[takes place before current event with yosei]

Kirigakure had a claim to land, wherever the ocean would meet the shore was deemed the land of the water's territory or so the legend went. Xiao, in his own little genius way, had determined that if this was so and the mountain of ancient toads technically belonged to Kirigakure then there was strong reason to believe that going to an island so utterly close to Konohagakure so that he might visit his closest of friends whilst still technically maintaining the status of a shinobi who had not wandered then Xiao was fine to venture forth to the ancient island of the sages, a place hidden away from mankind for many years and inhabited by, well what else? Giant Ninja Yakuza Frogs.

Xiao was from an island of spiders, so it wasn't so much of a shift, but the fact was that the spiders of Spider Island that so aptly named were just spiders, they weren't punk rocker spiders nor were they samurai spiders with a tendency to jazz. They were literally just spiders. These frogs though were a different story. He'd never actually seen a summon before let alone be in one's home, he actually believed at one point they must have existed in some void of sorts but the truth seemed to be slightly different. It seemed that though the animals had certainly evolved around the frogs themselves in turn the environment had evolved around the frogs and enabled them to carve great stones and winding mushrooms all about the place.

The only eye sore were the kirigakure garrison stations that made Xiao wince as he saw them. There was something a little uncomfortable about it all. A military base on a summoned island that once belonged to the first shinobi village. Regardless he pushed such thoughts from his mind knowing it would only bring him such trouble. He had come here for the reason stated above but so too the approaching Chuunin Exams indicated one very important thing to the little spider ninja. He needed to train and if he needed to train, though much stronger than him when they had last met, his dear friend Sachihiro Senju so too would need to. Xiao, though he would not admit it, saw a lot of the First in Sachihiro. It wasn't as if he had met the first, but rather spending so much time studying history gave him an understanding of the character that these men had and Sachihiro embodied it so. In years pass maybe Sachihiro would have joined the toad island as a sage, perhaps Xiao would be a hunter of the bloody mist but such times were passed and far off all at once. Now, the mighty spiritual mountain was a flexing of military might by Kirigakure and it made Xiao, frankly, slightly uncomfortable.

He had sent a small letter to Sachihiro, and by his estimation and travel time, he had certainly hoped it had been received. As he made his way through the islands vast marsh land with it's large giant stone carved statues littered about he made his way to incredibly large red mushroom. Using his web to swing upwards to said mushroom he leaped a top. Watching the garrisons with a cocked head to the side in his typical stance he couldn't help but feel...melancholy. Not that he was anti-establishment, nor did he feel any resentment but to see this made him feel somewhat sick. This was a spiritual place, this wasn't 'territory' and shouldn't have been something so easily co-opted. He understood the sentiment, it was a large middle finger in the ocean telling Konohagakure "We Own You and We Can Do What We Want" power play while Konoha would have to simply nod and agree whilst pretending they were still the number one village. It was a shame and really started to wear heavy on Xiao Guan's heart but he supposed that was why he was given a new name in the first place, Kyutai, to ensure that he could distance himself from the trauma of cold wars and dead lands.

He sat a top the large mushroom that was roughly the size of the ring utilised in the chuunin exams, a perfect starting ground though it was far in the air, high as the mountains themselves and looking more like a mighty tall tree than a mushroom but none the less, it was indeed a mushroom and there Xiao sat awaiting his closest friend.



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