Akigo blinked and looked around as the assembled teams all gave their acknowledgement.<br/><br/>He smiled, flashing his teeth which were clamped down on his cigarette.<br/><br/>The Uchiha girl surprised him with her little joke. Akigo knew the infamous clan were broody and haughty, but this girl seemed to be a little chirpier than the rest, and Akigo liked that.<br/><br/>"Well, redeyes, you don't have to worry about getting your hands dirty. I had a sealing scroll prepared, but seems thanks to Katashi I won't need it. Well volunteered, guy."<br/><br/>Akigo nodded to the chunin. That was it, responsiblity of carriage passed. They were chunin now, no need to be molly coddled through a mission.<br/><br/>He also drank in the fidgety Inuzuka who'd be one of his teammates. The ninken would prove useful on either team, and Akigo himself would have put the dog-partnered ninja on Vision for the scent and tracking capabilities, but he was pleased that he was on his team, anyway.<br/><br/>Akigo watched team Vision as well, spotting the budding group dynamics as they began to take root.<br/><br/><em>Mokuton and Nara, anchor positions, using medium-to long-distance restraining jutsu allowing the taijutsu-heavy Hyuuga and new girl free to smash up whatever's been restrained. Or, allowing them free movement to work over any traps. No need to say so, however, I don't want to patronise these guys by telling them what formations they should take.</em><br/><br/>Akigo rolled his eyes as the Moku-senju bared his teeth.<em>There's always one. Still, looks like the Nara kid's got his number. Looks like the shadow-using redhead can keep a can on the moody wood-boy...if he can't, though, that might prove difficult for team Vision. Hmm.</em>Akigo allowed the flirtatious banter to pass around, laughed at Kyosuke's well-mannered teasing at the approach of the blue-haired new girl, nodded a couple more times, then continued.<br/><br/>"Yes, team Finger was fingering, Katashi. They've been fingering for years, and doing damn well at it, and chances are, if they wanted to finger you, you'd have no idea about it until it was too late."<br/><br/>Akigo flashed his signature crooked smile at the boy.<br/><br/>"Back to business, troops. The main players in this little Mist mix-up seem to be the Hokage and Mist's ANBU on one side, and standard village chunin and jounin on the other, backed by civilian suppliers and sympathisers. For reasons we don't know, a revolution was attempted against the Mizukage, and he responsed in force...a<em>lot</em>of force. You'll know that each village has a different take on their own ANBU...ours are styled after the wood spirits that silently guard the forest for years, watching and waiting, which is why they've all got cat, bird and dog masks. The Mizukage, however, has recently...remodelled his ANBU. You guys do your history in class? You know what Tengu are, right? Yeah, the Mizukage's re-designed the Mist's ANBU as not only his extensive personal guard, but as the bird-demons from mythology. Word has it they've got creepy vulture masks, have feather-manes, and some have even had restructuring surgery to shape their hands into talons. Yeah. Damn fucking strange."<br/><br/>Akigo let that sink in, finished his cigarette and crushed the butt under his ninja boot.<br/><br/>"So, it looks like the Mizukage's personal forces and Tengu versus your ordinary Mist ninja and some civilians. That's literally all we know, we can only guess at the numbers on each side, we don't know whose winning,  how much damage the Mist village infrastructure has suffered, or what side the Seven Swordsmen have taken. All that, Team Finger was supposed to report back on."<br/><br/>Akigo looked at the members of Team Vision meaningfully.<br/><br/>“You guys ready to leave? You’re taking the long route, approaching Mist from the south. I’ll leave method of transport upto you, whether you want to water-walk for a few hours a day or get a boat…from your mission objectives, however, I wouldn’t recommend the latter. Leave interaction with all non-Konoha personnel to a minimum, lest your mission be compromised.<br/><br/>Shouties, we’re giving these guys a headstart as they have a longer route to take, then by the time we arrive, having island-hopped for a couple of days, Vision should just be starting their infiltration. Classic distraction tactic…any Mist personnel or civilians not involved in the fighting will all be on the lookout for a team of obvious Konoha ninja approaching from the east, giving Vision more leeway to infiltrate from the south.”<br/><br/>Akigo quickly whipped his hands from his pockets and cracked out a few casual hand signs. A faint<em>poof</em>eminated from next to him, and a blurry Akigo-clone stood next to the original.<br/><br/>“Heh. Not a patch on the original, and not my best shadow clone either, but he doesn’t need to be. Because I’ve got to keep my concentration and most of my chakra with Team Shout, this thing here won’t be able to talk, or perform jutsu. All he’s going with you for is so I can keep a track on you. We need to be able to coordinate our advances once we get close to Mist, and it’s a form of communication should anything untowards happen. He’s just gonna take a backseat and follow you about.  If I take a bad hit, or if he gets hit even by a lazy shuriken, he’ll poof. But I didn’t need to tell you that, right?”<br/><br/>“Now, is there anything else, Visionaries? Speak up or forever hold your peace…your mission begins in T-minus two minutes.”<br/><br/>