Advance ~ Ghost Recon

[Shagekinin no Tsubaki]

Tsubaki had been dispatched as part of one of the recon units sent ahead of the front lines. Tsuchi no Kuni's mushroom forests were suffocatingly dark thanks to their canopy, the only beacons quite literally being beams of light that managed to break through the crevices of the mushroom tops. Thanks to her sensory abilities and blindfold training, the environment was not much of a handicap.

Her unit was a four-man cell. Tsubaki was one of two sensors, the other being a more traditional sensor that used the wind element like her. Another, a man, was a stealth and trap specialist, and the other was the team interrogator that used the earth and lightning styles.

Not long into their journey into the forest, there was a twinkling of trouble.

Ranmaru, the other sensor, said in a low voice. "I believe we have company..."

Without a word, Tsubaki drew blood and summoned a dark-feathered hawk. "What direction are they, Ranmaru-kun?"

"Straight ahead," he told her. "I detect five... no, six of them."

Tsubaki closed her eyes and stood still, looking through the eyes of the hark that perched on her shoulder. Using the hawk's precise, long range vision Tsubaki could see almost a mile ahead of them that indeed there was an enemy unit advancing in their direction. She could see what appeared to be headbands of the enemy.

"I can see them," Tsubaki let her teammates know. "We won't have long before they reach our current position. Fifteen minutes tops, I'd say."

"Six of them, eh?" Kazuki pondered. He was the interrogator, and also the unit captain. "Two men too big to be a recon unit like us. They could be an attack division."

"Sending in the vanguard to wipe out intelligence?" questioned Gama, the stealth specialist.

"Possibly. And the odds are against us. I'm inclined to have us withdraw. But we don't have any actual intel on them."

"Captain," Tsubaki interjected, opening her eyes and turning to Kazuki. "I... have an idea."

[Club October]

Miss Ranmaru and miss Minakata had detected six people, but there were in fact seven individuals headed in their direction. Six of them were with the "enemy", Yamagakure. The seventh...

...was Kyuji. A ghost in a sense.

Neither Ranmaru nor the enemy were able to perceive Kyuji's presence on the battlefield. Kyuji had suppressed his chakra to the point of completely shutting off his chakra flow, so the normal sensory technique at such a distance would not be able to detect him. And in such a dark, dank forest, a solo experienced shinobi-- an ANBU at that-- like Kyuji could easily fly under the radar of someone who wasn't looking for him.

A war wasn't exactly what Kyuji had in mind when Kyuji snuck into the country on a mission. However, this would certainly be something that Suna could take advantage of. Would want to know.

...perhaps if he could get something out of one of the combatants...

[Shagekinin no Tsubaki]

All was quiet as the Yamagakure forces made their way through Tsuchi no Kuni's mushroom forests. The assault division of six was alert to their surroundings, experience telling them of the dangers that came from going into enemy territory. Light was hard to come by due to the forest's thick canopy, which made spotting the seemingly in-motion twinkling of sparks above them surprisingly easy to spot.

"Oi," the man taking point called out. "Looks like we've got company finally."

He pointed forward and high above them; the light they saw was the slow burn of an exploding tag on a descent path. It wasn't much, but proved enough of a distraction for that same point man to not notice-

"Urrgh!-"

The arrow that had been shot in an almost straight path toward his chest. Such was the accuracy of the hit that it killed him instantly, penetrating the man's heart. He dropped dead, and the arrow that killed him kept going and lodged into a tree far behind him.

Recon unit one's preemptive attack had begun.

"SCATTER!"

---

"One down, Tsubaki-chan," Ranmaru assured her.

Tsubaki stood in the shadows, Ranmaru behind her to her left. The two of them made up the first phase of their unit's attack on the enemy, possibly the first kill since Sanjurō declared war. A bow in her left hand and her dark-feathered hawk on her left shoulder, her sensor partner served as the spotter while she was the sniper.

"They've scattered already, probably hid behind the trees in their immediate area... Ranmaru, please?"

"Okay. Ground level, a few yards from the one you just killed. I sense another one kneading his chakra."

Aided by her avian friend, Tsubaki scanned the area and initially saw nothing. Until, that is, she saw him peak ever so slightly from behind the tree to scout ahead.

"I see him," she told him. "He's behind a tree."

"Heh," chuckled Ranmaru. "That shouldn't be an issue. Right, Tsubaki?"

"Of course not."

Without missing a beat, Tsubaki touched the summoning seal on her left wrist with her right hand and summoned one of her explosive arrows. Drawing it in her bow, she took aim.

---

It because obvious to the assault division that the explosive tag they saw initially was a fake, a dud used specifically to distract them from the arrow that downed their squad mate. They questioned the likelihood that they had come up against an opposing assault squad. Such was possible, but squads of that nature were not known for being able to attack from such a distance.

"How far are they?"

"Hold on...

...they aren't exactly close. Almost... almost a mile? How is that possible?"

The Yama squad sensor was rather perplexed at how a for from so far away had been able to so efficiently dispatch one of their own. His squad captain had an idea, and over their comms he replied.

"Most likely one of the shinobi in their cell is part of Iwa Shagekinin."

"Shagekinin? The clan of marksmen and archers? I've only heard of them a little."

"Not surprising. Archery isn't a skill oft-"

Before their squad leader could even finish his words, another arrow pierced the darkness of the forest and claimed the lives of one of his men. A massive explosion ripped through the silence of the forest and completely blew away both the trunk of a tree and the bodies of the now deceased ninja.

---

"Two down," Tsubaki cooly counted.

"Indeed, I can't sense his chakra anymore. Good job, Tsubaki."

Truly amazing, and useful here, Ranmaru thought to himself. Shagekinin are so underrated. Or perhaps she's just that dedicated. Charging an arrow with wind-element chakra to increase its distance and striking power, and placing an explosive note on the arrow's shaft. You'd have a hard time escaping that combination if you didn't know it was coming.

Tsubaki played a better-safe-than-sorry card and shot that explosive arrow through the trunk of the tree the man was hiding behind. If the initial strike of the arrow hadn't killed him, the blast from the tag at such a close range was sure to finish the job.

Would they even need Kazuki and Gama's help?