CH_7.10 (228)

CH_7.10 (228)

The masked group of four entered a rusty, dusty factory as they returned from blowing up a police station. They removed their porcelain masks to reveal Anko, Daiki, Iori, and Kameko. Upon entrance, they spotted the remaining three team members sitting on old couches.

“How did it go?” asked Gaku as he lit a new cigarette.

“According to the plan,” Anko replied as she dumped herself beside Takuma and Rikku. She turned to Takuma. “How about you guys?”

Takuma pointed to several jute and duffle bags piled up in the corner. “We cleaned up the shop, tied up the guards, painted them blue, and stuck our posters on them,” he said.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

“It was child’s play,” said Gaku.

“All thanks to the recon and planning,” said Takuma.

“They’re common thugs. We could’ve gone without any preparation, and it wouldn’t have made a difference,” said Gaku with a chuckle.

“And that’s the difference between you and me,” said Takuma. “I don’t leave any room for error.”

“Can’t you both just be happy that everything went well,” Iori sighed as she threw crumpled paper balls at them.

“He was amazing,” said Rikku. “He unlocked the safe in the office like it wasn’t locked at all, we took all the money inside, and I thought that would be it, but then he started poking around in the room. He found three hidden stashes, each with more money than the last one. We have a lot of cash.”

Everyone looked at Takuma. He shrugged, “I have a lot of experience looking for hidden stashes. It’s a skill I picked up on the job.”

Takuma had searched and raided plenty of drug stash houses. Some people were creative about their hiding places, but for most, there was a general pattern they followed when hiding things..

“Okay, now that this is over,” Kameko said as she pulled out a water bottle from a cooler, “why did we do this? Isn’t it better that the enemy has an unbroken supply of drugs? Let them drown in it.”

“You’re assuming that they’re all addicts,” said Takuma. “The drugs are addictive, but not everyone is waking up every day and shooting something up in to them before their feet touch the ground. Most people only do drugs at the recreational level.

These men are in a foreign land fighting a war far away from their home. They might be winning and controlling the town, but most don’t want to be here; they want to be at home with their families. There’s stress there that drugs can dull; they can find escape through them.”

“So... you want them stressed,” said Kameko.

“Yes, I want them to feel uncomfortable in this city to build up tension among the forces. I want them to complain about their time in Yu. They shouldn’t be comfortable. I want it to snowball from minor inconvenience to something like... fear,” said Takuma.

The Renge Gang was a secondary target; the primary target was always the shinobi forces in the city. The team’s job was to weaken the enemy for the main forces. Takuma wanted all of the team’s efforts to contribute to the cause of an increasingly hostile environment for the enemy shinobi.

“The shinobi aren’t loyal to the Renge Family. They’ll turn to someone else, and the entertainment train will continue,” said Gaku, lighting up another cigarette.

“So, we just keep taking out the suppliers,” said Rikku, slicing a kunai through the air.

“Actually, I’m counting on them to find another supplier. In fact, I can probably guess what will happen. The Renge Gang was the middleman; with them out, the Goharu Family will sweep in on the opportunity because of the increased margins,” said Takuma.

“And you want that?” asked Iori.

“Yes, I want that, and I want the Goharu Family to have unprecedented levels of success,” said Takuma.

“Why?”

“Because,” Takuma leaned forward, “we’re going to poison the drugs.”

———

.

A blanket of smoke still lingered over the building as multiple people put in their effort to extinguish the fires, but the presence of a couple Hidden Frost shinobi, using water nature ninjutsu, brought both the crowd and the fires under control.

Ebi, a Hidden Frost jonin, walked down the road to the police station in shambles. The burnt-down building caught his eye, but he was more interested in the group of people lying down on the road with his shinobi surrounding them.

“What is happening here?” Ebi asked the nearest shinobi.

“Worst case, we have seven shinobi,” said Kon as he looked at the demolished building. “These men are from the Renge Gang... Their stash house was raided at the same time this happened. It seems they specifically targeted the Renge Gang.”

“I have heard of them,” said Ebi. He might not be well-versed in how to take over cities, but he had familiarised himself with the city on a level. He had heard of the Renge Gang because of their dealings with his shinobi. “I fear that this will have a negative impact on our efforts. I hope you have a plan for this.”

“Well... if they’re so keen on blowing up police stations, then how about we help them blow up another one,” Kon smiled. “We will even throw some people as gifts.”

———

.

“Poison their drugs?” asked Kameko.

Daiki’s eyes shined. “We’re going to poison their drugs to kill them?”

“”” No!”””

Takuma, Gaku, and Anko all yelled at Daiki, who physically took a step back at the strong rebuke.

“If we poison their drugs enough to kill them, they’re going to take it out on the city,” said Gaku.

Takuma nodded in agreement. “There’s no telling how they’ll respond. There’s a very high chance that they won’t stop those involved in the drug trade and punish everyone for establishing control by spreading fear.... We’ll have different ways to kill them.”

“Then what? How much can we poison them?” asked Iori.

“Just enough to make them seriously sick for a while without actually being lethal,” said Takuma. “What do you think happens when drugs that keep their minds occupied suddenly make them extremely sick?”

“They stop taking them,” Anko replied.

Takuma snapped his fingers as he pointed at her. “They’ll stop taking the drugs. Once the drugs are tainted, the shinobi are never going to touch any drug that comes from Yu, no matter who gives it to them. They’ll be too scared that the next time, it won’t end up with them only getting sick.” He looked at Gaku and Renge. “When you poison the soil, all the fruit, no matter the tree, is poisoned.”

And once drugs are out of the equation, the stress would continue to pile up.

“The city is running low on alcohol, so it’s a good time for us to make this move,” said Takuma.

“If the plan was to poison the drugs, why did we screw over the Renge Gang,” Daiki asked. “We could’ve just tainted their drugs.”

“Because the Renge Gang is a small fish, but the Goharu Family is a big player,” said Takuma.

There were two big underworld mafia families in Yu. The Goharu Family and the Hatani Family. When Yu was invaded, the Goharu Family sided with the enemy, who gave them power, and the Hitani Family, who were once equal, were no longer in power. The Gohary Family was introduced into the police force, giving them the power of the law enforced by shinobi. The Hatani Family was immediately pushed back and lost much of their control over the city.

“If we tainted Renge Gang’s drugs, the Goharu Family would’ve used them as scapegoats, but when they start providing drugs directly to the shinobi, they will get a serious blowback from the shinobi,” said Takuma. “There’s going to be serious tension between the enemy and their local lackeys—it’ll decrease their influence because even though they’re lackeys, even lackeys can be resentful.”

Takuma leaned into his seat.

“As expected of working in Narcotics at the Police Force,” said Anko.

Takuma took in a deep breath and sighed,

“Yeah, that’s where that came from.”

Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón []. Link here and in signature.

Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.