Now that we had 6 of us, a full party was achieved. It was time to go. We then decided to go to where we had last seen them gather. It was in the town. We went there at a ninja's pace. I told everyone to pair up and search for them. The Akaime Clan shinobi were no pushovers. If they were here, we would apprehend them all and shake them down for information. I was paired with Keisuke. We were the faithful retainers of the Kirume Clan after all. It just made sense since we worked well together. Jun and Akira were hungry to be useful. Masaru and Izayoi were ready to go although they did not like having to play hide and seek. It only took an in-game hour before we found a tavern where they were hanging out. It was a different one than the one we had been summoned to way back when. There were five of them lounging in there. It looked like they did not know we were here yet. Jun and Akira found them all. It was not like one could simply determine who was a shinobi or kunoichi by just looking at them. You could not gauge their rank unless fighting them. Juro was a 12 year old chunin.
We gathered together and entered the tavern. That was when they noticed us. Ninja always took note of entrances and exits. All 5 of them were taking a very aggressive stances towards us. It made sense to me. We broke into their territory and killed one of their clan elders. This was still neutral territory in the town. They could not touch us here, but we could not touch them either. If we were going to get them, we needed to wait until we outside the city limits. What we could do here was instigate a fight with them. As soon as they were enraged, we could leave and get them to follow us out of the tavern. I looked at them. "How's your elder? We beat him up really bad last time we were here." I started. They glared at me with supreme intensity. If looks alone could kill, they would have me dead 3 times over. That was just part of the job of the shinobi. Both Jun and Akira caught on and began mocking them as well. Keisuke did not seem to enjoy this tactic. Masaru and Izayoi were just brandishing weapons in order to intimidate them. It really seemed to work on them all. We still kept at it though.
Psychological warfare was really effective. After annoying them for an hour straight, I looked at my team. I said "We are done here. Let's walk home." I then walked out of the tavern. Everyone followed me out. Just like I thought, I could see all of them followed us out the building. They were super pissed off with us. I just calmly continued to walk. The town guards noticed and followed us as well. That was fine. I was not going to have us throw any kunai or punches in their town. Peaceful or not, all the law enforcement agencies of the land hated ninja with a passion. Once we were all outside of the town limits, the guards stopped and glared at us. That was the go ahead for us to begin. "Hey. You've had a lot to say to us in the tavern. What do you have to say to us now, Kirume scum!?" one of them spat. I turned around and smiled wide. All of the mission hinged on this. "We killed your old, stinky ass elder like he was a sick puppy on the side of the road. Fuck you and fuck your clan. What the fuck are you all going to do about it!?" I said sweetly. Those were fighting words. Combat started now.
