Cybele

Yousuke dashed forward with his hand out and conviction firm. As he got within the masked woman's range he felt an instant of murderous intent focused directly upon him. An eyebrow twitched, her body tensed, and she almost reacted unconsciously. But her conscious mind suppressed it with a great deal of effort. The murderous intent vanished, and she just quietly stepped to the side to get out of the way. Yousuke's hands only find air, and now he was within that murderous bitch's reach. Her hand raises up as she takes a calming breath. "And so we have our first volunteer. Goodbye, Yousuke."

Her arm shot down like a guillotine aimed straight for the young boy's neck. It would be all over for him in a few seconds. She'd effortlessly snap his neck like she had done to Eisen, then she'd finish off Houshi and be back to her life.

Just as she's reaching down to make ready on her promise to get rid of her "students" the big meaty cavalry arrives.

WHAM!

Houshi's fingers obscure her vision as the giant boy grabs her mask. She releases Yousuke, and vanishes again. No puff of smoke, no blur of movement, she is simply there one moment and gone the next with nothing to mark her passage. Houshi feels the mask break into pieces in his hands. The way it crumbles feels a lot less like ceramic and more like dirt. A light cough draws your attention toward Mitsuyo, and you notice the purple-haired woman behind him. The mask is gone, and without it you can tell her face matches her body. If she had a normal life this woman would definitely be a model of some type, or possibly an actress. Her hands are crossed across her chest, but one hand reaches up to push a pair of thin framed glasses further up the bridge of her nose. Those glasses ever so slightly obscure a pair of purple eyes, just like those Sune had.

She runs a light hand through her hair, closes her eyes, opens her mouth to speak... Then closes it again. A soft sigh escapes her lips as she shifts her weight to the other leg and points toward your group. She moves to speak once more, but nothing comes out. She grows more uncomfortable with the silence, and kicks Mitsuyo. The fat merchant seems unnaturally composed, then you notice he's gone limp and doesn't seem to be breathing either. His fat sags forward, almost as if the muscle and bone in his body had vanished, then the merchant explodes into smoke.

When the smoke clears the fat merchant is gone. In his place sits a lithe girl you remember. She's wearing the same kind of ANBU uniform as her pretty sister, and has the same half-lidded look she had when she picked you up at the academy. Sune's giggling, blushing, and hiding her face with her hands like she just heard a dirty joke. Even so you get the feeling she isn't laughing at your group. The older woman's eyes are closed, her face is red, and she's clearly growing angrier and angrier. It's been several seconds since the formerly masked woman had spoken, but she breaks the silence by yelling at her sister. "Sune! Explain what happened."

The giggling girl just smiles through familiar half-lidded eyes. "Ai, ai. Cybele-chan doesn't like to talk, ze? Hehe." The last bit earns her a punch from her sister. The younger one rubs her head roughly, then looks back toward your group. She continues speaking with a much more somber tone.

"To put it plainly: We lied. A lot."

She gets up, brushes herself off, and bows politely to you. "There never was a Mitsuyo, or any kind of danger. I was kind of worried you'd figure that out a lot earlier, and it made me so nervous!" The girl giggles, laughing at her own bad acting, which honestly should have been a tip off that something was wrong. A ninja isn't that bad at bluffing... right? Then a lightbulb goes off and she has a sudden realization. The mercenaries you killed were clearly dead, and actual people. What about them?

"Ah! But don't worry, those guys you killed were really bad guys. A bunch of criminals we told could go free if they killed you." She lets out an uncomfortable laugh, and the older girl just closes her eyes and frowns. "So, it's not like you're murderers or anything. Trust me, they were really bad guys."

Her sister lashes out again, giving Sune a second knock to the noggin. "Get on with it!" The younger sister just smiles, laughs, and continues on.

"We set this up to know who you were. Ya, we got reports. We had dossier on all three of you, but that doesn't tell the whole story." She scratches her nose lightly, and looks like a child ashamed of what she's done. "Now we know who you are under pressure, when others die around you, how you act when lives are on the line, so on."

Eisen

The boy starts breathing again a few seconds into Sune's speech. Cybele rolls him onto his back while her younger sister is explaining. Yousuke can see that she's in the process of performing some basic first aid. Without her mask, she's much more gentle with the young boy. After a few moments, she lightly taps Sune on the leg. The younger ninja kneels down, closes her eyes, then raises her hands above Eisen's chest. A blue glow envelops the genin, and his wounds begin knitting together. Yousuke can tell it's some kind of medical ninjutsu, but fails to identify which one. Cybele stands up and looks the two of you in the eye, but doesn't speak for several seconds.

Then she coughs, looks away, and finally says. "Any questions?"