Mawari was quick to act after her initial attacks, quickly evading the Kumogakure nin. She left the two chunin and the genin to their own devices whilst she - somewhat playfully - dodged the Kumogakure nin attacks and punches, making sure not to get hit. Occasionally she would return an attack, though the attack whiffed every time. While it looked like she was trying, a careful eye might've seen that in fact she was not trying at all, and seemed to be purposefully missing her attacks.

The reasoning behind this was that, while Mawari believed war was inevitable, she did not believe the best discourse was to start a war at the first chance she got. And attacking and killing Kumogakure shinobi was one sure-fire way to start a war. So she just twirled and danced around their attacks, pretending to fight back so they could retain their honor at least.

While she did all that, she still managed to keep an eye on the three shinobi under her protection, occasionally jumping in and out of their 'area' of combat to distract an enemy so that the three didn't get hurt. In the case of Ira, that meant jumping in once and grabbing a guy, dragging him away into the distance and putting him down again. And immediately she continued the charade, moving her body rapidly and twisting around in a three sixty degree circle, swinging her leg up and extending it rapidly towards the mans' head, retracting the leg slightly at the last moment so that her leg whiffed past the mans' face very, very closely.

This would continue for some time more, occasionally with her stepping into a fight of one of the lower ranking shinobi to 'whiff' some attacks and make sure that they didn't get hurt too much. Anything beyond that was of course going to be their own fault for being stupid enough to get hit.



“Eh, being early is not much better than being late? What the he-” Sakana muttered under his breath while he slyly looked at Kaido from the corners of his eyes. Kaido continued to talk about some random stuff, some spy, blabla, Wild Pond Village.. man, what was Sakana's luck that he was stuck with this fool as team leader. Hopefully this wasn't a permanent placement for him, as he didn't really like anyone in the team so far. Well, Shirayuri was decent some times, but other times she was a right rampage. He'd rather avoid her all together if he could. No seemed nice, but didn't exactly strike him as the 'superb shinobi' type. Not that he was one either, in fact the only thing he excelled at was being mediocre.

When Kaido gave the order to move out, Sakana followed it obediently. He took off instantly, following Kaido with ease as the man seemed to have taken it upon himself to babysit the trio of Chunin, who were obviously more than capable of sustaining faster travel. Never the less, he didn't complain, because the time spent running at a comfortable pace was spent looking around. When he jumped from tree to tree, his black hair moved up and down with the pace, occasionally hitting him in the eye, which he'd then proceed to blow away in annoyance. After about five minutes of running, looking around and blowing hair away he decided to speak up.

“So uh, No, what precisely can you do? I know bone-bitch over there can do shit with her bones, and Kaido.. I dunno.. guess he's jonin for a reason, right. But I've never really .. seen you around, you know?” he inquired, referring to Shirayuri as 'bone bitch' for a reason.

The moment he was freed, Tenshi gets up and begins to put together a plan. Tenshi put an idea together he listens to Ria's lecture about his chakra and clones, he would agree it wasnt the best move but it was something he could learn from even though the chakra he used on the clones had returned, the number was a bit off he shouldn't just make clones at random it wouldn't work well in the end. He felt lucky that this was a sparing session and not a real battle.

He then hears her say she would be the decoy he then shakes his head and says, "I don't think that's a good idea to have just one decoy, but a decoy isn't a bad idea though. Hitori you get ready because Senhime is about to have her hands full dealing with the two of us." Tenshi gets ready grabbing a few smoke bombs then says to Ria, "Let's show Senhime what the Uchiha can do!"

That was the last thing he said before he started to rush their Sensei he throws a handful of smoke bombs at Senhime's feet looking to cover their approach and their movements. He wasn't going to wait for a verbal response as the last he did he got caught in the silk attack. His idea was to block Senhime's vision while it also blocked his vision, he hoped Ria's sharingan was able to pierce through the smoke. Even though he was an Uchiha he wasn't sure what was the fully capabilities of the sharingan or how much Ria's eyes could see. He was doing a bit of assuming as there wasnt time to figure this out. Meanwhile he throws his own attack out in the form of a his sake fire enhanced attack. Trying to keep Senshime off guard trying to help with the role of decoy.

He takes the time in the smoke to pull out his bottle of saké and a lighter it was time for his version of the fire-ball jutsu. Tenshi then yells, "Fire style fireball Jutsu!" He then in the smoke cloud takes in a mouth full of saké and then puts one hand up in the tiger sign with the lighter lit on it. He then spits the sake out into the little flame into the cloud of smoke he created hoping the fire attack and the smoke would be a start to a good distraction to give one of his teammates an opening to do something.

Interactions: @Gowi @Weird Tales @Jay Kalton

Haitani gave a sly grin as his team all made it the front gate of Konohagakure. Their first mission together without their sensai was going to be a rough entry into a new start or Haitani but he had to keep everyone together. For now the main point was to just to get to the Daimyo's Palace. His eyes lingered on the forest before them, the fastest route.

"Alright team. Let's move out. If we move fast enough, we can make it there in half a days time. Izo, I want you closer to the front. Inori, take up the rear. Keep us in order in case anything happens." Haitani commanded the genin before leaning forward on his right foot, "Break."

Haitani shot forward at a steady pace to allow the genin to keep up and stay in formation. Personalities wouldn't be an issue on the trip to the Damiyo as ong as everyone stayed in formation. The Sarutobi preferred it this way as imitating the former Senju leader was a good start. He planned to keep it that way.

Several hours passed as they traveled from their home. Nothing truly exciting happened as they seemed to past the half way mark to the Daimyo's Palace. Things felt weird to Haitani like his gut was literally punching him in the face. He shook it off for now as the group had not been met with an opposition so far. Hopefully it stayed like that in Haitani's mind.

Dewa was excited, that was his honest feeling as the 2nd was telling them about their mission details. He was used to lazing about doing low ranking missions, but this was different and he had to put his best foot forward. He chuckled at the 2nd's joke and stood up ready to leave.

When Chikage left Dewa soon followed, he needed to tell his father of this new development and stock up on kunai and a rain coat.

"2nd, I also need to go make some arrangements and tell my father that I will be leaving so I will see you both at he gate." he said with a slight bow and then left quickly.

When he arrived home, he grabbed a rain coat and some extra lava kunai out them in a backpack that had some snacks in it and wrote a note to his father about him going on a mission, and then he left. On his way to the gate one thing did bother him, he did not know how helpful he could be to the team in a land of constant rain. His father's lava could withstand rain without hardening, he could even make the lava more gooey and sticky like saliva, one reason he earned the name "Lava Mouth". This was something Dewa would have to ask the 2nd about, but for now he needed to focus on the mission at hand.. With thoughts heavy on his mind he made his way to the main gate.

---

Nō listened adamantly as Kaido spoke, the man had an air of leadership that Nō liked and she felt that it would be a great solidifier for their newly formed team. Nō liked Kaido, he was a born leader, and the man would be a great teacher, he had her respect. Her other two teammates she had yet to learn about; she had heard of Sakana from other Chunin, nothing bad or good just that there was a fish-eyed guy who was on the same patrol rotation as her. At first she did not believe it but now that she sees him in person it was a different story. Shirayuri was a mystery to her as well, Nō had heard about her clan before but could not quiet remember what Lady Kikyo had said about them. All in all she felt that if she tried hard she could come out with some new friends and stronger than she was.

When the took off Nō fell in line as they jumped tree from tree. Their pace was okay with her, plus she could not complain they had to move with haste to ensure completion of this mission. She smiled when Sakana asked about her fighting style, she liked to talk with others about it and was happy her teammate wanted to know.

"I use taijutsu and mix it with Bakuton. But don't worry I wont accidentally blow you up or something along those lines, I am actually quiet good at it if I do say so myself." she said with a genuine smile, and a light tone.

She was wonder what his response would be to that, most people who asked about her fighting style or kekkei genkai could not wrap their minds around such a dangerous combat technique but it has worked so far and will only get better.

"What about you Sakana what is your preferred style?"

The waiting was almost unbearable for somebody like Shirayuri. Almost as unbearable as the droning sound of her new squad leader's voice. He was already grating on her nerves, in the whole thirty minutes she had known him. He was one of those types to find fault in that which had none for no reason other than to criticize. The huffy general type who never truly did much, but would bark orders which such undeserved authority that one would assume they were the Hokage themself. But, such was life, following these men into battle and fighting on their order. It was a sorry state of affairs, but one she had no place in questioning. With the subtle curve of a frown upon her thin pink lips, Shirayuri followed suit with her squad, taking up the rear position in their formation as the trio of Chuunin joined their Jonin amongst the treetops.

______________

It was during times like these, that Shirayuri contemplated her own behaviors. She was never particularly good at interacting among her fellow shinobi. To strike up conversation so casually and to speak so free of snark or spite as comrades did was alien to her. She bounded among the tree line like her team mates, catapulting from branch to branch with all the grace afforded to a shinobi of skill. The wind which whipped through her hair and whistled in her ear was a more welcome addition to the plethora or forest sounds around the small group than the idle conversation Sakana struck up with this girl whom she knew not. Indeed, all the Kaguya did in response to his jab towards her was sneer in his direction. Bone bitch. An insulting, if not innaccurate nickname given by those who envied her abilities, no doubt.

If nothing else, his casual speech did allow for her to learn a bit more of their squadmate. Whilst Shirayuri was unfamilar with the fighting style which No spoke of, she pieced together a fairly vivid picture in her mind. Using explosions in close proximity was certainly a hazardous practice, but chakra was a wonderous thing which could accomplish many incredible feats. She merely needed to keep note of No's positioning in combat to avoid having her body scorched by the blowback of a careless punch or kick. While chakra surely guarded No from harm, it would not do the same kindness for Shirayuri.

Truthfully, Shirayuri wondered if any combat would occur on this mission. It was ranked A for, what she could tell, circumstances of chance. If Kirigakure knew not the location of this common criminal, then it would be a simple mission.

If they did... well, Shirayuri had no qualms in ending the lives of Kirigakure's shinobi. She had felled their men during the war both for her own sake and for Konohagakure's. It was strange to think that once, her father had served them. That if things had been different, she too may have served the village of assassins and bandits who had been such a scourge on its neighboring lands. If small talk would not make the time pass faster, her musings would.

---

Location:

---

The battle on Kumoagakure/Konohagakure borders -- no longer a fight for survival, but an agonizing grasp for time, slowly began to wear at Dio's psyche. Amid glancing blows and scathing words he found time to extend his vision past the contours of the battlefield and fulfill the edges of it's range. Searching became a past-time, a way to rid himself of any surprise between the possibility of Kumoagakure Ninja reinforcements and Konohagakure rescue teams arriving in a timely manner.

This overwatch seemingly put his body on autopilot, finally giving Dio some insight as to the possible usefulness of Senbon Sparring. The passage of time and movement blurred as his body twisted and contorted on its own, dodging sword swings and counter attacking effectively. Efficiently he battled, conserving energy and chakra all the while searching for both ally and enemy. That and with the hulking mass of chakra and rage not only a few yards away, Dio's mind and body worked overdrive.

Occasionally, he and the others received protection from the Hokage herself. She danced around the battlefield, politely striking down Kumo Ninja -- although with time he noticed the cushion of air in between her limbs and the opponents face. Dio took some offense to this as the rest of Team Konoha struggled with their own shinobi counterpart while she whiffed attack after attack; the least she could have done was incapacitate them a bit. What was the point of calling in reinforcements if she only planned on retreating after herself? Unless…

While the epiphany remained fairly self-contained, Dio couldn't help but grit his teeth as he fought, more than usual this time. Could the Hokage be planing to seal the 8-Tails here and now? Certainly she realized a full retreat would defeat any hope of attaining the Beast as the border would writhe with ninja. So what the hell did the Hokage want? War? The Beast? Or just to show off? Surly a full report on the Hokage skill would be filed, even the little she did was enough for anyone to use against her.

Dio, nonetheless concerned with doubt plaguing his mind, fought on. Avoiding injury in both cases, and watching over the 50 meters of land in which fell under his oversight. The moment anything, or anyone penetrated his vision's bubble, he would know, whether it was friend or foe, was but one of his many questions.

Kei cradled the tea in his hands, heavily lidded eyes as he listened to the mission. An A-Rank? Odd for a newly minted team of Genin. The whims of superiors are truly unknowable, the mission has this level of importance. I suppose this means that they’re relying on Kishimoto and we’re mostly window dressing.

“Well, good thing I have my umbrella, rain village, heh. By bodyguards I assume you mean we’re to be paper tigers, casting an intimidating shadow to be used as a deterrent more than any actual threat. After all, if we’re the bodyguards of a former Hokage, how could we not be powerful?” placing his untouched tea back down, Kei stood and bowed to his new teacher.

“I look forward to learning from you on this trip, sir. Do you wish for any specific provisions for the trip? Are we to appear as a diplomatic delegation with a palanquin? Or wander in as the eclectic group of vagabonds we would appear to be?” with a sigh, Kei twirled his umbrella in his hands, watching the canopy spin like a wheel above his head, coughing softly as he accidentally tastes the stale air of tobacco smoke hitting the back of his throat.

“Oh well. It’s far above my station to worry about things like that, isn’t it? A Genin just has to learn after all.” Shaking his head, Kei walked off and back home to grab some supplies. He really had no idea what to really bring. A whet stone and polishing cloth were there for maintenance as well as a handful of antidotes, ninjas are very tricky with poisons after all, but it’s a bodyguard job. And honestly, none of them are really going to be proper bodyguards, more like three scarecrows going by the mission.

Still, it’s the first mission he’s going on as a Genin and it is still A-Ranked at that, can’t afford to treat it lightly. So after talking with his family, Kei hugged his mother and bowed to his dad before heading off to the front gate, slowly twirling his umbrella, as he walked along with a small bag, a ream of paper and a small stack of explosive tags.

As Haitani gave his instructions, Kohaku stretched a bit as she listened in. It was going to take quite some time to reach the Daimyou's place, and she didn't want to have any stiff and aching limbs along the way.

Facing the forest ahead, Kohaku closed her eyes then inhaled then exhaled, calming herself down and increasing her focus. She wasn't going to be in a protected area for a good few hours, so she had to be on guard. No more chatting or silly disruptions; she knew well enough that this was serious business.

Okay, all set and ready to go. As long as I keep my ears open and my mouth shut, I don't think there'll be anymore trouble today.

Steadying her breathing and keeping a straight face, Kohaku opened her eyes.

"Break."

Alongside the rest of her teammates, Kohaku took off into the forest.


For the first few hours nothing unusual had popped up, much to Kohaku's relief. Every half an hour she would put her sensory abilities to good use, though other than the now thundering footsteps and booming heartbeats of her teammates, Kohaku hadn't heard anything much else. At least in this mostly silent woodland she could hear clearer.

An hour later she began to listen again, trying not to let her own footsteps disturb her. A few hours of peaceful silence was usually something Kohaku cherished once in a while, but beyond the gates of Konohagakure, a more eerie feel had been evoked. Every now and then she could feel the goosebumps rising up on her arms, or a cold shiver run down her spine. Perhaps it was just her instinct as a ninja. Kohaku didn't want to get shaken up about something like this but she hoped if she did hear something within range, she would be prepared for it.

If someone were to mess up, the whole team would fall.

@Gowi @Kal-El @Weird Tales

His team all had begun moving, soon they would arrive outside of the small fishing village. The Wild Pond village was bustling with life - life that all seemed to come to a halt as the four ninja made their way to it. People stopped everything they were doing to look at the four Konoha shinobi, marching through their town. Kaido had a smirk on his lips, it was impossible to tell if it was full of pride or malice. The small wooden huts with their straw roof stood several dozen in rows, almost indistinguishable from one another. Kaido made his way through the first pack of Huts, glancing at his surroundings, looking for even the smallest detail - anything out of the ordinary, in the corner of his eye, he found something. He looked back at his students - seeing that the villagers had all resumed their business now. "Stay out here. I'll be gone for five minutes, tops." Kaido said, as he opened the door to the small hut, inside, his students could catch a glance of a small figure sitting at a table, next to him were two burly guys armed to the teeth with swords and other weapons - Hired missing ninjas, they would be able to deduct.

Kaido emerged exactly five minutes later, carrying a dossier he had not had with him before. "The Konoha scroll has been taken into a undisclosed location within the forest, 16 clicks to the east from here. We will have to enter Kirigakure territory for that, and engaging enemy forces is guaranteed. The three of you must be sharp. Your objective is to watch my back. Each other', too, if you have the time." The Uchiha instructed, before darting off.

***

They made their way to the location of the bunker. "I'll stand guard. Breach the bunker and locate the scroll. Stealth is your friend." Kaido warned them. "Here are the blueprints of the bunker, it's a small one, and it's very secure, it won't be heavily guarded, but a rotating patrol will pass through at irregular intevalls, which is why I'll be out here. Do not disappoint the village. Move out." He informed them, handing all three of them a copy of the bunker's layout.

He watched as the three chunin headed into the bunker, and as the door shut behind them, he heard a rustling in the woods. That patrol seemed to have picked a terrible time to arrive.

---

Izo gave Kohaku a slight glare when she asked about the twig in his hair. He did not answer and just brushed the piece of tree off of his head. More jokes are exactly what I need right now, he thought to himself sarcastically. They were not out of Konoha yet and already he got the feeling of this mission being a total pain in the ass.

He was glad to get some recognition from their new squad leader when Haitani instructed him to stay close to the front. His Ｋｅｋｋｅｉ ｇｅｎｋａｉ was best suited for him being in front and keeping an eye out any potential adversaries or traps.

"Glad to see that you haven't forgotten about my unique Dojutsu" he said with a prideful smile to Haitani. Izo gave a sigh of relief when they finally left the Leaf Village and headed out into the Land of Fire in the direction of the Damiyo's home. For the first few hours, everything was quiet and Izo liked it like that for now since it allowed him to think about possible plans of attack that an enemy to could take against them and what were the best chances of making a successful counterattack.

It wasn't too long after they reached the half way point of the journey that Izo started to get a strange feeling that made him feel a little more on edge. He felt tempted to activate his Sūgaku-No-Me, but he didn't want to waste his chakra needlessly. Izo needed to be sure that they were potential danger and having just a feeling was not enough to start using up his chakra reserves. He did however raise his awareness and was keeping a lookout for anything suspicious or threatening.

Despite his dislike of his teammates, Izo was still glad to be on a mission and he wanted it to succeed so that his time spent in Konoha would not appear to have been wasted in the eyes of Mizukage, and he definitely did not want to look like a failure either. Izo would do everything in his power to succeed as much as possible even if it meant having to work with this team.

@Kal-El @Gowi @Jay Kalton

Interactions
Nagasaki Hitori @Thecrash20
Uchiha Tenshi @BladeSS4
Osuushi, Senhime @RyoRyoRyoken
Location: Training Field 6

The plan of attack that Tenshi initiated was a perfect one. That version of fireball was fake to be exact, Ria could easily tell based on how it was executed even though the smoke is messing with her vision. She spams her wiring techniques with kunai and windmills to pin point where Senhime is. "Oh yeah. She's open. By the way, I saw how you did the Shadow Clone Jutsu, the chances of me copying it is there but I wouldn't use it considering......." Ria begins to charge her sword and shifted using one sword, at the same time moving at fast speeds but more agile considering she's not using Chidori, all her concentration would be on her bodily movements as to how she executes the slashes of her sword against Senhime.

Ria ensured that Senhime doesn't pull the same trick again with the spider mess and infuses her sword with fire chakra into the sword as well. At this point, is clashing sword to sword against Senhime as suicide as it sounds. The sword she's using is a different sword this time, longer than Amatsuki and Karaware, it's none other than famed and cursed blade Muramasa known to legends, well Samurai legends.

"I won't let you dance around like a spider this time."

---

---

Smirking, Senhime simply cleaved through the tiny fireball on reaction, the sheath of chakra coating the wooden blade preventing it from getting burned. "Ara ara~. Looks like Ria-chan's going to step up to the plate, hm?" she thought, casually readying herself. The horned kunoichi raised an eyebrow as Ria approached, noting the change to a single-sword style, particularly one with the third sword in her possession. It was perhaps a smart choice, given the apparent length of the blade, wreathed in fire as it was. As Ria approached at high speed, Senhime simply walked up to meet her. Smiling somewhat slyly at the young kunoichi, Senhime rotated to the side slightly, hiding the length of her blade before unleashing four strikes in rapid succession as she spun around, intent on passing Ria by as each strike landed. Two at each of her wrists to get her to drop her sword into the sand, and two more at the back of the knees as Senhime rotated behind her to get her to drop down. Without bothering to stop and survey the results of her strikes, Senhime leapt off of the ground and into a string setup above her and Ria. The strand bowed as Senhime made contact, before the elastic silk bounced back, launching Senhime like a slingshot towards Tenshi, the culprit of the fireball. Holding her wooden sword in a reverse grip, once Senhime reached Tenshi, she slid along the ground, placing the "blunt" end of the training weapon against the genin's neck as she swept a leg back into his knees, potentially making him do a full backflip before landing prone on the ground. "Ara ara~. You guys really are a handful, you know that? What do you say to us putting this off for a little later? I'd say you guys have expended just about enough energy on this exercise today. You'll need your rest for the mission we've got coming up." she crooned, resting the bokuto on her shoulder.

"There's no shame in not succeeding today. In fact, I apologize for even having posed such a challenge under the current time constraints." she added, pondering whether or not the mission contact would've waited for them the whole time this training exercise was happening.

The diversion didn't seem to help much, as Tenshi watches Ria get dispatched, then he saw Senhime coming right at him. He had little to no time to prepare for her attack. Tenshi got flipped by Senhime landing hard on his back. Groaning by the pain his back and the back of his head that was caused from the impact with the ground. He was rather dazed trying to figure out what just happened as it happened faster than he could register how he got knocked down.

He was staring up at Senhime when she started to talk about the mission they had to do when she said they have expended their energy, Tenshi then says while still dazed, "I has plenty of...energies left." While he still had a bit of chakra left what could he do though, his shadow clone jutsu wont work. He isn't fast enough to counter a jounin. He couldn't even come up with a plan that would be successful against a jounin. Tenshi's mind going through the scenario, 'What good am I? I can move as fast Ria can, I don't have the graceful art of kenjutsu that our Sensei's has...my father wouldn't have gone down like this..."

Tenshi begins to stand up a bit wobbly, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a single shuriken. His pride urging him to continue, he then says, "Give up now? We haven't hardly begun...I still have one trick left." He moves backwards trying to make some distance between himself and Senhime, while he needed to be close to get the armband, his next move he needed the distance. He then begins to push his chakra into the Shuriken, and it glows blue with chakra.

He might still have chakra left but his stamina was waning his boast before was just words. Physically he was hurt from that last attack he weaves one hand sign Ox, then begins to talk, "You block our attacks pretty well sensei..." Dog seal, "...taking as both down one at a time..." Dragon seal, "...dodging our attacks effortlessly..." Rat, dog, boar then snake seals a bit faster than the others, "...try to dodge or block this one Sensei..." He then lifts up the last hand sign Tiger, "Ninja Art...Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu!" He throws the Shuriken at Senhime, using off a quite a bit of chakra. A small cluster of shuriken appear for a breath moment before the clones disappear and the original Shuriken falls very short of its target.

Tenshi then falls forward appearing to pass out from exhaustion from over exertion. While most of that was true, Tenshi was exhausted, he still was conscious but just feinting passing out. Trying to get his sensei to drop her guard and get close enough so he could take the armband in a quick deception move.

---

---

“Alright team. Let's move out. If we move fast enough, we can make it there in half a days time. Izo, I want you closer to the front. Inori, take up the rear. Keep us in order in case anything happens. Break.”

It wouldn’t be a difficult task getting to their objective, but Inori wasn’t particularly so stupid to be thoughtless and impatient in getting there; she may have been impulsive, but she wasn’t stupid. The peering eyes and expectations of her parents would be upon her and she knew it; and it was for that reason that Inori couldn’t even think of doing anything wrong and with her position at the rear side of the group she held the responsibility of keeping the group on track and to keep her ears open for anything out of the ordinary. Inori was good at listening and keeping a pace; Haitani knew that— after all, it used to be him in the front.


Inori kept herself silent as she carried on— following her group and waiting for Haitani’s command.

@Kal-El@Jay Kalton@Weird Tales

Ria UchihaUchiha Tenshi @BladeSS4
Osuushi, Senhime @RyoRyoRyoken

She just keeps casually evading everything! Ria couldn't phase it any other way, she though she could give The Lady a fight but it was already one sides to begin with, the strikes she felt was so hard and too fast for her to keep up and she could barely parry any of Senhime's strikes. Ria's sharingan deactivate because she was already exhausted from using Chidori not only that, she decides to do so and conserve enough chakra for the mission that is soon to come. Fighting a battle that is one sided is one but this is something to learn from. She could not beat someone like Senhime with her current level.

"I hate to say it but I give up. Not because you're strong Sensei but the time constraints are too much to handle." No she's strong and there's no way I can beat her. The swordsmanship she displayed got Ria "traumatized", there is no other swordsman out there who can dance around like that. "Speaking of which, Hitori..."

Team Kishimoto had all packed up and left right on time, departing for the land of Storm, to find the hidden village of Rain - Amegakure. A young village not yet poisoned by the policies and politics of the ninja world. A place lead by comrades - not by dynasties. It was romantic, when you thought about it. Kishi and his three genin made their way towards the land of storm at a walking pace, not because Kishimoto thought his students couldn't move fast, but because he thought it was important to take in the beauties of the world. Which is what he drove the conversation about, he talked about each flower they came across, as he had quite an interest for Botany. At one point, he had stopped - finding the Crimson Turtle Rose at the side of the road, asking Chikage to pick it up for him, which the Genin did, he smelled the flower, talking about the beauty in the world, that the reason Shinobi are necessary is to preserve these kind of things.

"If you cannot see the beauty in the world, what do you fight for? This is what we fight to protect, it's the reason we're here." He exclaimed, it wasn't really an invitation to debate him about the purpose of the shinobi, not that he'd silence anyone who wanted to, but odds were the genin would not try and argue with the former Hokage.

Soon came dusk, and they were approaching Land of Storm border. Kishimoto told the kids to get into formation, The Golden Duck formation, he called it - one in front of the target, one behind, and one above in the treetops, in order to protect their VIP - in this case, Kishimoto.

It was quiet in this part of the road, they had come across several merchants and other travelers on their way, but now, it was completely empty, eery. "We're entering hostile territory, there could be non-allied shinobi at every turn, so make sure to be careful. We have to wait for our escort to find us, as we do not know where the village is." He said, very tense, till his face cracked into a smile. "So, let's sit down and enjoy a cup of tea!" He said, slinging down his backpack over his shoulder, bending his hand, with two fingers he dragged out the blanket from the top of the pack, putting it on the ground, getting out the four cups, he sat down and poured the tea, just like they had on the training field earlier the day. "If you brought food with you, it's fine to eat it now." He said, as he dug into his backpack, getting out a wooden box with Onigiri.