55 A Humble Traitor

Garden's Area (Kamui's Point of View) (8 Hours Later)

The quartet was in position.

It took Kamui eight hours to both gather the necessary chakra for the teleportation seal and for Kamui to silently tag all the Kocho Clansmen in the compound. The latter took the most time since she waited for the sound four to both finish their extractions for the day and to all be in the compound without any external influence, a condition that seemed to take forever to fulfill after Jirobo decided to take his lunch break.

The thought was that it was safer to do the marking when no members of the sound four were out of that compound. They weren't completely aware of their current skillsets, nor did they believe the four posed too serious a threat to the four of them, but they had time. All things considered, it was better to be safe than sorry, especially with all these lives on the line.

At different times, the four sound shinobi took walks around the complex, which allowed the quartet to confirm their likenesses and demeanor. Overall, they seemed to have a reluctant respect for each other. Still, most of their social interactions were antagonistic. Tayuya, for example, had a crass vocabulary, which drew complaints from Jirobo, who seemed to have a sense of propriety that he wanted her to follow. This would, in-turn, cause her to remind him of his rotund physique. Interactions like this colored the sound four's conversations, which helped the quartet fine tune their approach to the confrontation. It was an interesting case study on reluctant teamwork, one that reminded Kamui of team 7, one they could exploit.

Jirobo appeared to be a 17-year-old, standing at an imposing 6 foot, 8 inches tall with tanned fair-skin and narrowed, slanted orange eyes. Most of the time, he carried a stern look on his face. He had three tufts of orange hair on his head: a mohawk of sorts that ran down the middle and two similar styled tufts of hair at the side. His figure was stocky and bordered on muscularly fat.

His attire was a beige-colored, sleeveless tunic with the symbol of the Sound Four, an all-white yin-yang symbol on the hem and a pair of black, ¾ length pants that stopped just below his knees. He wore black arm-warmers and a necklace that comprised of red circular pieces separating long, metallic pieces. He also wore traditional black shinobi sandals with mid-calf leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist.

Kidomaru appeared to be a 17-year-old, standing at 6 foot tall. He had dark skin, black eyes, and black, shaggy hair tied into a ponytail. His demeanor seemed to be more playful than his fat comrade, frequently sporting a confident grin on his face. Uniquely, Kidomaru also had six arms and a black sound village forehead protector, which they assumed hid the reported third eye he carried.

Kidomaru's attire was a black, sleeveless shirt under a sleeveless grey tunic, bore the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts. He wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist.

Tayuya appeared to be a 17-year-old, standing at 5 foot, 4 inches tall. She had fair skin with a slender build and brown eyes that prominently framed her impassive demeanor. She had long, untamed, dark pink hair that fell past her shoulders with long parted bangs framing either side of her face and one between her eyes.

Tayuya's attire was a black shirt under a tan tunic with elbow-length sleeves, bore the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts. She wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around her waist. To keep her wild hair out of the way, Tayuya also wore a black hat with pipe-like stripes and bandaged sides, keeping her bangs in place while the rest was pushed back behind her ears to trail down her back.

Sakon and Ukon appeared to be a conjoined set of 17-year-olds who were merged via a bloodline limit technique. Sakon was the active person, while Ukon slept inside Sakon's body; his head protruded from the back of Sakon's upper back and hanged limply, making his hair cover his face. Both Sakon and Ukon had fair-skin and straight, dark blue hair with long bangs that covered each different eye; their bangs were on opposite sides (Ukon's being on the left, Sakon's on the right). They both wore a green shade of lipstick, and had dark markings around their eyes, giving them an androgynous appearance.

The twins' attire was a black shirt under brown tunics with long sleeves, bore the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts. They wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around their waists.

Something struck her as odd about the twins. Their chakra was the same between them. To the naked eye, it looked like they were two, but to her sharingan she couldn't differentiate them. Not only their chakra, but their intent as well, it was the same. She wasn't sure if it was part of their bloodline, but if she hadn't heard otherwise, she would've assumed they were the same person.

They were an odd batch of shinobi and definitely had an intimidating vibe to them. They seemed to fit Orochimaru's image well, abominations in human form. Most would say that the judgement only applied to two of the four. Kamui would say otherwise.

Through her eyes, she could recognize the monsters hidden beneath the surface. Their curse marks seemed different, stronger, and far more potent than the two others she'd seen. She wasn't clear on the scope of the differences from the distance she was forced to watch at, but she was sure of one thing. Those marks held far more than a dormant soul fragment in them; she just couldn't understand what it was.

When she explained it to the others, she just got a quick acknowledgement and a comment from Naga that they just had to kill them before they could pull anything. She had an idea of what it was due to something she had heard from her father in passing, but it wasn't clear. Whatever it was, was separate from project vessel and would not be considered for her under any circumstances.

In any case, it was time to begin.

'Kamui, Reina, are you ready?' Yugao asked mentally.

Kamui was currently using the Yamanaka's mind connection jutsu to bridge the four kunoichi's surface thoughts. In short, it lets them transmit their thoughts to the other members of the link. Though, since Kamui was the only one able to perform the jutsu in the group, she's the only one capable of specifying a target. Everyone else's transmitted thoughts are sent to the whole group, at least with Kamui's current iteration of the jutsu. The clan had a far more advanced version, but Kamui hadn't had the opportunity nor the explicit interest to learn that.

The two nodded in place.

'I am' they both replied.

Currently, Kamui, Yugao, and Reina were all transformed into small birds perched on the house outside the clan head's residence. The next stage of the plan involved confronting Reina's father. With all the clansmen marked, they could do this without worry.

'Good. I'm ready on my side. You're free to engage.' Naga stated. She would be staying outside. Her mission was to keep watch for any hostile movements during the confrontation.

'Right.' Kamui responded, while Reina just nodded silently, too focused on the oncoming conversation.

With that, a transformed shadow clone popped up next to Kamui. Then, the three original Kunoichi undid their bird transformations, though Kamui made sure to apply another to her hair, shifting it to a deep purple; it wouldn't do to stand out.

Normally, she would've done this before entering the village, but it would only be necessary if she'd planned on directly confront somebody. If she's hiding without a transformation or even moving through a busy crowd, Danzo's subtle genjutsu is enough to prevent her hair from being an issue. Despite their insidious purpose under the rebellious shadow ruler, Danzo's jutsu have made a lot of her stealth efforts significantly easier.

Once the preparations were complete, Kamui, Yugao, and Reina body flickered to the front door. Reina took the lead.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

After a few moments of silent anticipation from the two kunoichi, the door opened to reveal a grizzled older man who wore the trademark calm smile of the Kocho Clan. He stood at six feet tall, though this estimate was only based off his hunched posture. The man's hair was mostly gray with flecks of remnant purple; it was apparent that stress was a constant companion for the man, especially when you consider that this man probably wasn't even midway through his forties.

For a clan descended from the Otsutsuki, the man's youth should have been retained for far longer. Regardless, he was well groomed with a well-maintained short beard and brushed-back hairstyle. His choice of clothing was a simple black long-sleeved shirt and dark blue pants with ninja sandals.

"Reina, you've returned!" he exclaimed with surprise. Despite his appearance, his voice was strong and filled with vitality, though that may be simply due to seeing his daughter safe from what was surely a perilous journey.

"I have." She replied with a strained smile.

Quickly, the man strode forward and embraced his daughter in a warm hug. He quickly realized however, that there was a lack of warmth in the hug she returned.

"Reina…., what's wrong?" he nervously asked, releasing the hug. This was odd, extremely odd. There wasn't anything she should be aware of (that he didn't already know) that would prompt such a tense greeting from his daughter after recent events. She should be excited that he was alright. That was the response he expected at least.

"Father…. We need to talk." She nervously and silently uttered, her voice barely audible to those around her.

"O…kay?" He confusedly muttered, prompting him to turn and usher them inside.

Silently, the three kunoichi followed the man inside the residence.

Inside was a relatively simple structure that had little in the way of lavish decorations. In fact, all the furniture looked like it was made with practicality in mind. There were plenty of other houses in this village that had more money invested than this one. Kamui had seen quite a few during her marking run.

'At least it doesn't look like the man did this for wealth. His lifestyle certainly doesn't speak to that type of motivation.' Kamui thought to herself as her eyes moved furiously to take everything in. If this was a trap she'd know.

Bringing the group to a brown, large, U-shaped sectional couch, the man sat down in the center, patting the spot to his left to prompt his daughter to sit.

"Please, take a seat. I'm sure my daughter's already done this on my behalf but let me introduce myself. I'm the Kocho Clan's leader, Toa Kocho. I appreciate you looking after my daughter on your way here." He started, his expression taking on a gentle smile after regaining his composure.

"Thank you and it's no trouble. I'm the Jonin in charge of this mission and next to me is my student Kamui. With your clan joining Konoha, protecting it is obviously something we would do. We look after our own with a ferocity unmatched in the world." Yugao calmly and passionately expressed, reminding the group just how powerfully the 'will of fire' doctrine bound the shinobi of the village.

Yugao hadn't said that lightly. Even though she wasn't very loud, there was a subtle pride in her voice that was impossible to hide.

'This is why joining Konoha was the best decision. Their loyalty is simply unheard of anywhere else in the world, even if it's only possible due to their undefeated record in war.' The man thought to himself.

Looking at the group, he noticed Kamui sitting on right side of the couch, Yugao sitting on the left, and his daughter sitting next to him in the spot he prompted her to.

'Alright, let's hope their news isn't too bad. At the very least, it can't get much worse.' He thought to himself, hoping it wasn't anything too serious.

"So… what's going on?" he asked, his expression giving nothing of his internal turmoil away.