Infiltration in Disguise

"Choose your missions, then go to the Logistics Department to collect your supplies. After that, you may depart. You only have one week to complete your missions." Ryūma Aburame looked over the group's varied expressions, seeing through their little schemes. Since some missions required leaving the village, he reminded them, "Most of you have accepted missions outside the village. If any of you defect, next time, one of you will be hunting down someone among you who has defected..."

"Gulp." Hearing Ryūma Aburame's words, everyone swallowed nervously and suppressed their private thoughts. Some of them still had family in Konoha. They did not dare defect, nor could they escape Root's grasp. Root had many ways to track them down.

Lin Chuan did not particularly care. He had never considered defecting. If he did, his adoptive parents would certainly suffer. He was not staying because of them, though. He wanted to earn his credentials in the ANBU Training Class. There were no better opportunities for growth outside. Root provided everything needed for training; all he had to do was take full advantage of it.

"Let's go." Terai put away the mission scroll and slipped it into his ninja tool pouch, then headed to the Logistics Department to replenish his kunai, Soldier Pills, and medicinal supplies.

With no medical ninja accompanying them, any injuries they sustained during the mission could only be treated with medicine and bandages for the time being. They would have to return to Konoha for proper treatment. If they could not return, they could only wait to die.

After collecting their supplies, the sixteen of them, eight ANBU squads, left Konoha through Root's underground tunnels...

Tanzaku Town, a major red-light district in the southwest of the Land of Fire, was packed with casinos, hotels, and entertainment venues. It was a place where one could easily violate the ninja's "three prohibitions."

After a day of travel, Lin Chuan and Terai arrived at Tanzaku Town. However, their ANBU attire meant they could only hide in the forest. The moment they appeared in Tanzaku Town, they would be easily exposed. They did not want to be killed by the enemy here before completing their mission.

"What now?" Terai looked through his mask at the bustling Tanzaku Town. He had discovered that Lin Chuan had the most tricks up his sleeve. In the Forest of Death, using Shadow Clones to stay behind while they slipped away early had been Lin Chuan's idea.

"What else can we do? We infiltrate in disguise, gather information first, and steal a few sets of children's clothes." Lin Chuan looked at the residents around Tanzaku Town, casually picked a house with clothes drying outside, and quietly took them.

Then he used a kunai to cut the clothes into tatters, smeared mud and stove ash over his body and face, held a broken bowl in his hand, hid his ANBU uniform and weapons in the forest, and headed toward Tanzaku Town's entrance.

"Do we really need to disguise ourselves like this? We're not even carrying weapons?" Terai caught up to Lin Chuan and looked at their beggar disguises. It felt far too shabby and embarrassing. If someone they knew saw them, it would be social death!

"Obviously. How else are we supposed to get close to the target without disguising ourselves like this?" Lin Chuan looked at Terai speechlessly. Were they supposed to carry swords up to the rogue ninja and announce that they were ANBU here to hunt him down? The moment the rogue ninja saw ANBU, he would run for it.

"Without weapons, even if we get close to the target, how do we kill him?" Terai looked at his empty hands, which held nothing but a broken bowl. Was he supposed to smash the target with it?

"Now isn't the time to capture the rogue ninja. First, we figure out his routine. The mission said he works as a casino enforcer. We'll stake out the area near the casino first." Lin Chuan could only explain it to Terai, lest this guy be too proud to act like a beggar and ruin the mission.

Suddenly, he noticed Terai's fair, clean hands and could not help complaining, "We're infiltrating in disguise. Your hands are too clean. Get some mud on them and cover the calluses from gripping a sword all the time. If someone sees them, even if they don't suspect you're a ninja, they'll suspect you're a samurai..."

"You even noticed that detail?" Terai hurriedly grabbed a handful of wet mud from the ground and rubbed it over his hands, then wiped some mud over his clothes as well to conceal the calluses on his palms.

"And your face. We're supposed to be orphan beggars. Your face is way too clean. Use some stove ash to make yourself look sickly. You need to look like you haven't eaten in ages." With his own grimy black hands, Lin Chuan gave Terai a thoroughly mottled face.

Then the two of them lowered their heads by a water jar to look at their reflections. Both of them burst out laughing. "Hahaha, hahaha..."

"Stop laughing and start begging." Lin Chuan could not help laughing too. He slapped Terai on the shoulder, and the two slowly made their way to the casino entrance. Listening to the shouts from within, they squatted outside with broken bowls and began begging for food.

Outside the casino—

A group of people suddenly emerged from the casino: two women in front and a group of men behind them. The men were seeing off the two women while smiling broadly. They had probably made quite a profit.

"Take care, honored guests. Come again next time..."

The departing guests suddenly noticed two filthy, sallow, emaciated children squatting outside the casino, their cheeks sunken in. Unable to bear the sight, one of them turned toward the little attendant beside her.

"Lady Tsunade, we don't even have money left for lodging," Shizune said. She glanced at the two pitiful children, but ultimately could not withstand Tsunade's look asking for money and took out their last ten-thousand-yen note.

"These two children are rather pitiful." Tsunade took the last ten-thousand-yen note from Shizune's hand, placed it in Lin Chuan's broken bowl, and turned to leave the casino.

Lin Chuan did not care about the bill in the bowl, worth about five hundred in real-world currency. Instead, he stared fixedly at the departing blonde beauty. He had actually run into Tsunade. The rogue ninja was hiding in the casino as an enforcer, and Tsunade appearing near a casino made perfect sense.

"Boss, should we drive those two little beggars away?" The casino enforcer who had watched Tsunade leave noticed the two beggar children outside. More importantly, he noticed the ten-thousand-yen note in their broken bowl, and his eyes gleamed greedily.

"No need. I'm in a good mood today." Seeing how eager his men were, all staring at the ten-thousand-yen note in the bowl, the casino enforcer boss cursed, "Put away your little schemes. That's a reward from that fat sheep to the beggars. Even if you want to make a move, don't do it at the casino entrance..."

"Boss, we get it, we get it. Hehe." Hearing that they could rob them and keep the money themselves, the underlings let out strange chuckles.

"Boss, that fat sheep lost quite a lot today. What are we doing tonight? Take the brothers out for some fun?"

"Easy. Tonight, I'll take you to the red-light district to drink our fill and have a good time..."

Hearing that they could go to the red-light district, the casino enforcers excitedly chatted and laughed as they returned inside. They were not worried about Lin Chuan and Terai running away. Their people were all over Tanzaku Town. How far could two beggars run? They could deal with them after work.

"Hey, what are you staring at? The targets have shown themselves, and they said they're going to the red-light district for drinks later. I think this is the time to act." Terai lightly nudged Lin Chuan. Seeing him still staring blankly at the blonde beauty's retreating figure, Terai lowered his voice and reminded him.

[Shizune, Tsunade]