A horse-drawn carriage trundled along a wide road towards the enormous defensive walls surrounding the Spring City of Yu. The brick wall was actually an earthen wall erected forty years ago with the help of shinobi adept at using earth-style ninjutsu and afterward covered in baked bricks as another layer of fortification.

The main gates to Yu were indefinitely closed, with only the smaller commercial gates used by merchants and traders still open as access points into the city.

The carriage driver slowed down the horses as they approached the gates and joined the short line with him at the front after five minutes.

“What’s your business?”

It was around lunchtime, and the gate was being guarded by the local civilian guards with only one enemy shinobi sitting in the little cabin. There were four guards stationed at the gate. Two of them stayed near the gates, keeping a vigilant eye on the queue of carriages. The other two checked the carriages.

The carriage driver motioned the guard toward the carriage.

Before the guard moved, the carriage opened, and Gaku stepped out. His scruffy stubble was shaved clean, his rough hair with gray strands were cleaned, dyed, and tied in a silky ponytail, and his face looked thoroughly moisturized. On top of that, he was dressed in an exquisite silk robe.

“Good day, gentlemen,” he said.

“What’s your business?” the guard said, looking Gaku up and down.

Before Gaku could answer, Daiki stepped out of the carriage, towered behind Gaku, and stared down at the guard, who had the expected reaction of nervousness.

Gaku smiled. “The enchanting courtesan Chinatsu is returning to Yu. She and her three maids are inside. The five of us request entrance into the city.”

“Oh? I have to verify that,” the guard’s face brightened up.

He walked past the Gaku and Daiki and looked inside the carriage. The inside was dark, casting a shadow on the passengers. The guard naturally looked at the woman talking to him and was instantly enthralled at the first sight of the bodacious woman. Despite being dressed in a full robe, her sensuality couldn’t be hidden. She was the courtesan Chinatsu. Other than her, there were three more women in the carriage dressed simply and had veils covering their faces just like Chinatsu.

The scent of her fragrance tickled the guard’s nose, and he was left without words. He gazed into the eyes that seemed to focus on only him and him alone.

“… You’re beautiful, my lady. I must check you and the other ladies for illegal contraband.”

The guard stepped closer and reached for Chinatsu, but before he could grab her, a hand that could completely cover his whole head grabbed his wrist. The guard looked back and saw Daiki staring down at him, and the guard felt a shudder shoot through his feet. The guard tried to pull his hand out of tight grip but couldn’t even move Daiki’s arm one centimeter.

“U-Unhand me, you brute!”

“Forgive him; he’s just doing his job. I’m afraid the courtesan doesn’t like being touched by unclean hands,” Gaku said and gave Daiki a nod.

Daiki released the guard’s hand but put himself between the carriage and the guard, then closed the carriage door.

“I appreciate all the hard work you do to keep the city safe, and I want to make sure you get awarded plenty for it.” Gaku flicked his wrist, and the note bundle slid into his hand. He pressed the thick roll into the guard’s hand.

The guard smiled, but when he glanced at his hand, he was surprised by two bundles resting in his grip. He looked up at Gaku, who smiled.

“The second is something extra just for you.”

Alerted by the commotion and the guard’s loud sound, the second guard came to see what was happening.

“What’s happening here?”

The first guard quickly pocketed one of the rolls. “Nothing much, just this,” he said, tossing the second roll to the other guard.

“Ah, I see, so it’s all good,” the second guard smiled. “Well then, let’s get moving.”

It didn’t matter if their home was occupied by the enemy; not everyone felt loyal or patriotic to their country. Their only allegiance was to the ones in current; as long as their lives weren’t disturbed, they didn’t care who sat in the ivory towers. Greedy people were still enthralled by coin, power-hungry men’s appetite for control over others was just as intense, and the self-centered ones who only thought about themselves were still interested in only themselves.

The guard was grinning at getting his bribe, but then he saw Daiki boarding the carriage after Gaku and remembered how Daiki had grabbed his wrist. His happy expression soured as he moved along.

He saw the carriage driver and scoffed.

“Hey, take off your hat.”

The carriage driver sighed and raised his hand, but apparently, it was too slow. The guard raised his staff and flicked the straw hat off the driver’s head, revealing the face of one tired Takuma.

“Dear god, when was the last time you slept,” the guard said, forgetting the humiliation he had felt.

“They wanted to get here quickly. They paid extra, boss,” said Takuma.

“Oh, extra? How about your share, kid?”

He used his staff to poke Takuma in the leg, strong enough that it would’ve hurt a civilian.

Takuma slowly turned his head to the guard. Their eyes met, and the guard froze up as he felt as though a kunai had pierced through his neck. He gripped his staff until his knuckles were white and took a step back. His hand went to his neck like he was scratching an itch, but he was checking his neck.

“W-What? You… got a problem?”

Takuma put his hand into his pocket, which scared the guard, but Takuma took out a few loose, crumpled, dirty notes and held them to the guard, who hesitated but stepped close to snatch the notes out of his hand.

“Good… now move on, you’re blocking the line,” the guard tried to sound tough.

Takuma softly urged the horses and headed inside the city. As the carriage passed through the gates, he glanced at another carriage inspected by the other guard, who was ripping jute bags full of the merchandise, spilling a considerable amount on the floor. When the merchant begged him to stop, the other guard roughly pushed him to the ground and threatened him to stay there as he continued his ‘inspection.’

Takuma then glanced into the guard cabin, where a lone shinobi was leaning in his chair, puffing smoke.

He put his straw hat back and entered the Spring City of Yu.

———

.

The carriage stopped in an alley before a building’s back entrance. Takuma stepped down from his seat and looked around to see if someone was peeking from the windows. He opened the door, and Gaku and Daiki stepped out first.

“I thought I was never going to get out of there,” said Daiki.

“Why were you the only one outside?” Gaku spat, a cigarette already in his hand.

“Because I’m the only one who knows horses,” Takuma said. He had learned how to ride horses because shinobi didn’t use horses—they ran everywhere—which was why he learned it because it made for such a great cover. And today, he had gotten the return on his investment.

Gaku went ahead and unlocked the building while Daiki went to the back of the carriage for Chinatsu’s belongings, the only luggage not sealed away in storage seals.

Takuma held out his hand to help Chinatsu down the carriage

“Thank you, sweet boy,” Chinatsu smiled, winking at Takuma.

He nodded and extended his hand for the next one, only to get it slapped away.

Kameko pulled off her veil and pushed Takuma’s straw hat up to see his face.

“Ugh, I couldn’t believe they could get worse,” said Kaneko, commenting on Takuma’s worse than usual bags under the eyes that were ever-present on his face.

“Sure, let’s do this in the street,” Takuma sighed.

The preparation time was shorter than Takuma anticipated despite the mission being delayed. Between team meetings and his personal preparations, fourteen days passed in the blink of an eye. And because of the stakes involved, he hadn’t been able to sleep properly due to being busy and stressed. His usually tired face had gotten worse than usual.

Anko kicked Kameko from within the carriage to move the latter out of the way.

“What—!”

Anko looked at Takuma and Kameko and spoke in a no-nonsense voice. “Shut the fuck up, and move along.”

Rikku and Iori stepped outside the carriage and followed the other women into the building through the back entry.

After Daiki unloaded the luggage, Takuma patted the horses and returned to his driver’s seat.

“Thank you for your service, fellas… But it’s time for us to part.”

Now, he had to get rid of the horses and the carriage and familiarize himself with the city and its roads.

———

.

Takuma returned with food for the entire group.

The land and the building was owned by a company Gaku owned under a fake identity. He had made quite a bit of money in his time as a shinobi and had invested a portion into real estate. The building was a two-story residential house with a full basement floor.

“You were great out there, Chinatsu,” Gaku said to the woman whom the guard had tried to lay his hands on.

“It was all you, my brave Gaku,” Chinatsu smiled flirtatiously.

Chinatsu was the reason why the mission was delayed. Gaku had recommended her as a potential asset to Takuma. Chinatsu was a high-end courtesan with connections in the city’s high society and had agreed to help them as a plant that could collect intellect. Takuma agreed to recruit her if only for the cover to get into the city. He wasn’t sure how much helpful information she could get for them.

She was the reason the mission was delayed from seven days to fourteen days. Everything from doing a background check on her to contacting Chinatsu to have her to agree and then getting her transported was done extremely quickly, but it took time to coordinate and execute, which delayed the mission.

The group sat in a circle on the dirty floor with the food Takuma had bought for them.

“Rest for today,” Anko addressed the group. “We start from tomorrow. Gaku and Chinatsu will spread the word about her return…”

Chinatsu was their cover. Gaku was the pimp, Daiki was the muscle, and Anko, Rikku, Kameko, and Iori were Chinatsu’s maids. Chinatsu had returned to the city and would be conducting her business, reconnecting to her past clients/lovers, and the team was actually going to help her do her business.

The entire team except for Takuma. He didn’t have a cover and thus wasn’t connected to Chinatsu’s group. If he got in trouble, it wouldn’t connect back to him; if he got into trouble, it wouldn’t get tracked back to Chinatsu.

Anko continued. “While they do that, Iori and Daiki will get the stuff for the house. Kameko and I will do the cleaning. Takuma will set up the other place. We start the initial recon after everything is set up.”

The plan was to put a distance between Chinatsu’s house and the place where the team was planning to make their base of operations. They had brought a lot of stuff that would feel very out of place in a courtesan’s place of residence.

“Remember to stick to your roles, everyone,” Anko said. She turned to Takuma, “And get some sleep; your look like a ghoul.”

“I will,” Takuma sighed.

It was their first day behind enemy lines, but Takuma felt that it was his chance to get some decent sleep because once he started doing recon, his head would be filled with information, goals, and plans that would keep sleep away from him.

 

 

 

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