many of them were wealthy businessmen with influence that he could use to exert his own control in places where shinobi influence might not get the job done. He built those connections by helping them deal with their problems and hired Scorched Wolves to do it.
None of the people in the room were told about the ROOT connection. On Ratel's order, even the genin operatives weren't told why the ANBU was handling that case, but seeing that it was coming from the only anti-ROOT unit, the operatives could make an educated guess.
"They have been abhorrent in their actions, but it's not our duty to get rid of them. Our mission is to capture them and bring them to justice."
However, the true target wasn't the Scorched Wolves, but the businessmen employing them. Even if Danzo and ROOT were out of the Hidden Leaf, the connections outside the shinobi circles remained, and with them, his influence over the Land of Fire.
Ratel wanted to crush the throats of anyone who might have a thought of helping Danzo, despite knowing his current status as a disgraced leader, due to previous dealings. Those connections were built upon mutual benefit. He wanted to put pressure on them until whatever benefit Danzo could offer would no longer be worth it.
And targeting this mercenary group, mere pawns in the big game, was the first step.
———
.
The next day, the mission party stopped ten minutes away from the Scorched Wolves' village for a briefing before they besieged them.
"They're nervous," Tern said, gazing at the gathered Leaf shinobi as they performed checks on their gear and went through the plans with their assigned teams. "We're going into enemy territory, outnumbered."
Everyone was given mission packages to study. They assessed the situation and believed they were at a disadvantage.
The Scorched Wolves were sixty men strong against ANBU's party of forty. The enemy side had three chūnin-level combatants, one of whom was a former Leaf chūnin turned rogue, while their side only had Tern and Ratel. The mercenary group had raised the base on their own; they knew its ins and outs and must have taken some defensive precautions in case of an attack. The rogue Leaf shinobi was also a sensory-nin; a surprise ambush would be out of the question. The enemy knew they were coming and would be prepared to some extent.
"We aren't exactly facing trained operatives. Most of them are chakra users with little to no formal training," Ratel said while tugging on his gear to ensure everything was strapped and secured. "I'm not underestimating them, but our side has ten genin operatives. And the recruiters have brought us some potential prospects; they must at least be competent."
While he had genuinely left the case to her, he handled the selection of the outside help.
ANBU's general administration always had its eyes on promising shinobi with potential to become ANBU-nin in the future. Sometimes, they wished to observe these prospects up close, so they often invited them to missions like the current one.
She looked at the group and saw that more than half of the crowd was made up of clan shinobi.
While it earned them quality labour, she knew it was a political move.
For clans, having their shinobi in ANBU held enormous value, so the ANBU-nin were always recommending and pushing for their clanmates as potential prospects, and asking the general administration recruiters to give them a chance by putting them in missions that required outside help. The recruiters were always under pressure to comply with these requests, even if they weren't satisfied with the recommendation.
By cooperating with the recruiters, Ratel had done them a favour and laid the foundation for a future relationship.
"It's unfortunate, but I didn't want to spend much on this case. You and I will be enough for their leaders. Take care of one, I'll handle the other two," he said nonchalantly.
Their squad had substantial resources, but they still had to spend wisely, and he didn't think this mission needed an outside chūnin. They could have included one from the squad, but she wanted this case to be just hers, so she never asked, which was probably why he never offered.
He patted her on the shoulder. "Let's make this a success, Tern. For all of us."
"…For all of us." She nodded. "Yes, sir."
This was her starting point. It had to be perfect.
———
.
Togaraki of the Scorched Wolves was resting in a hammock under the open sky, enjoying the sun's warmth with a belly full of food. He had just returned from an easy job of intimidating some chumps who didn't know what was good for them.
People didn't realise how good they had it with jobs that paid regularly until they went freelancing, where they couldn't predict when the next job would come up. If they have regular income, they should be happy with it; why have the gall to ask for more?
"Hey, what did the fixer say?" he asked one of his underlings. They got their jobs through fixers—misers who charged absurd commissions for not doing any of the work—that lived in the city.
He, too, wanted to live in a city, but most of the men in his group were people who frequently got into trouble with the law, so the only place they could live peacefully was in the middle of nowhere. They had managed to build their own place, but it was a far cry from what they could get in a city. The only time he got to enjoy himself was when they went to restock on food and other supplies.
"There's a job," one of the lackeys answered. "A rich geezer wants a group of farmers to sell their produce only to him, but they refuse for some reason. He wants us to motivate them a little."
"So, the standard affair, then." He smiled. If he were still back in the village, he would've been asked to do dangerous jobs. Sure, they paid better, but in comparison, he was getting paid much better for scaring some weak civilians. "Good, good, have Loshi visit the fixer tomorrow; he can take this job. I want to—"
He suddenly flinched, almost causing him to fall out of the hammock, which might've been better because it would've been faster than getting off it as he did.
"What is it, boss?!"
His eyes widened as he stared into the distance. His heart pounded as he felt a wave of chakra—a large group—coming his way. He couldn't tell how many there were, but it was enough to know that this couldn't be a friendly visit.
"Sound the alarms! We are about to be attacked!" His underling stood there, gawking, so he kicked him to the floor. "What are you waiting for, you MORON! GO!"
Half a minute later, bells were ringing throughout the village as people rushed to arm themselves.
"What is happening?!" Loshi, his co-leader, asked as he stumbled into the village square.
"We are about to be attacked!"
"Are you sure?"
"What the fuck does it look like?!"
He was feeling stressed. It was the first time this had happened. They had managed to keep a low profile by taking work that was far away from their base, so no one in their area would complain about them. And because their customers were filthy rich fuckers, who never got in trouble with the law, trouble rarely came the group's way as well.
Three minutes later, the Scorched Wolves' third leader appeared in the square. He had leapt out of the village to scout the enemy before they arrived. "It's the Hidden Leaf. Forty or so," he said, panting.
Their side had sixty. Togaraki felt his spirits rise. "We can—"
"B-But, they have masked and cloaked people among them. T-They look like ANBU!"
His blood drained at the mention of ANBU. The members had all pretty much gathered in the squad, all decked out in their gear, ready to fight. They heard the same words, and it actively seemed to deflate all the energy they had gathered up as shades of despair began to spread.
Coming across an ANBU-nin never meant good things, and for people like the Scorched Wolves, it could only mean trouble.
He quickly made a decision.
"We are going to fight," he declared loudly, much to the displeasure and immediate protest of all the members. In the face of ANBU, surrendering or running away while they still had the chance screamed to be a better choice.
But he couldn't have that.
"YOU FOOLS!" he yelled. "You don't know ANBU, but I do!"
He didn't know jack shit about them, but a lot of people here weren't former shinobi, and others had been career genin. His co-leaders were former shinobi, but neither of them was from the Leaf and had escaped their nations to evade their crimes or to seek greener pastures than in their little countries.
"If you let them catch you, forget about ever breathing the air of freedom. They'll torture you to get whatever they want, and once they're done, they'll dump you in a labour camp. You'll be worse than beasts of burden, toiling away for the rest of your lives!" he said to the crowd, and it might very well be true.
All the scary stories about ANBU had to originate from somewhere.
"But they're only shinobi—just like us. Our only chance is to fight back! We outnumber them, and I can sense that they only have one chūnin-level fighter." As they drew closer, his chakra sense could pick them up better. He wasn't sure, but there were either two or three of them, but he lied, saying there was only one of them. His co-leaders looked at him with doubt, but he nodded with conviction. "They underestimate us! This is our territory; we know it better than they do. I care about you, Scorched Wolves; you're my family. I will protect you—your leaders will protect you!
"So, who is with me!"
Many of the young men in the group were those who couldn't find a sense of belonging and were lost. He invited them with wide-open arms because they were easy targets and easy to manipulate. He gave them power by teaching them how to use chakra, and their jobs, which often involved shoving around weak civilians, made them feel powerful.
And that was enough for them to think that they were indeed part of the family. A loud cheer spread through the group like a fire as they raised their weapons to show their support.
Utter fools, he thought as he thrust his fist up in the sky while wrapping an arm around Loshi's shoulder, pulling his co-leader in.
There were still those who didn't buy it. It wouldn't take too much thought to come to the conclusion that even if surrender were not an option, running away would be much better than fighting.
But as the majority of the group roared, swept away in feelings, ready to fight, the ones who disagreed couldn't do anything. The attackers were upon them; even if they wanted to argue, the momentum was too strong, and they had no time.
He grinned when he saw Loshi, the most emotional of the three, raise his sword, leaving the third co-leader, who seemed to disagree, but ultimately had no choice but to join, because otherwise he would be alone.
And in times of peril, no one wanted to be alone.
Good, Togaraki thought.
They had to fight for him, so in the chaos, he could find an opportunity to escape because the things he had done that had forced him to turn rogue were bad enough that if they caught him, he would truly be used as a draught animal for the rest of his life.
.
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