>>5940028Hotaru purses her lips momentarily before finally telling the three of you “There’s likely foreign ninja in this town. It’s unlikely they’re hostile because Otomo wasn’t attacked, and it’s also unlikely they have anything directly to do with our mission here, but verifying who they are and what they’re up to is now a top priority.”
“So…” Naoki says “We’re not getting the day off?”
Hotaru rolls her eyes at him “You’re getting your ‘day off’, but now it’s a cover story for why you’re going to be wandering all around town looking for leads. I’ll remain near our VIPs, you three are to go investigate. Don’t even think of splitting up, you’ll need to maintain a united front in case something happens. Also-” She says, handing you a paper tag with a symbol on it. “-Rip this if you need to summon me. I will know where you are and come find you immediately. Understood?”
“Yes ma’am.” You respond, taking the paper tag and depositing it in your pocket.
“Good. Go.”
—
The three of you are standing around in front of a gambling parlor. Masami points out that it’s gang-owned, but obviously small-time enough that these people aren’t into anything super nefarious. Probably just gambling and prostitution. Masami insists she’s seen places like this before while on the road, and that they shouldn’t pose anything approaching a threat to you since no gang member in a small town like this was going to seriously have access to chakra. They’d be good people to talk to to get leads. It makes sense to you, and is roughly in line with what you planned on doing anyway with your day. Almost.
The three of you enter. Inside, the front room has a couple circles of people seated playing chinchiro, and a row of pachinko machines that have some people playing, looking slack-jawed and oblivious. Anyone who’s not obliviously playing pachinko stops what they’re doing to stare at the three of you.
You decide to take the lead and walk up to one of the obvious gang guys standing around and say “We need to talk to someone of authority here. We have questions.”
The man smiles at you sharply, staring intently at each of your Konoha protectors in turn. He seems to physically chew on his words while he thinks, before making eye contact with you and saying “Go fuck yourself, kid.”
>What do?>”Naoki, beat his ass.”>”Masami, beat his ass.”>Beat his ass.>”I am a Hidden Leaf ninja, I’m not playing games with you, and you will respect me or I promise things will get ugly. Fast.”>Just start fucking destroying his little establishment until this guy realizes he’s not in charge here.>”How about we play some dice? I’ll wager money, you just need to wager the conviction to answer my questions before one of us loses our patience and knocks your teeth out.”>Be a little more diplomatic. (Write in.) 