Hoseki Spying: Kotaro Edition

Kotaro was a genius among perverts. For the last hour Hoseki had been following him, he had been seamlessly flirting with the two girls he was with. There was something morbidly fascinating about the way he played compliments off each other, neglecting neither girl, and about the way the two girls both went along with it.

From what Hoseki had gathered, Kotaro and the dog kunoichi, Hana, were escorting the blonde girl, Beni, to some sort of vacation home for a few days.

The group reached the home before sunset. When Hana and Beni went inside first so Kotaro could set up the house's perimeter defenses, Hoseki decided to stay and observe a while longer to see what the pervert was capable of.

It was impressive. The boy weaved a web of trip wires, hidden pitfalls, mechanical traps and seals, some obvious to distract the enemy, others more subtle to ensnare those who had become overconfident. False traps hid explosive seals that would be almost guaranteed to go off if anyone tried to disarm them. Hair-thin wires laced with poisons were wrapped around the branches of the trees that surrounded the house so they couldn't be safely used for cover. A pair of dogs stayed outside to stand watch and alert the humans if there were any invaders.

The protection wasn't flawless; Kotaro should have done a more thorough check for observers or enemies before setting the traps, though Hoseki was confident she could have made her way through even if she hadn't known exactly where to go and what to do. Still, it wasn't something ordinary ninja could deal with.

Kotaro joined Hana and Beni inside the house. Hoseki wasn't close enough to see them, but the scents and vibrations that rippled through the air told her exactly what they were doing, and she saw no need to spy on them further.

On her way back, Hoseki ran into a group of Kumo shinobi heading towards the house. A jonin and his genin students, by the looks of them. The dogs would smell them coming, but Kotaro was her master's friend and Hoseki was starting to feel hungry, so she decided to do the boy a small favor. She knew what it was like to use cunning and preparation to survive against stronger, more talented rivals, so she felt some kinship to him.

One of the genin bled out almost instantaneously when every vein and artery in his neck was ruptured by Hoseki's fangs, the jonin lasted long enough to die from the venom, but couldn't find Hoseki and actually fight back, and the other two genin got lost in the woods in their panic. Hoseki coiled her body around their necks and squeezed until their heads turned into grapes.