Tasatsuke had been sent to Iwagakure's outskirts to gain some sort of intelligence about the standing of the country. He had been sent with no weapons, no identifying headband, and no armor. This meant that while he was entirely unarmed, he would appear as the average citizen within the Land of Stone, lending him the perfect cover. Or it would have been, had the boy actually known the lay out of the small township he was currently in.

Having never left the Jashinite's compound until recently, Tasatsuke was still getting used to Kumogakure and the Land of Cloud but this? This was a beyond anything he could have ever imagined. As such, the villagers often ignored the strange grey haired and yellow eyed boy who waltzed around in a black sweater during the end of fall. Tasatsuke felt frustration building within him as his pleas for help fell upon increasingly deafer ears or dumber tongues.

That was until he saw the crowd parting for what he initially assumed would have been a powerful shinobi. In order to maintain his cover as a mere child within the village, he too followed suit with the crowd and stepped to the side but maintained a frontal presence within the mob. Tasatsuke wanted to catch a glimpse of whoever or whatever the citizens either feared or respected enough to move away from.

Much to his dismay a young raven haired that stood roughly three inches shorter then him passed by. Tasatsuke was bewildered for a moment, his brow furrowed as he tried to compute exactly what was going on. That was until he saw her clan markings which were displayed proudly upon the back of her kimono.

"An Uchiha? Tasatsuke pondered internally.

His head naturally followed the young woman as she entered into the tea shop not too far from his position. Curious and enchanted by the Uchiha, Tasatsuke waited a few minutes and continued trying to approach random civilians before entering into the tea shop behind her. Not wanting to draw too much attention to himself, Tasatsuke sat silently at an empty table which was positioned closely to the center of the dining area.

While Tasatsuke might have been a young shinobi, he had learned from the masters within the Jashin Compound that sticking to corners of rooms or the shadows wasn't always the best way to conceal your presence. Sometimes, standing in the middle of a crowd and being plainly seen is a better disguise then any jutsu could hope to accomplish. As such, Tasatsuke was fairly comfortable with his position in the crowd and was able to keep the Uchiha in his peripherial.

That was until the waitress came up suddenly from behind and unnerved him slightly. The woman was simply doing her job and asked for his order which in turn caused Tasatsuke to stammer in momentary confusion. His eyes had been stuck to the waitress until he peeled them from her and to the menu, as he read he felt his stomach growl. Had it been that long since he last ate?

"I'll have this and some green tea please." Tasatsuke replied, his finger pointed at the cheapest bowl of ramen on the menu.

The waitress nodded silently and whisked herself off back to the kitchen. Once the woman was gone Tasatsuke let out a sigh of relief and brought his head back up. He silently hoped the Uchiha hadn't noticed him or if she did that she hadn't moved.

When Tasatsuke rose his head back up after his sigh had finished he found the Uchiha, she stood directly before him. Tasatsuke felt every hair on the back of his neck stand on end as his muscles instinctively tensed up in shock at the discovery. Tasatsuke gulped hard as what was usually his placid gaze widened briefly.

However, even as Tasatsuke stared upon the Uchiha woman in shock, and wondered what she would do now, the answer was suddenly given to him. The female Uchiha dipped gracefully to him and spoke in a sweet voice.

“It is my honor to welcome guests to our village. I come to ask you to join me for tea. It is always a shame to see a newcomer so solitary, any of the Hidden Villages can be confusing your first time around.”

As her head came up and her eyes met Tasatsuke's own her mouth curled up into a pleasant, yet unnerving smile. It was then, when the smile was plastered onto her face that Tasatsuke her voice whisper into his ear. Tasatsuke blinked hard twice in shock, he was positive that her lips had never moved but then how was that possible?

'Genjutsu." He thought to himself, answering his own mental question.

Now that Tasatsuke knew he was caught inside of a Genjutsu, simple or not, he couldn't help but wonder if everything around him now was merely an illusion or if it was reality. He attempted to wrap his mind around the severity of the situation but eventually he gave up in mental anguish. Instead, Tasatsuke decided it would be better to follow this woman even if none of this was real in order to better maintain his cover.

"I just hope I am not walking over the edge of a cliff." Tasatsuke thought to himself as he rose from his cushion to follow his now forced hostess.

Silently, Tasatsuke followed the Uchiha to her table and knelt down across from her. Now that the intensity of the situation had passed and Tasatsuke had accepted that most of this encounter was now well outside of his control, his facial expression returned to a deadened one. His seemingly lifeless eyes studied the Uchiha as her attention returned to her soup, he couldn't blame her either, both of them knew that a conflict started here would end in his demise.

"When did you notice me?" He asked finally, breaking the silence that now hung in the air. "And more importantly, what now?" He continued, asking the one million ryo question.

“Are you hungry?”

Those were the words that the Uchiha asked with a smile when they had arrived at the table. It was in that moment that Tasatsuke realized he was not caught in some genjutsu any longer and his eyes narrowed in slight annoyance. However, before he could answer his stomach growled rather loudly which immediately illicted an annoyed groan from Tasatsuke.

"I had just ordered before you came over." He replied in a monotone voice, his gaze quickly turning to find the waitress in the distance.

Tasatsuke could tell the young Uchiha was trying to toy with him, play on what fear had built up inside of him. Instead, he did as the priests instructed him when fear encroached in his mind. The young boy took a deep breath and turned his thoughts to Jashin and the dark deity's will, if it was his god's plan for him to die here then so be it, nothing was in his control. But even as these thoughts spun through his mind something rebelled against them in the deepest corners of his consciousness. Something within him completely rejected the idea that his destiny was outside of his control and he yearned to hear it out. But as quickly as the feeling of disgust had appeared in his mind it vanished, dragged off to whatever prison it had momentarily escaped from and it's place was cold indifference once more.

“...Last time I went out of my way to meet a stranger I met a very pleasant lady from the Cloud Village. My name is Aikiko Uchiha. Now, I’ve humored your curiosity so indulge mine. Who are you and why were you watching me? And please don’t waste my time with lies, I can tell the difference.”

Tasatsuke had entirely missed what Aikiko had said before that, his mind was focused on his internal conflict. While the boy wasn't sure if the Uchiha had been able to notice his mental distance as she spoke or not, he was certain of one thing, she had mentioned meeting someone from Kumo. Tasatsuke's eyes squinted in interest at this information while he processed it for a brief moment.

"Do you remember this woman's name?" He asked calmly before he raised up two fingers.

The fingers barely broke the lip of the table and sat in front of his torso, only Aikiko would be able to see them. A quick current of electricity jumped between the fingers, the electric current was small and quick but Tasatsuke wanted Aikiko to see it and he was certain she would. While he didn't know much about the young woman he had learned one thing, not much escaped her when it was within her line of sight.

Tasatsuke felt compelled to garner this intelligence, if there was a Kumo nin here in Iwa then that could mean she had abandoned her post. Uncovering a traitor living in Iwa could give Hastur the reasoning he needed to move forward on an assault within the region for harboring a fugitive. If this woman was in fact a missing kunoichi and not a diplomat sent to cause some political upheaval within the area.

"My name..." Tasatsuke paused to look over his shoulder and into the crowd behind him, it would be clear that he felt vulnerable, exposed even. "...my name doesn't matter, at least not here it doesn't." He stated boldly and quickly as he lowered his fingers and turned his gaze back to Aikiko.

Tasatsuke knew that his answer would likely anger his hostess but he had to gain something from her. Maybe not her trust, hell not even her full attention but he had to at least pique her interest. He already knew how to garner that but he was unsure if he should announce his allegiances to this new woman so quickly. The mental struggle was a fierce but brief one and in the end, Tasatsuke knew this was the only was to ensure he at least captivated the Uchiha even if it was momentarily.

"That being said, my father would love to hear more about this woman you've met." Tasatsuke explained in a hushed voice. "Perhaps you've heard of him, he goes by the name of Hastur."

With those words Tasatsuke would lean back onto his haunches slightly. He wanted to be able to fully judge how Aikiko reacted, he needed to know if this visit to Iwagakure would end in bloodshed or not. Tasatsuke had placed everything in a coin flip, a risky maneuver in his position but the way he saw it, this was his only card to really play.