Scout The Blood Country:

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The cold and early morning mist made anything difficult to see. In her gray robe Hachiko sat atop sero's house with her Crimson blade strapped to her back for easy access, as she was about to set out on yet another journey. This time it was too a country she had not yet heard of. But the recent Jounin had been informed that it had not been scouted out in quite a while, and eager to prove her loyalty and her capabilities Hachiko offered herself up as tribute for the mission, arguing her sensory capabilities would be ideal for the mission. Plus with the recently friction between Kiri and Kumogakure, sparked by Hachiko herself it might be better for her to be out of the country if war does spark, because otherwise any fighting that would occur would simply be for a pointless cause if she were captured or slain. So this was probably an ideal situation for her. She was at least glad that after her last mission she had been promoted to jounin. Although with that and her status as a memer of ANBU Hachiko had been briefed on the matters occurring in Kumogakure, and she was less than pleased. She had come to her own conclusions about this mission. Not only would she find out everything she could about the Blood village, but she would also dedicate any and all down time to her personal training. Not only had Sano attacked her clan, and did everything in his power against her clan simply for a petty rivalry and a lone missing nin, but now he had imprisioned all citizens of Kirigakure for no reason other than sole suspicion. The man was idiotic and if a war did spark between the two nations, he would be solely at fault. With anger and passion in her eyes, Hachiko lept off of Sero's mansion, and started off towards the main Island of Kirigakure. She did have a few stops to make before she would actually begin to set out for the blood village. Her primary one was Nozomi. It was probably a bit too early for her to be up, but that didn't concern Hachiko much. She probably wouldn't wake her princess, simply leave her a detailed letter of where she was going. This was an ANBU mission so she wasn't being forced into not disclosing her mission to Nozomi at the very least.

It took Hachiko not but a few minutes to get off Sero's Island and into the main village of Kirigakure. Preferring to stick to the roof tops and shadows using her gray cloak and ANBU armour to her advantage and being a ghost in the mist. The few the did roam the streets would only get a brief and fleeting feeling of being watched as Hachiko would pass above them. Not  because she was actually watching them or concerned with their activities but simply because of the aura she had been bestowed upon by sero. With said aura in mind Hachiko avoiding people the best she could, but sometimes she really couldn't help it much.

With her skirting the main streets and taking alleys it took her a it longer than it should have to get to Nozomi's place of residence, but it didn't matter much as she was still plenty on schedule to meet her boat of to the a land near the land of blood, so that way she could enter in more stealthy. An aspect of the mission with utmost importance. She was a spy from the moment she left this island. For that very reason Hachiko already had on her mask, her ANBU armour, and her Gray Osada cloak. Keeping her Kiri Headband around her neck, but that also being the place where her cloak was being held together in the front, so while difficult to see, Hachiko could show it to people if needed. On her back she had a backpack filled with supplies that should at the very least last ehr two weeks, and due to her training with wolves, she could hunt fairly easily if need be. So she wasn't to concerned with that aspect of the mission. She was more concerned about the not getting caught aspect. If she was caught in blood country spying on it, they might attempt to execute her, and it could have huge nationwide implications, and Hachiko couldn't have that, Especially if she wanted to gain the Mizukgae's trust.

With that on her mind she reach the front door of her girlfriend's house, and she merely pulled out the key and unlocked the door and stepped in. Pulling her mask to the side so if her girlfriend was up she would be able to see her face. She then silently went into her girlfriend's room where as she thought she was sleeping. Hachiko placed a gentle kiss on her girlfriend's forehead before placing the letter of her whereabouts and mission before she then placed her key on her on the letter as well, given that if she was captured or killed during the mission her capturers/killers didn't need a key to her girlfriends house. She kept her key to sero's house on her simply because they could try sero's house if they wanted too. Hachiko can't imagine any sane person would, and if they did, the chance of them getting out was slim to none.

After that stop was done, Hachiko headed to the docks for her departure.

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WC: 935
Total WC: 935

The white fog that covered a typical morning in Kirigakure, was used as cover for Hachiko's boat ride. Meaning that the last time she would see kirigakure before she returned was as she stepped unto the boat. But honestly she couldn't ask for better conditions. Though she could only hope that the fog held up all they way to the blood country. Her mission was one of stealth. If all went well the blood country wouldn't even know she was there or existed. But that was if all went well. She couldn't simply assume that all was just going to go in her favor, she needed to be tactful about how she went about this. And she needed a plan. First and foremost she was going to need to find a place where she could lay low and hide. She did have some camping equipment so there was that, and that would probably be her best bet. She really didn't want to intermingle herself citizens any more than she had too. Last she had heard this country was one of brutual mercanieries, and Hao's band of thugs. Though with how being out of the picture she could easily imagine that the country had changed a little bit, and so she was honestly surprised that no one else had come over to check on it. As such, she was basically going into this whole thing blind. No leads. No contacts. Just cold. It would certainly be an interesting task for her, but this was one of the first real missions she had been given, and she planned to carry it out in full force. With a plan in mind, she spent the rest of the boat trip planning. Though she had a bit more than a boat ride to go. The country was where the land of grass used to be, so she had two options. She could either head there straight through The land of fire, which, she really, really, didn't want to do. Or she could head through smaller countries. which was honestly the option she intended to take. Simply because their ninja weren't up to the standards of the ninja from the five great nations, and being one of kiri's strongest, plus an ANBU member, meant she was fairly confident in her ability to slip past the lower nations undetected. Though it might end up being more time in the long run, she figured it was shorter than runnning into Konoha's shinobi and having to deal with them, as well maybe dying.

The boat ride took no more than a few days. The first day was probably the hardest for hachiko simply because she had only been on a boat a few times. The rocking was uneasing to her but she eventually got used to it. Though the entire trip was odd. It was only her and the captain on the boat, there was an underdeck for the two to sleep, and they ate twice a day when the captain made breakfast and dinner. Aside from that, the two didn't speak once. Hachiko spent most of the time in her cabin planning, and sometimes she go up to watch the stars, or to look out at the sunrise or sunset, or simply to look at the ocean. Mostly the trip was simply Hachiko studying maps and plans as well as filling out her logs, which she was keeping for a multitude of reasons. primarily so she could make a detailed report when and if she got back to kirigakure, but also so if she was ever taken down, a kiri member could come and find her reports, and see mostly what happened, and it would be just as well as if she had survived. At least, as far as the mission went. Hachiko still had plenty of goals that she wanted to fufill before she died, and so she was going to do everything in her power to live. But ultimately, she was a shinobi, she was a tool for her nations cause, even if it wasn't her home nation. If she had to give her life to complete her mission, or even spare the secrets of her country, she would without hesitation.

The first day She landed in the land of rivers at an unmarked and private dock. And the second she had unloaded her small amount of gear off of the boat, the boat returned to sea as if it had never even been there. Hachiko followed suit, immedaitely heading into the forests, and taking to the shadows. upon entering the forest, she felt strange. It felt dark, and it felt primal. This was definitely the better route to take then the main road. Here, that part of her that was intermingled with Sero's chakra felt. At home. it wanted to hunt, and it wanted to feast. There was prey to be had. However Hachiko knew her mission objective, so she continued on, following maps and the directions she had memorized, only stopping briefly to pull it out. Hachiko moved like this, almost none stop. only stoppping to rest when her eyes where refusing to stay open, and only hunting if she could sense an animal close to her. Here, in part due to the wolf training she had done, and in part due to sero's chakra. In nature she felt alive. So simply because she said she only hunted things in her way, didn't mean she was going on little to no food. In fact she hadn't touched her provision three days into the journey, and had even added to her pack for food supplies, not wanting to waste any of an animal she hunted. She'd obviously cook meat over a fire, but she kept fires small, and only stopped to cook things right after she had hunted, and if she had ran out of the last animal, and was hungry. So, that with moving at a steady but quick pace she made very, very good progress. in total it only took her about a single week to reach The infamous blood countries border from kirigakure. With that Hachiko stepped into the blood country.

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WC: 1046
Total WC: 1981

As Hachiko's foot set foot a crossed the border, of what used to be the land of grass, but has since become the blood country after Hao's destruction, she was rather disappointing at her infiltration was successful, and nothing happened. Honestly Hachiko had kind of hopped for something to occur. But as she looked around at the trees that stood along the border and the grass that surrounded them, and as she finely combed the area with her current perception, there was... nothing. Well. There were things. There were animals, a small mouse just a few meters north of her nibbling on something. There was an owl asleep in a nearby tree, as well as a mole underneath the ground. There was even a few bugs here and there that Hachiko could sense simply by being in proximity with them. However there wasn't anything that set off any alarms for Hachiko as she  put her full body into the country, officially having entered it. That was it. There was simply nothing. However, she knew she simply couldn't stand there forever and wonder about what would have happened, or what she would have to do if this had not been as easy as simply finding a less patrolled area and walking a crossed the border, or else a patrol might actually, come, and she might actually have to find her way out of a sticky situation. So she lept off the ground, landing on the branch of a near-by tree. Not the one with the owl in it, as she didn't feel like potentially startling the creature, and would rather it have it's peaceful slumber. She looked around for the moment, making sure that there wasn't anything her sensory wasn't catching. Her keen eyes servings her surroundings extensively. Now that she was in the blood country she couldn't afford to make a single mistake. As not only would that mean she would fail her mission, but it would almost certainly mean death, if not a heavy battle which, not having any information on the land for quite a while, could easily mean death. However she survived her surroundings for a bit, and once she was confident that there was nothing she had missed, she set off into the blood country.

Her objective here wasn't to cause any issues. She wasn't here to sabotage anything and get out. Her only objective here was to gather any and all information she could. This meant that to her that she should avoid some of the larger towns and cities, as that was merely asking for trouble, when she could find less guarded areas like small towns or villages and use those as ports of information, as even though their information wouldn't be entirely up to date, and she wouldn't get some of the more minute stuff, she should still easily be able to get the more important stuff, like if the blood country now had a centralized leader, or if they were mobilizing an army. These were the types of things that Hachiko was looking for. Sure how many a day they were recruiting from the big cities was important, but so was her getting out of the country to report that there was an army forming. Her getting out with the information was the most valuable thing that Hachiko could foresee for this mission. Not because she was egocentric and valued her own life, which she did to extent, but as a shinobi her life was meant for her village, and so she was bound to die on a mission if the mission called for it, or as long as it meant completing the mission. However this mission was not one of the those. The success of this mission depended entirely upon her getting out alive and getting the information back to kirigakure, and already she had at least some information on the blood country that was worth reporting. She at the very least had a portion of their current patrol schedule on their borders and a time and location at the very least one person could slip through, if not more. This kind of information could easily set up further scouting missions whose job it would be to get the minute details Hachiko wasn't so concerned about this time around. She was the trailblazer currently, and so any information she could get out with was valuable information, and with that in mind Hachiko was already roaming the forests of the blood country on high alert. Watching out for patrols. Tailing them and listening in on their conversations for information. Following roads in the tree line, that might lead to villages and towns.

Hachiko in her first few days managed to set up a small base of operations rather deep in a cave in the middle of a forest that was hardly traveled because of the dangers and myths surrounding it, however Hachiko found very little of these to be true. The Forest bordered three towns, one to the west, one to the north east, and one directly to the south. It was these towns and the roads that traveled between them that Hachiko gathered her information from, and holy shit did she have some finds. Aside from her currently location, there was several things that she managed to find out. The first being that the country had, had a hostile take over from a high class group of mercenaries about 2 or so years back. The leader of this groups named was red eye, and this group had begun constructing a village similar to the five great nations shinobi villages in which they trained people in chakra control. As for the location and size of the village, no one as far as Hachiko could tell knew where it was, only that it definitely existed. Further more, even though it is still rumored that the village in under construction, there has been large amounts of people who have gone missing from each of the three towns Hachiko was gathering information from, and the rumor was that they were being taken to the village, and trained in chakra control for a army of some sorts. Like a mandatory draft, but in response to that, small resistance groups have risen up in each of the villages to protect their people being taken by Red Eye. This was really all the information that Hachiko was able to gather before she began noticing some of the guards and a few suspicious people whom weren't guards nor anyone that Hachiko had seen prior, begin tailing her. And so after a few times of losing her tail, Hachiko packed up most of the supplies from site in which she worked, but left some in case she or someone would be back, and made her back to the border. drawing symbols of which only she would know the locations of, and for her to detail in her report, which would lead someone whom knew what each symbol meant, and where they were located, directly to the location in which she had based her operations. Then she, after she left the Blood country, it was rather simple for her to make her back to kiri, with which she had huge news.

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WC: 1226
Total WC: 3207
Mission Complete: 3100/3100 words