Rippa quietly reviewed the letter in his hand. Something of great importance he had neither expected or even thought possible. It had been delivered to him personally by a Konoha shinobi messenger he was familiar with so he doubted it was some sort of ruse. His blue eyes scanned the pale white parchment over and over again looking at it as if he expected it to change or fade away at any moment. What had happened while he was away? A simple absence to improve relations with Kumo that had barely begun and now suddenly Mitsuo, the sword saint his division and title were based on was not only back, but he was using the seal of the Hokage. Had something happened with Kenta? No; He surely would of heard at least rumor if harm had come to the Hokage. Kenta wasn't weak either though he never seemed to like the position. Had he stepped down. If so how had Mitsuo taken the seat? Wasn't he missing or dead? Whichever it was now Rippa was frustrated. He had just promised to assist the last Kage and now a new one was wishing to meet with him. Likely for similar reasons. It was a circle now of Kage seeking him out. Just not any from other villages that he might actually improve relations with.

He would sigh and fold the paper before slipping it into his pocket. Well at least he had a chance to see the coronation of the current Raikage and get a feel for the country. It was interesting to say the least. He even helped train one of their jounin. Perhaps his mission wasn't entirely a loss. Still he would close the inner coat pocket with the letter in it of his long red captains coat. Wearing it despite the warm day due to cloud cover and likely traveling through the night. His horse was packed with what little he brought with him and his swords were strapped to the right side of the animal. His ammo belt packed away as well. His swords were fully loaded and besides those he had his ninjutsu. He doubted he would need those extra eight shots regardless what arose. He never did. For now he was in black jeans with a black zip up high neck tank top with the zipper only zipped halfway up his chest. Boots were strapped tight to his feet and his medical scroll was tightly strapped to his right thigh. Should he need it along the road.

For now he started walking his horse. There was no one here to say goodbye to really. He had helped where he could but no soul bonding connections were made as per usual with him. His free hand would shift through his white hair before brushing over the headbands stitched into the shoulders of his coat. He wasn't sure if Mitsuo had something poor intended for him but the quotations around sword saint were not promising. He had earned his position as captain though and if that meant he had to prove it to the original sword saint, he would be damned if the man didn't learn of his swordsmanship.Still he broke west along the main road and kept at it even as the sun fell. Passing camps here and there and remaining distant and silent as he could. He wasn't interested into being lured into conversation or risking bandit encounters. His entire goal was summed up to one instance. Return to Konoha and see what this man wanted. He was prepared for the worst but a visit home might actually be nice. So he continued without pause until he reached Konoha.

621/600 travel complete
exiting barring an intervention