"In your place, so would I. But there is no real choice about whether it will happen, we are already here. What you have is a chance to influence the how."

"What's your current plan?"

"Introduce ourselves to local government in such a way as to minimize the fallout from killing Danzo and attempt to mitigate tensions between your family and the rest of the village. Gain a more complete view of the broader sociopolitical climate and what problem spots exist, then use contacts made here and our own power to resolve those in a sustainable fashion."

"It might be best to dissociate yourself from Danzo's death. The Hokage is usually considered soft on him, but likely has been using him as a politically convenient shadow."

"That was the plan."

"I've been into his base more than Shisui, and had already formulated a plan for infiltrating it. There's documents that need to be recovered, and we should move quickly before his death is realized."

"What of the defenses?"

"...Itachi, what did you do."

"What I had to. Danzo threatened Sasuke. I sought paths for infiltration. I know his defenses by now, well enough at least."

Anneia feels very quietly vindicated that she's not the only person here who does things other people think are dumb.

"The eight million kami together couldn't save me from pre-teens, could they."

"I'm basically a teenager. And almost a captain."

"You're basically an idiot. Still, your entry method's likely the best we've got."

"Shall we proceed with that, then?"

"Yes. Itachi, I'll let you take lead on this."

She nods and takes off, adjusting her speed upwards as the magical girls keep up.

They can go fast. Still not nearly as quiet.

They might notice their footsteps echoing much, much less, the sounds gradually replaced by the natural nighttime forest as Itachi adjusts to them.

That is very clever.

They get to the probable base. Itachi signals for them to stay back, then approaches on her own - openly.

A masked boy melts out of the shadows. He looks around Itachi's age, though he's slightly smaller than her, and it's hard to tell with all his skin covered.

"Raven," he says, voice young and flat. "What is your purpose here?"

"I have urgent business with Lord Danzo," she says, quietly and with that same lack of inflection. "It's about the guard mission."

"Lord Danzo is not seeing visitors right now," he says.

"I think he is," Itachi replies, voice heavy and echoing, and the boy puts his hand to his head and slumps -

As does a girl, who had been remaining out of sight.

Spooky.

Tasara holds out a hand to stop Anneia from moving up until they're signaled again.

She touches a blank space between two trees, twists her fingers into an odd symbol, and glowing lines spiral out from her index finger. She tilts her head, and there's an odd, static-laden feeling in the air as her hand twitches.

The world twists, and a small box-like structure appears, the metal door firmly shut. Itachi messes with a few other similar symbols, until it swings open silently. She glances in, then gestures back to her watchers.

"Unfortunately there's only this one way in, and going in, knocking out any guards, then returning for you three would raise alarms. Shisui and I can justify being here. I can briefly hide the two of you, but you must stay still and silent."

"We can do that."

Anneia nods. "The easy job."