CH_4.19 (119)

CH_4.19 (119)

Takuma was well aware of his position in the Police Force. Being an 'outside' hire, he lacked the pedigree that most Police Force members had in one way or another. He was neither from a clan that had members in the Police Force nor did he have immediate relatives paving the way for him. In a very tight-knit organization, which was the Leaf Military Police Force, he didn't have many threads connecting to him or others who he could call connections— but he did have some connections.

His partner, Fuma Arisu, was one of his few connections. Even though they were of the same rank, they didn't hold the same power. Unlike him, she had the pedigree of the Fuma Clan and immediate relatives like her father and aunt working in the Police Force.

"I'm planning a raid for which I need some personnel," Takuma said to Arisu.

They sat in a corner booth of a busy restaurant that Takuma had booked for this conversation. He knew the owner from when he had worked here as a delivery boy and then had continued to buy lunch boxes when he was too busy to cook his own food because he liked the staff meals that the owner provided for the employees.

"I do not understand why we are having this conversation," Arisu asked, suspicious. "If you want a team for the raid, ask Kano for authorization; she'll give you everything you want. Coming to me makes no sense."

"I'm working under Yoshiaki for this one, and you know it as well as I do, that he ain't giving me the authorization for a raid," said Takuma. He could bypass Yoshiaki and commission a few ground-level officers by going to Kano, but a raid would reach Yoshiaki's ear no matter what. "Even if Yoshiaki goes forward with a raid, he will throw me on the roadside."

"And?"

Takuma narrowed his eyes. "Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. I won't be on the case report, much less getting any credit for the work I've put in. Yeah, so I hope you understand why I'm not so excited about that future."

In his position, if he let go of his control over the situation, he was never getting it back.

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"Some of your friends who would be interested in joining a very important Op. Perhaps throw in a couple of Uchiha in there, and I guarantee that this would be a grand success for everyone involved."

Arisu had the pull Takuma lacked. She could call people, and there was a strong possibility they would agree and show up. The best option was an Uchiha taking charge of the 'recruitment,' but Takuma didn't have someone like that— Arisu was his best and only choice.

"You do understand we will get in trouble if we mounted a raid against explicit permission," said Arisu. "Any mistake from a mishap during the raid to what comes after we get them will be used against us— it will be used against me and especially you."

Of course, Takuma knew that, so he had done his homework. He took out the file he had built consisting of everything important regarding the case— he left out some parts, such as Shen's identity as his informant, things he couldn't explain, which would get him in trouble.

He slid it across the table to Arisu. She shot him a look before reading what he had compiled.

For things to go how he wanted, Takuma needed to deliver something people couldn't push aside and ignore. A result so substantial that even if he broke protocol, the result was meritorious enough for the higher-ups to sweep it under the rug. It was a risk, but a risk Takuma was willing to take.

Arisu muttered, "This..."

"We are looking at a dozen or so arrests in the raid itself. One of them is sure to open their mouth and tell us more— imagine the people we could connect this with. The Police Force could potentially get their hand on people they couldn't before," Takuma leaned forward.

There was a reason why he had assigned men on Maiko Triad members and not just Ryuu's crew to find out the delivery details. He wanted a strong case that could implicate more and more people because that's what made this whole ordeal tempting. It was the future prospects that could be built on top of his ground-level case. Takuma wanted to give Police Force an excuse to get people into the interrogation rooms and have people implicate others in return for lenient sentences for the charges, which would be stamped on them if the raid was successful.

To cast a net as wide as possible and see what the haul bought in.

Takuma could see interest in Arisu. She wasn't an idiot, and even if she couldn't see as far as he was, she could tell that even in the moment, this was something that could turn big if successful.

He said, "And how would you like your name to be the next one after me? The secondary lead. All you have to do is to gather some people who would be interested, and that can be yours." Takuma didn't want to split credit, but he wasn't in the position to not do so— and as long as he was cemented as the top contributor, the one in charge, no one could deny him rewards.

"Accept it, Arisu," he spoke again. "You know it as well as I do; you aren't going to get anything like it for this cheap."

Every case where either of them was involved had Kano as the primary lead, with members of Kano's team as secondary leads. That position was often shared by two or more people depending on the case. He was offering her a case without any direct chunin involvement, where she would have a much bigger slice of the pie— and all she had to do for it was to convince some people to be the muscle.

Takuma backed off and gave her some space. Persistence had its place, but it was not here. He wasn't asking her for a favor; he was actively offering her a valuable opportunity— it was an act of give-and-take. He had presented his pitch; it was up to her if she wanted to buy into it.

"... How many do you need?" she asked.

Takuma smiled.

———

"No, two more minutes," she said.

Takuma had put down a wait time before they could breach as a precautionary measure in case the suppliers wanted to give Maiko Triad a heads-up that the delivery was en-route.

"Sign is GO," Arisu sat up. "Secure the exits."

They had procured the building plans, and Takuma had done a recon of the facility to get them a solid picture, upon which they had built a breaching strategy.

Arisu tilted her head closer to the mic and spoke, "Move in."

Arisu and her cousin entered from the front. She released two Fuma shuriken from their binding and assembled it within the next two seconds— it was two sizes smaller than her primary weapon, but she couldn't use her favorite baby here— she couldn't afford her targets dying or having parts of their body sliced off

"Cover," she whispered to her cousin—no more words were exchanged between the two Fuma clan members.

It didn't take long for them to make contact. Two of the four men had their backs to her. The moment they made eye contact, she issued the warning,

"Leaf Military Police Force. All of you are under arrest. Surrender NOW!"

Of course, she wasn't expecting them to do anything like that. Her voice made them snap into action. The first man who saw her ran away from the back exit.

'Stupid move,' Arisu clicked her tongue. She winded her arm and threw one of her shurikens for the runner. It sliced forward like a laser, passing between two men who immediately backed away in surprise and fear.

"AAAAAAAHH!"

The shuriken's large sharp metallic edge found its target in the runner's back. He was thrown to the ground; his momentum dragging him forward as he fell.

In the time that happened, the other men drew their weapons, and Arisu was under attack with a spread of kunai and shuriken, but before they could hit, her cousin stepped forward with hands forming seal. Her lung puffed up with air that she spat out in a powerful gust that blasted away all the projectiles.

Arisu took no measure to protect herself, knowing that her cousin would take care of it, and threw her other shuriken. This one traveled close to the ground, and the target tried to dodge it with a vertical jump. Unfortunately for him, in the last second, the shuriken took a sharp upward turn and embedded itself into his thigh.

The second scream changed the game.

Arisu released the invisible chakra thread and equipped herself with two kunai as she walked forward toward the remaining two.

One of them was smart enough to drop to his knees and raise his hands in the air.

The other one wasn't so smart and ran for the back. Arisu didn't give chase and kept her attention to the three men. She couldn't go complacent until they were stripped of their weapons and properly restrained.

Behind Arisu, her cousin spoke,

"One is coming your way."

Not five seconds later, they saw the bright glow and whisps of fire from a Fire Release ninjutsu from one of the dirty grilled windows.

"Target has been placated," came a crackling sound through their comms.

"Excellent work, team," spoke Arisu. "Let's wrap this up."

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