The male inhaled deeply allowing his chakra to flow freely through his body as he ran through the shadows of the night towards the village, his form hidden behind the shroud of his Kumogakure Anbu gear. The visage of the owl descended upon the Katabami Gold Mine, blood would be spilt on this night however the male would ensure that the blame fell upon the village hidden in the clouds. The male held great resentment towards the village and their former Kage, for what was done to him and for what he was made to do. The male was still haunted by the nightmares of his actions while enthralled the will of the man that claimed himself to be God, and if his only revenge could be that of subterfuge then that was what the male would do. The male's eyes would narrow behind his mask as he caught sight of two guards in front of the depository, with the utmost grace the male would sneak up behind the men before driving a Kaminari Kunai into the back of each of the men's skulls, whenever their bodies are discovered later the Kunai will point them towards the cloud as they bare the mark of the Skyforge of Kumogakure. Slipping in through the door the male found himself standing in front of a large mountain of gold ingots that almost took up the entire warehouse, it seemed that the information he had received was true, Katabami had discovered a new gold vein within it's mine. The mountain of gold was much larger than the man expected, and it was certainly more than he could carry though he did not plan to carry it from the beginning. Flowing chakra into the tip of his finger the male would draw the Kanji "seal" upon the air with his chakra before touching it with his palm and watching as it slowly passed over the large gold mountain and sealed the gold ingots away as the seal appeared on the male's left hand. Myrddin would look down to his hand as a smile formed beneath his mask, it was hard to believe that he was holding hundreds of gold ingots in the palm of his hand. The smile faded as he heard the door behind him open spinning on his heals instantaneously in a complete one eighty the male found himself face to face with three adversaries, the smile returned to the male's face behind his mask though his opponents were none the wiser. Pulling Ikari from it's horizontal sheath on the back of his belt, the male readied himself with a reversed grip on Ikari in his left hand as he began forming handseals with his right before giving breath to a spinning wind ball into his hand. Myrddin almost felt sorry for the men, they could have lived had they not discovered him, but now he had no other choice. Launching the wind ball at the man of the right Myrddin moved in quick to the other two slicing Ikari across their necks before they even knew he had moved, the one that was struck by his wind ball began to pick himself up from the ground by the male was quicker kicking the man in the ribs and knocking him back to the ground before holding Ikari level with the man's eye. Myrddin thought of simply killing the man, but then the thought of sending a message through this man seemed to be the better route. His voice distorted as he spoke, so that even if the man tried he would not recognize myrddin's voice "When they ask you what has happened here, tell them the village of the cloud has taken what is theirs." With his message finished Myrddin would strike the man in the face knocking him unconscious, before taking his leave back into the shadows from where he came.

It wasn't until the male had crossed the border into the Land of Rain that the male's pace slowed, almost instantly running into a downpour of rain as he crossed the border. The good thing about these small countries was that they often did not have much in the way of shinobi let alone trackers. It would be unlikely for them to pursue him here, especially with the message he had left. They would no doubt believe that he would head back west to the land of lightning where he told the man he was from, rather than think he headed north. However avoiding his pursuers was not his only reason for coming to the land of rain, he had business to take care of here. With their abundance of rice the land of rain would be an important ally in helping supply food to Sunagakure again as it once did in the past before the destruction of the former village, and thanks to his little stop the male held more than enough gold to persuade the help if need be. Myrddin would activate his wind sense to ensure that there was no one nearby, as he took shelter in a nearby cave at the border of the land of Rain and the land of Rivers. Once in the cave and fully confident thanks to his wind sense that no one was around the male would shed his anbu gear sealing them back into the tattoo upon his shoulder before dressing in his normal white uniform attire, throwing his cloak on and pulling the hood over his head as he stepped back out into the downpour of rain. He had heard stories about the land of rain and how it rained here as much as the sun shines over the desert, he didn't believe the stories were true until now. It was clear that this constant downpour was the source of their abundance of rice, but that was not what was important, what was important was the male convincing them to sell their goods to the village hidden in the sand no matter what it took.

---

1025

Land or Earth

Ever since she'd been revived, the former head of Konohagakure's Ouorboros clan had been doing nothing but soaking into herself the culture, the beliefs and the strange traditions custom to the place she now called home: Iwagakure. It was certainly not a place she'd been before and it was different in every conceivable way in comparison to places as Sunagakure or even her home village of Konoha. The people of the land of earth seemed tougher, more willfull and even sometimes perhaps unimaginably stubborn, but what they lacked in refinement, they made up with a whole lot of heart and soul. The woman known as Lamya knew that in the grand scheme of things in this shinobi world, those in power might often disregard the common populace, but she herself knew that doing so was a big mistake. Her own clan for instance relied heavily on contacts with doctors, woodsmen and all other sorts of people to distribute their products and to keep a balance in the clan's wealth. So too did a nation depend on those that were described as the common folk.

As she passed through the vast rocky terrains of the land of earth, on her way to the land of rain, she truly wondered what it was that always attracted her so much to these simple folk, despite her background as being one of the most brilliant medical ninjutsu practitioners and a shinobi that had managed to claw her way to the top in a ruthless fashion. While thinking about that, she remembered her uncle:Orochi Enaka, not as the monster of a shinobi that he was, but as the everyday man he portrayed himself to be before he had revealed his true intentions to his own niece. She remembered how he always went to the same teahouse, always talking to the owner about various things, always apparently enjoying these moments of small talk and banter, as if he too had seen bliss in the ways of the every day life.

Letting out a sigh, Lamya looked up at the sky, standing still in the middle of the road that lead towards the Land of Rain. It was indeed a hard thing to do, to show a ruthless and fearless façade towards shinobi, but to be friendly with the common folk. However, perhaps that was exactly why it was necessary to be ruthless, for common people weren't a threat, they weren't a force that would be able to whipe out one's existence when compared to the brutality and power that reigned supreme in the shinobi world, a world dominated by contradiction and despair. Grinning a bit, she walked on again, curious to have a look at this Land of Rain, where once, a long time ago in the past, several notable, if not infamous shinobi had risen to power to threaten not just the balance of the Land of Rain, but the shinobi world in a whole.

Land of Rain

To be fair, it was all in the name of the nation, but still...she hadn't expected to just see nothing but rain fall down the entire trip after she'd crossed the borders. There was nothing but gloomy rainclouds dominating the sky above, the rain as a result soaking her attire completely down to her bare skin and every slight breeze feeling like a blizzard chilling seeringly through her bones. She just couldn't imagine how life would be in a place like this, especially considering she really wasn't good with too much cold, not to mention the constant wet and humid weather bearing down upon the people that lived in this land.

Luckily though, the common people didn't seem to care all that much, as the rain was good for the grassy ground, allowing for many creatures to live here and grant an ample amount of lifestock and game for the farmers and hunters alike. However, the closer Lamya came to what was once the hidden village in the rain; Amigakure, the more she felt that this land had never truly changed compared to the tales of old. There was still this air of secrecy, this fleeting feeling of dread and the everlasting dreariness you couldn't find in any of the other hidden villages. In a way, that whole feeling was perfect though, given the nature of Lamya's visit, that wasn't really a surprise at all. She wanted to see if Amigakure was still this place without scrupules, where she'd be able to get her hands on some...interesting items necessary for her research. Ofcourse, she had also planned to go to the land of wind for similar reasons, but the news that that place was actually rebuilding itself without her presence, made her a bit worried about the possibility of her old hideout being discovered.

At least, at first sight it had now been confirmed, the Land of Rain had not changed and it would be the perfect place for her experiments. It was a bit sad that Uraeus couldn't accompany her, but with the rather dull, dreary clothes she was wearing now, there was no way that there would be anyone to recognise her, though she did have to use a hooded cloak to at the very least cover up the horns that crowned her head atop her long jetblack hair. After all, it wasn't an everyday sight and she was not sure what would happen if someone would actually recognise her from so long ago.

Having finally arrived at the long bridge which would lead towards the gates of the hidden village, Lamya wondered about how she'd deal with unfortunate incidents which might occur if she'd be recognised, after all despite the rain making sensory jutsu a tad bit harder to use, there still wasn't a guarantee that nobody would figure out about her. Looking at the piece of paper she clutched in her hand, she smiled and nodded a bit. "Who'd refuse a simple doctor passage anyway, heh," With that in mind, she moved on, calmly putting away the identification papers that were provided to her by the Tsuchikage's office, soon to find herself in the long line of people passing through the security of the hidden village of the rain. "I hate queues."

1042

By the time the male had seen the village of Amegakure up ahead in the distance the novelty of the rain had all but past, every inch of the male was soaked from his hair to his boots. His cloak offered absolutely no protection from the downpour of rain, every piece of clothing drenched and clinging to his form. The male pulled the hood back further on his head allowing his Sunagakure headband to be visible, as the weight of the rain was causing the hood to hang too low over his face for him to see. He had often wondered what it would be like to live in a place like this, but he has only been here in this land a few hours and he was already over it, even the cloudy weather of Kaminari no Kuni was not as terrible as this. The male had no idea why anyone would want to live here and questioned how it was that the people who lived here were even able to do so, he would much rather be back home in the land of wind where the sun would make the weather nice and warm. Had the male been smart he would have brought an umbrella with him, a smile formed on the male's face as the thought of having an umbrella reminded the male of his friend Kisei and how he was never without his umbrella. Myrddin thought it strange when he first met the man, hiding from the sun under that umbrella like he was allergic to it. If only Kisei was here with him now, the male could use the umbrella and the company of a friend. Stepping into a puddle and feeling his socks soak from the water pulled the male from his thoughts of his friend and back to reality as well as the realization that he had not noticed the wear and tear he had placed on his boots. The male sighed heavily, kicking the puddle out of frustration at the realization that he did not bring extra shoes.

If he had been here for any other reason than the service of the Kazekage, the male would have undoubtedly turned back and returned home. However pride in his duty and refusal to allow himself to let his Kage down demanded he continued on, "I am sure they sells shoes in Amegakure, and maybe even umbrellas." Myrddin said aloud as he shook some of the excess water from his boots and continued down the path towards the village. Topping a hill the male caught sight of the gates to the village and the long line of umbrellas that lead down the path from the village, another sigh escaped his lips. "Yay a line," the male said with no enthusiasm as he headed down the small hill to take his place at the end of the line. There was nothing about lines that the male liked, the waiting killed him, of course in Kaze no Kuni he did not have to trouble himself with such mediocrities as the mere mention of his family name saw doors open. However since he had begun this journey the male has learned the few of the other countries care about how rich or influential his family was in Kaze no Kuni and would treat him as every other person. At first this infuriated the male, but he remembered was that his family was not always so influential in the land of wind and that his ancestors earned that respect and recognition. Myrddin took it upon himself to help spread his clans influence to other lands, a secondary reason as to why he decided to take on the journey himself. While the Kozai have been friends with most if not all the countries his entire life, he just recently learned of the truth about allies and how it only takes a second for them to turn against you. Going to speak to these allies himself as an Emissary for both the Kozai clan and the Kazekage of Sunagakure would give the male the chance to get a read on these people and learn what if any benefits could come from these alliances.

The line was moving, not at a necessary slow pace, but when your standing in a torrential downpour without an umbrella it might as well have not been moving at all. The sound of a voice behind him saying they hated queues caused the male to look back to see that he was at least not the only one without an umbrella, a woman by her voice and appearance though he could not see her face that well in the rain. "Me too, plus who wants to stand in a line in this weather?" He said with a chuckle, adding "my name is Myrddin" as he stretched out his gloved hand to shake the womans, dropping it back down after she either shook it or did not. "I know you weren't talking to me and I hope you don't mind. I just figured since we are having to stand here why not help the time go by with some conversation."

---

865/1890

The row of people just moved on so utterly slow that if it wasn't raining like crazy, Lamya would've long fallen asleep. Alas, it was indeed said aforementioned downpour of water which kept the woman awake, feeling the chilling winds to her bones while her clothes, even her cloak had managed to be soaked with incredible amounts of water. She had almost decided to blow her cover by trying to manipulate the water within her clothes to somewhat mitigate the cold she'd been suffering from, but alas, she also knew the risks it carried to do something like that, as despite her notable chakra accuracy and concentration, she wasn't quite sure if she wouldn't just end up manipulating the rain itself as well...which would no doubt end up causing a stir, something she obviously was keen to avoid at all cost.

Seeing as there was some movement in the queue again, the pale skinned woman let out a soft sigh and took a few steps forward, taking a gander at the people in front of and behind her, only to rather unsurprisingly notice that most people bore strikingly dreary faces and expressions, obviously all caused mainly by the continuous rainfall which just did not seem to let up anytime soon. For a moment, she tried to peer through the haze of rain to look at someone a bit further up in the row of people, who had actually responded to her remark on not exactly being a great fan of queues. Rather surprised that she was being talked to, Lamya kept silent for a moment, just figuring out wether or not she should've ignored the person talking to her or if she should respond in kind. After all, she was not at all sure if responding was a smart thing to do, but on the other hand it was perhaps better than remaining silent, surrounded by the drollest kind of people one could possibly imagine.

"Exactly...you'd think in a place like this, where there's seemingly no end to the rain, they'd at the very least do all this security stuff a bit more efficient," Catching a glimpse of the person who'd responded to her, she pulled her hood a bit back to reveal her pale white face and her signature golden eyes with the snakelike slit pupils, raising her hand to gesture towards the rest of the line behind her. "Just imagine being back there...you'd enter the village wet, tired and probably without any recollection why you came here in the first place."

Letting out a chuckle at her own remark, the woman looked at the young man and just nodded politely. "The name's L...Risu, Orochi Risu," It wasn't exactly strange that she'd almost managed to blurt out that name she was more commonly known by. She had used it as her pseudonym for so long that by now it had become more synonymous with her than her own name, which she only ever used sparcily given her...background. "I don't really mind a conversation...but it would've been nice if we could have one in a place where it is dry, comfy and cozy...preferably with some hot tea or coffee. Guess we're not going to have either of those in this case, so I think Rainy, dreary and soaked with a sidedish of frosty breezes will have to do for now."

Pulling on the hood of her cloak a bit, the woman prevented it from falling off or rather, from showing too much of herself, still prioritizing her mission over the conversation which was ensuing. For a moment she paused, pointing at the people in front of Myrrdin, which had begun to shuffle forwards again, so ofcourse she'd be moving forward too. "So...if you don't mind me asking, but...what did you come to this...eh...fine place for?" For a moment she stopped moving, her eyes widening a bit before she let out a gentle sigh. It seemed that this guy was a shinobi or at least a mercenary or a warrior of some kind, given the fact he was wearing a headband, but with the low visibility she couldn't quite make out more than just that, perhaps it was a good thing she hadn't worn her own headband in ages, preferring her masks in actual usage compared to it anyway. "Are you by any chance...you know, a shinobi?"

759/1801

There was a long pause after his words, causing the male to wonder if the woman just did not want conversation. Just as he was about to turn back around the male heard her respond, and a smile formed on his face. The woman pull her hood back slightly revealing her face to him, at least for the most part considering the rain. Her skin looked pale as though it had not seen sunlight in many years, perhaps she was a local, though considering she didn't have an umbrella that was unlikely. Her eyes golden and even in the downpour of rain looked as though they could Pierce into the soul of the male. She gestured behind her with her next words mentioning how it could be worst if they were way back at the end of the line, "well I am at least two of those things." Myrddin replied with a chuckle, the woman then introduced herself to be Risu Orochi. The name did not sound familiar to the male making him wonder where she hailed from, but he did not want to spoil the conversation by bombarding her with a bunch of questions as to who she was and where she came from, so instead he just went the short route with "It is very nice to meet you Risu." Besides the guards would undoubtedly ask all those questions, so he decided to stick with the simple conversation that they were having.

The woman's mention of having tea in a nice warm and dry location while having a conversation sounded like heaven to the male, "some Jasmine Tea would be absolutely lovely after all of this, perhaps they have a decent tea shop in the village we could stop by once we are in the village, if we every get through this." The woman adjusted her hood which appeared to have started to come off of her head from the weight of the water on it before pointing behind the male, Myrddin looked to see that the line was moving slowly but still moving away from them causing the male to move up. Myrddin could almost see the guards that were questioning everyone ahead of them, they were almost to the Gates, a sigh of relief came over the male at that realization. The woman's question of why he chose to come here was followed by her stopping and asking another question about him being a shinobi, Myrddin wondered why it seemed as though the woman seemed worried at the possibility of him being a shinobi. However he brushed the thought to the side as it really didn't matter to him, perhaps it wasn't worry maybe she just never met a shinobi before, although that would suggest she had been living under a rock her whole life considering how many shinobi there were in the world. "Yes I am a Shinobi. I am a Jōnin of Sunagakure, I have been charged by the Kazekage with informing the allies of the village of our return as well as secure any aid they might provide us." The male spoke with great pride in his mission despite the discomfort he had from the rain, still wishing he had thought to bring an umbrella. "What about yourself, what's a lovely lady such as yourself doing out here in this without an umbrella?"

---

567/2457

Keeping an eye on the moving line while entertaining herself with a pleasant amount of smalltalk with someone who seemed to be blissfully unaware of who he was talking to, was in a way rather refreshing for Lamya. Usually, things never went well in terms of conversations, simply because either she had revealed her more known pseudonym or she had already been recognised. Still, though it was refreshing to meet someone who did not recognise her, especially given that one moment of televised history in which she had been condemned as the enemy of the entire shinobi world, it seemed that a disappearance of about four years was enough to be long forgotten.

"Yasmin tea would indeed be a nice drink to have after all this, though I admittedly prefer either a cup of ceylon tea or a glass of icecold Oolong," Showing Myrrdin a somewhat gentle smile, her eyes darted back to the moving line for a moment, patting him softly on the shoulder to point out that they'd be moving a bit again, coming ever so close to the gates' security inspection. "While it would be nice though, I honestly doubt we'd find anything better than some crummy small teahouse in this place anyway."

Though she wanted to laugh, hearing him reveal that he was indeed a shinobi, made Risu a bit weary of the situation, but even more so when he revealed that not only was he a shinobi, but he was a jonin and one from sunagakure apparently. In reaction to this news, the pupils in her eyes constricted to the point they were but hairthin lines within her golden irises, as she did her outmost best to keep her composure by silently clenhcing both her teeth and her fists for a mere instant. However, it seemed that despite being from THAT place, Myrrdin apparently truly did not realize he was talking to one of the people who had been responsible for both the village's initial downfall and the subsequent war that erupted. "Hmm, a jonin, doesn't that make you one of your village's top shinobi? That must mean you are truly here for some important business...though it's a bit odd to see just one shinobi...aren't you people usually in teams?"

She was now trying to fish out some minor, but crucial information of her conversation partner, after all it was in her own best interest if he was alone. Seeing as he did not recognize her, for now he posed no threat to her own goals and safety thereof. "Oh...I don't think my reason for coming here can even compare to yours, given you're a rather high ranking shinobi, while I'm but a humble roaming doctor and practicioner in medicine. I only came here to try and get my hands on some goods that they only have in this country."

488/2289

Myrddin tried not to chuckle at the woman's remark at being one of the top shinobi in the village, while he considered himself to be the top shinobi in the world he would humble himself in the presence of a beautiful woman. "I would not say I am one of the top shinobi, I am sure there are those that are stronger than I am." Myrddin would turn back to walk forward, rolling his once he was facing away from the woman. Smiling at the thought that there was anyone better than he was, as he moved forward he turned his head back to the woman. "Normally you would be right, we travel in teams because it's safer when on missions. However in this case it is just a minor diplomatic visit in which there is no real danger, besides if anything did happen I am sure I would be able to handle it." As the line stopped briefly Myrddin would turn around fully to face the woman, "You should never underestimate your importance Risu, even a roaming doctor can be a bigger importance than all the shinobi of the world, to the people they help and the lives they saved." Turning his head slightly and seeing the line move, Myrddin would turn back around and move forward so that Risu did not have to keep telling him that the line was moving. Having finally reached the gates to the village and a small canopy covering where the guards were for the checkpoint, Myrddin was ecstatic to finally be out of the rain even if it was just a few seconds. With still a few people between him and the guards desk Myrddin would look back to the woman, "if only they were nice enough to cover the whole line with this, we might of have time to partially dry before having to get back in the rain." He said with a slight chuckle, his voice low so that the guards would not hear and possibly take offense. Upon finally reaching the desk Myrddin would smile brightly at the guards before fishing out a small scroll from the scroll pouch on his belt, "lovely weather you guy's got here." The two guards standing behind the one at the desk did not even blink in his direction, while the one behind the desk scoffed at the male's remark. The look on the guards face was one of annoyance, whether with him or something else entirely Myrddin did not know. Having wasted enough of both of their time Myrddin handed the man a scroll, the guard read the parchment with a quickness before stamping it and waving the male through. Walking past the guards and into the gates so that Risu could go through the checkpoint as well, Myrddin would stop at the sight of a tea shop just inside the gates and turned back to the woman. "I have some business to take care of, as I am sure you do as well. Perhaps we can meet up at this tea shop once our business is concluded and we can continue the conversation in a better suited environment?"

---

531/2988

With just a feint smile on her face, Risu responded to the shinobi's rather eloquent look on his own status within his village and probably beyond. "Well, let me at the very least praise you for being humble...it's not every day that a shinobi would evaluate their own worth in comparison to others," Her words sounded a bit cynical, somewhat alluding to both her own past self, who had been humbled in the most gruesome of ways by men far beyond her own power and to her current self, who with the knowledge that she was not the strongest or most powerful, simply accepted that fact. "Perhaps one day Sunagakure might blossom once more. After those terrible things which had happened to it, with people like you it might yet again become the pearl in the desert it once was."

Being given a remark on her own importance in the world, almost made the woman choke on her own breath, coughing with her hand in front of her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes from trying to withold herself from ending up in a fit of laughter. "Jee, thanks...Usually I get told the people of my profession are growing to become obsolete with the increasing versatility among shinobi in the arts of healing."

As Myrrdin moved up to the security check, the missing shinobi posing as a doctor could only chuckle at his lighthearted remark towards the shinobi of amigakure, though not finding it in the least a bit surprising that these hardened gate guardians would be so stoïc and unmoving in both heart and temper. Straightening up her clothes a bit, Risu knew it was soon her turn and surely enough, when the shinobi had managed to pass the security, she as well moved on to show the gate guardians her papers, hoping the validation wouldn't take too much time, after all, despite the fact that she was not really a doctor, the papers were still real documents provided by Iwagakure's top brass. "I might find a cure for that stoïcism of yours one day," She instantly remarked when the gate guardian simply stamped her papers with a stonelike, unmoving and unemotional face. "Must be bad for business to have such frownifaces at the gates."

With a scoff from the guards, Risu regained possession of her papers and moved on through the gates, smiling when the suna shinobi proposed they'd each go about to do their business and meet up at a rather bland looking teashop near the gates. "That sounds lovely, would one or two hours suit you the most, I just need to go to the administration building for some information anyway...so I might be needing at least an hour to conclude my business."

468/2757

The male could not help but smirk at the woman's comment to the guards and finding a cure for their stone-like attitudes. Hearing that the woman needed an hour or two in order to deal with her own business was just what the male was hoping for, "better make it two hours, got a lot of different stops I have to make. Besides those lines at administration moves slower than the one that we just got out of, but at least you will be dry while you wait hopefully."

With that the male would part ways with the woman, heading to the market place to speak with the various merchants. Myrddin knew that he was not going to enjoy the next hour or two with everything that needed to be done, but at least he had the cup of tea to look forward too with the nice doctor he had met. His first stop however was getting himself an umbrella, luckily for him a shop not far from the gate had some displayed in the window. Stepping into the shop out of the downpour of rain was rather refreshing, pulling the hood down from his head the male would get his first real breath of the countries air, the smell or rain and wood would fill his senses as he looked around the small shop as he stepped up to the counter and rang the bell. "Yes, yes. I'll be with you in a minute," called a voice from the back of the shop. Myrddin would look down at his wardrobe that was still dripping with water from the rain, he really didn't want to ha e to buy all new clothes, these were custom made for him and it would take far too much time to get another outfit fitted such as it was. Myrddin had a very slim figure, it was not something that bothered him, it was however something that caused normal clothes to swallow him as if he were trying to were his big brother's or father's clothing rather than clothes that fit him. Shops just never seemed to have his size it was always too small or too big no middle ground, at least for him. A thought popped into his head as he stood there thinking about clothing, maybe if he was careful enough he could use his fūton chakra to remove the water from his clothing or at the very least air-dry it with the quickness. He inhaled deeply focusing his chakra before exhaling and allowing the fūton to flow out of every one of his tenketsu, in less than a second his clothes were dry once more. His little trick with the air however had more power than he intended causing some of the shelves within the shop to shake and some items to fall, "hey you, stop that. You break it you buy it!" Came a yell from the back followed by a rather small old woman rounding the corner and heading for the desk. "My apologies ma'am, I will reimburse you for all of the damages." Myrddin said with a smile and a slight bow of his head as the woman reached the counter, "my name is Myrddin Kozai of Sunagakure, I am here for various reasons. However the most important of them being the purchase of an umbrella." The woman standing before him looked as though she might explode at his words, breaking into a laughter that sent a chill down the male's spine. "Are you telling me you travelled into Ame no Kuni, and you didn't have an umbrella? What are you baka?" The woman stated between her laughter when she finally regained some kind of composure, the male could see where the woman was coming from. Of course if he had actually planned this trip he would have thought about bringing an umbrella, but since this trip was a last minute decision as a way to avoid attention from his actions in the land of Rivers there was little he could do. "Yes we'll, the fact remains that I am in need of an umbrella," as he spoke he stepped forward feeling the discomfort in his feet, "and some boots size nine if you have them." The woman left the counter still laughing at the male for not having an umbrella, when she returned she laid the umbrella and a pair of boots down on the counter. "That'll be seventeen hundred ryo," the woman stated holding up her hand as she waited for her money. "you're joking right, there is no way that is worth that much." The woman gave him a very dirty look before motioning around her shop, "you break my goods, you pay" were the only words she spoke before holding up her hand once more, Myrddin would sigh heavily before pulling his ryo out of his pouch and handing it to the woman. "Ah, thank you for your patronage young Traveller. Do visit again." The woman stated as she head back to the back of the shop wave the male away as she walked, Myrddin changed into the new boots before sealing his originals away, in hopes that the shoemaker in the Kozai compound would be able to repair them. He wasn't the biggest fan of the boots that the woman brought him, mostly because they were brown in color, however they fit so be would not argue for now taking the umbrella in hand the male would leave the shop and head out to take care of his business.

The male would arrive at the tea house a little after an hour and a half after he parted ways with the doctor, having completed his business faster than he thought. It seems that when you mention large payments upon delivery, most merchants will do whatever it is you ask. With such an abundance of rice in this country it is fairly cheap, but when speaking of travelling across a desert it comes with a higher price, not to mention that they have to travel further now than they did years before with the new location of the village but it will all be worth it in the end. As he entered the tea house he would stow his umbrella in the bin by the door with the others before looking around to see if he saw Risu there yet, if she had already arrived he would join her where she was, if she had not yet finished her business he would find a table to wait for her. The tea house was small and rather ran down, but the fireplace gave the room warmth and made it quite inviting.

"Well I hope everything went well for you, Lady Risu." Myrddin would state to the doctor once they were sitting together, hoping that she had gotten what she had came to this country for as he had.

---

1170/4158

Risu laughed gently, truly two hours was most likely the best course of action for the both of them it seemed, though truly indeed, her little lies had not been seen through luckily enough. Ofcourse she had some business in the village's administration building, though this was more or less just to snoop around and take notice of Amigakure's visible security and how it did its daily operations. After all, her main goal was split into two objectives: the procurement of a hideout and a more personal deal with amigakure's leaders which was purely for her own advancement in the world.

Bidding Myrddin the best of luck on his impending business he had to attend, the woman moved her way calmly through the streets of the village. It wasn't surprising to see that most of the houses and buildings in the more secluded, outer quarters of the village were of poor and inferior quality compared to the more important places and their apparent buildings. Vagrants and beggars roamed the streets and even if more than two decades had passed since the time where they said some Uchiha by the name of Hao had done the impossible of burning down a village in the land of eternal rainfall, there was still that feeling of depression you would only get from a nation driven down on its knees in utter humiliation. No matter what street or alley the woman passed through, she'd be confronted with the same despair she had seen in Sunagakure right after it had been destroyed by her own compatriots in that atrocity.

Luckily for her, reaching the administration building wasn't as much of a hassle as Myrddin had projected to her, with only a handful of people apparently being given acces beyond the public floors downstairs anyway. Walking up to the reception of the administration building, Risu showed her papers to the receptionist and inquired wether or not there would be a possibility for her to have a brief audience with the one in charge of the village. However, after she had given the woman behind the desk her papers, all Risu got was a stern look and a negative nod in response. It appeared only people of high rank and great importance were allowed to have an audience with those in command of the village and the land of rain in a whole. Annoyed by this blatant refusal, Risu slipped into a more recognisable demeanor and persona she had meticulously crafted for herself, that of The Lamya. With her pupils narrowing to thin slits and a cruel grin upon her otherwise pale and snakelike visage, she calmly instructed the receptionist to pass through that she insisted on having a word with the leader of Amigakure.

The receptionist wanted to yet again tell Risu that there would be no such thing, yet all of a sudden, a masked shinobi appeared out of nowhere next to the woman behind the desk and bowed down next to the receptionist, leaning forward so his mask was but an inch away from her ears. It seemed he whispered something which shocked the woman behind the desk, as she suddenly showed a forced smile and took a paper which she strted to fill in and stamped it with a large stamp. Giving the paper to Risu, the woman asked her to wait for an escort to come and pick her up and wether or not she would like to have some tea in the meantime, which Risu refused as she already had an appointment at a teahouse which she was looking forward to for a whole lot of reasons.

After what seemed to be an eternity, yet in truth had only been a few minutes at most, a small detachment of masked shinobi appeared out of nowhere, motioning Risu to follow them upstairs. Ofcourse, she complied, following the small team of masked shinobi into a seperate hall with a large roundabout staircase leading to the upper floors where she would be ending up in a room with tatami mats on the floor and screens made out of ricepaper and wood covering half of the large room she stood in. The masked shinobi which had escorted her to this room took their place among the rest of the masked shinobi which were lined up on each side of the room, flanked with elaborately crafter torches and carpets depicting various battlefields of the past.

From behind the screens, a shadow appeared, asking what it was that she wanted to discuss with the leader of the land of rain. Risu chuckled and simply waved her hands, teeling the mysterious figure that it was not so much a request, but more of a mutual exchange to both parties' best interest. Slightly intrigued by this, the shadowy figure behind the screens asked what it might be she had to offer to the village hidden in the rain and what it was that she desired in return.

"What I desire is knowledge, the power to unravel all of this world's deepest secrets and to find some use or them, be it to enrich myself or to strengthen myself, either is fine," Reaching for something within her clothes, she pulled out a small scroll and handed it over to an attending shinobi who quickly brought it to the person behind the screens. For a moment it remained quiet, until a sudden, dry chuckle could be heard resonating sinisterly through the room. The attending shinobi appeared from behind the screen and gave a nod, allowing Risu to further explain herself. "Recent events have turned the shinobi world upside down, without leadership, but with more material and secrets that one could possibly count. All I wish is for you to allow me free passage into this land, a place for me to work and a steady supply of...subjects dead or alive doesn't matter. In return I will grant you information on how the great powers are moving and any kinjutsu you wish to aqcuire that is within my capacity."

For a moment the room remained silent, with the attenting shinobi leaning down behind the screen, apparently talking to the shadowy person, before rising again and giving a nod. "Your request will be taken into account, you will receive word from us when all preperations have been made from our side. Your deal is most interesting, so now go, pleased to know you have not been killed for acting so arrogant in our land."

With a swift bow, the woman turned around and was escorted back to the lower floor of the administration building by the masked shinobi, where they eventually vanished again, leaving her to her own devices. Letting out a sigh in relief, Risu walked out of the building, back through the streets of Amigakure to meet up with the shinobi she had met at the gates, keen to have that promised tea at the teashop near the gates of the village.

Upon arriving, Risu noticed that Myrddin had apparently already returned, apparently waiting for her while already having gotten his hand on a nice spot in the establishment. While approaching the man with a greeting, she sat down at his table and let out a sigh of relief. "People are so stiff in this place, maybe a good trip to some hot spring might actually be my most accurate prescription for most people here. So, how did it go for you...I hope it went a bit less...formal than my arrangements." She smiled and raised her hand to motion one of the shop's attendants to come and take their order. "I might actually be pretty keen on visiting Sunagakure again, been a while since I've been there...give or take a few years."

1305/4062

Not seeing the doctor in the tea house as he arrived Myrddin would take a seat at the table closest to the fireplace, the heat from the fire was a welcoming feeling after all the time in the cold rain. As he let the warmth wash over him the male took a look at the small menu they had sitting on the table, to his delight they had the tea he wanted, he just hoped they knew the proper way to make it. Though to be respectful of the doctor he would wait to place his order for her to arrive, seeing her as she walked in he would wave her over to him, hoping that she would not be bothered by the heat coming from the fireplace. He would rise briefly as the doctor reach the table returning to his seat as she sat down, a habit instilled in his brain since childhood that he simply could not shake. "Yes they are pretty stiff aren't they, you would be surprised how much they charge just to get a shipment of Rice let alone several. My business went pretty well, though I still have more to do in the morning just didn't get through the gate in time before they closed today." It was no time at all after Risu motioned for one of the workers that a young man arrived at their table to take their order. "Yes, how may I help you?" Said in a tone that at least sounded slightly more cheerful than the tones of the other villagers the male had spoken too. "Um yes, I'll have some Jasmine tea and I believe it was Ceylon tea, for the Lady." Myrddin said as he looked to Risu to confirm or correct the statement, hoping he remembered the correct tea from their conversation earlier. After the shop attendant left the table Myrddin would continue their conversation, "oh you should visit, through it's not in the same location as the original village. It's actually along the coast on the southern reaches of Kaze no Kuni, which is one of the reasons I think they charged me so much for the rice, a lot longer journey than it was a few years ago when our villages originally had this arrangement." Myrddin would chuckle slightly at his mention of spending extra money, though he actually calculated spending more than what he had. "Though I would suggest travel to Suna to everyone because of the sheer beauty our Kazekage has created, I believe it would be especially beneficial for you as a doctor. The desert alone has many different medicinal herbs, not to mention the Kozai clan having a garden with rare herbs and plants, as well as an extensive library about all kinds of different things, including an encyclopedia of medical herbs and medicine that I would be happy to show you." He would smile slightly at the woman as the man who took their order arrived with their tea, taking his cup Myrddin would take a sip and was delighted that it tasted halfway decent. Not nearly as good as he had it back at the Estate, but at the same time a lot better than the tea he has had in other villages. "I hope your tea is to your liking, Lady Risu" he would motion with his cup as he took another sip of his tea before sitting the cup on the table.

---

581/4739

"I reckon with you guys living in the land of wind, for you rice is a valuable commodity and a necessary one to boot, I can imagine it not being easy to constantly having to discuss this stuff with other nations just to look after your own survival," A gentle smile appeared on Risu's face when it seemed that the suna shinobi had managed to remember her preferred tea, simply nodding in response to the attendant that it was indeed Ceylon tea which she was desiring to have. Though the tea was cruder and more common than the elegant and subtle yasmine tea, Ceylon was fuller of taste and body, more suitable to warm the body than to put one's mind at ease. "The life of a shinobi just doesn't seem to be as simple as one would get. It looks like you're a gofer, an ambassadeur; an administrator and so much more at the same time, let's just hope you get paid for each job individually."

Laughing at her own joke, she sighed a sigh of relief when the tea was brought to the table, calmly raising her cup and sniffing the bouquet of the tea before taking a small sip from it, her entire body seemingly shivering as the liquid ran through her throat, spreading its heat throughout her drenched and cold body. "This just hits the spot when visiting waterworld...heh." Hearing that the village hidden in the sandwas no longer located at the old place, was something new to Risu, though it did sound logical to relocate the place, it was funny to think that it would still hold the same name while no longer being actually hidden in the sand. The fact that they had not lost their penchance for having rather unqie and rare medical herbs was a positive aspect though, since that alone was one of their saving graces. In fact that very legacy of the old Lady Chiyo was their saving grace in terms of economy in the latter years prior to the village's destruction. "I do enjoy looking for some interesting medical herbs, though as a doctor I also have the responsibility to look for even the most poisonous of herbs and plants, to be able to categorize them and to witness their effects and possible solutions, antidotes and even uses. As such, a visit would never hurt, I guess."

The mention of a library filled with medicinal lecture and the sorts did make the woman wonder for a moment, given how unsure she was about this...Kozai clan's heritage in a village which had literally been returned to nought but glass and rubble, she wondered just how much of this library had been replaced by new books and how much of it was of the older times. "This library of said Kozai clan, does it contain perhaps books of more controversial topics and people as well? I mean if we were to read mainly the studies and teachings of those that are generally approved of, there wouldn't be any progress in our field." Looking at her tea she laughed, making the motion with her hand that though initially the warlth was pleasant, the taste of the tea was in general just average. "I've had significantly better, but we make do with what we get after all."

565/4627

It seemed that Risu held similar standards to that of his own, at least when it came to tea. "Well it's hard to say what all is covered with all the books they have in the library, I have been reading the different books my entire life and I have not even read half of the books within it. The estate has existed for well over seven hundred years off the coast of the Great White Sea. Though we have always aligned our personal needs and loyalty to Sunagakure we as a clan were not apart of the village itself, many of our ancestors travelled to different countries making alliances and the like. Of course now that has changed, with the new location of the village I predict it will stretch to the entrance of the estate by the end of the month." The male would stop talking, realizing that he was changing the subject of the conversation in the middle of the conversation before he had even got to the point he was trying to get to. "My apologies my lady, I was getting a little off subject there, but back to what I was trying to get at is my ancestors travelled far and wide and needless to say my clan has always been...." The male would pause, taking a sip of his tea as he tried to think of the right word to describe his ancestors. "Chroniclers of sorts I guess you could say. They document anything and everything that they happen to encounter during their travels, from the animals and plants to the villages and the clans. They have information on just about everything you could think of if you know where you are looking, and even then you would still have to be willing to spend hours combing through the books. There are books there that are over seven hundred years old, my ancestors were proud of their record keeping long before they trained in the arts of the shinobi. In fact one ancestor discovered a Fuuinjutsu formula to preserve items beyond their years, it is placed on all the books within the library to maintain their pristine condition. It has come as sort of a rite of passage for us to begin our own memoirs if you will, at the age of thirteen we given our own record book in order to keep track of everything that we discover during our life time. There are those books that everyone reads about the most famous of our ancestors namely the Life of Hitotsu and his three sons who were the first of our ancestors to receive Jōteikein, as well as created the estate itself. I guess what I am trying to say is that I do not know whether there would be controversial theories or topics, as there are an exhaustible amount of information within the library alone." He would take this moment to pause as he he allowed the woman to process all that he had said in regards to his clan and their extensive need to keep records of every single thing. The male himself had his own journal with which he had been keeping his own records, though not nearly as basic as the information his ancestors did such as the animals he encountered or plants, unless one such subject sparked interest to the male. Of course his time in Kumogakure he did not write as much as he would have like he did have some interesting details into operations within the Anbu of the village, as well as most of the major clans within the village. He had been meaning to go combing through the archives for any records of his ancestors to compare them to, yet as of late he had just not found enough free time in which to do so.

---

644/5383

"Information gathered through generations of observation, what a wonderful thing, even if one might see it as a baseless and pointless past time, I have no doubt your ancestors have observed many a great thing throughout the ages," Risu smiled gently, letting out a soft sigh, leaning a bit backwards on her chair. "The place where I grew up, my family...they have a huge library as well, though it's mostly on a few topics that truly concern their tradition and business, censored by generations of hacks and quacks, muddled by status quo and constriction of information. A great deal of interesting things did come out of those teachings, those recordings and findings, but I wished to expand my search, go beyond what was...considered appropriate."

Though still slightly wary of Myrrdin, Risu decided that given the fact he did not seem to react to her somewhat unique appearance despite being a suna shinoi who she thought would've at least known about those who had been at the disaster which had been the fall of Sunagakure, the elimination of the daimyo of the land of wind and the subsequent powerstruggle. Due to the fact that a shinobi of the village hidden in the sand who claimed to have such a long lived history in his clan did not realize who she was, made her all the more determined that her appearance no longer held the same reverance or fear which it did those years ago before she had lost so irrideemably against that strange shinobi from Konoha. Thus, quite firm in her belief that the number of people actually able to recognize her in Amegakure would also be so pitifully low, she finally lowered the rest of her hood, revealing a pair of curved horns protruding from the side of her head and adorning her long jet black hair as if they formed a crown.

"As you might have already guessed from my pretty different appearance, it's hard for me to actually gain any trust with people, despite being a doctor," A wry chuckle escaped her lips as she took another sip from her cup of Ceylon tea. Tilting her head a bit to the side, she looked at Myrddin with a rather beguiling expression on her face. "Life you see, is harsher for those that are unable to hide unique features in their appearance, always being branded a monster when all you want is to help. Being treated like a freak when all you want to do is allow a fellow man to be healthy and happy. So I learned so much as a doctor, seeing people as they truly are...the same, fragile no matter how strong they are...all of us need a good health, all of us need help at some point in our lives...how is it that such fragile creatures like humans can also be so cruel? That's what made me look into medicine when I was much younger, I wanted to see what made humans into what they are and to do so...I needed to know how they live and die, what they love and what they fear..." Stopping for a moment, Risu held her hand in front of her mouth while pausing. "My apologies, it is rather uncourteous of me to speak about the cruelty of people when talking to a shinobi who most likely has already seen the nature of man with his very oàwn eyes. My sincerest apologies."

584/5211

Hearing of another clan that had a large library was of no surprise to the male, though he had never been inside of another clans compound he assumed all clans had such a library with a variety of information. Though hearing the restriction and censoring of information sounded odd to the male as his family believed that information was for everyone, they would not censor or ignore something just because they did not approve or agree with it, however that was neither here nor there. The male pushed his thoughts to the side as the woman would remove her hood for the first time since he had met her, though she had revealed her face to him she never fully removed the hood. He could now see why, though he would not react to the sight of the horns protruding from the woman's head, he was surprised to say the least at the sight of them. As he listened to the woman's story of persecution and the cruelty of humans Myrddin could not help but admire the woman for not giving up and becoming the monster they thought she was, he knew many medical ninja who could kill as easily as they could heal often choosing to kill rather than help. It went on to speak to the overall differences in man or should he say woman, some of the most beautiful people are the most deadly, while those who look different are often the kindest. Though the horns did not matter to the male as he still thought her to be beautiful, however her life of looking slightly different has caused people to ignore her beauty behind those horns, causing this woman to be kinder than others that share her beauty. The male could not help but smile at the woman's apology, while it was true he had seen many cruelty of man in his time as a shinobi he would never want someone to apologize for simply speaking of their own witnessing of such.

"There is no need for you to apologize, my Lady. I do not find it uncourteous at all as what you say is true, the human race is one of terrible and reprehensible actions of the highest cruelty and evil. From the destruction of my village to all of the chaos that is in this world itself, evil people do evil things which change the world as we know it around us. While I can not relate to the hardships in which you were forced to endure, I do know that it is a terrible thing that people can not look past small differences in others. However I also believe that there is still great good buried deep within the human race, and few people possess the power to care for others more than they care about themselves. I must say that your desire to still help people after all you must have gone through is impressive, I can not say that can be said about everyone and it is something that you should take pride in the fact that you have a bigger heart for the people of this world than those who are in power and meant to aid, and protect the people they have power over."

Myrddin would take another sip of his tea, "Your appearance is not all you are, as you are so much more than your appearance. Though those that can not see the beauty in you are nothing more than fools, your compassion for others that has led you down this path as a doctor is the greatest part of who you are. With the world full of so many people who do nothing but destroy it is nice to see that there are still at least a few people who care enough to help rather then destroy."

---

644/6027

"To be fair, we all have some skeletons in our closets, things we've done that can be seen as cruel and audacious," Risu chuckled and raised her cup of tea to her lips, slowly gulping down what was left inside it, than placing it back on the table. "While I may be a doctor...truthfully, even I have blood on my hands, such is the sadness within a person's life. No one can truly be called completely innocent or completely pure, we all have our stains. However, it is how we bear those stains that defines us, do we fall into a depression, grow mad or carry on despite our flaws and failures?"

Slowly, the woman stood up and placed a few coins worth enough ryo to pay for the tea onto the table. With a creak, she slid her chair back on the wooden boards that made up the floor of the place they were having tea at. Just as Risu did so, the sound of a few other chairs sliding over the floorboards could be heard too, with two men wearing Amegakure attire standing up and walking towards her. "Let's just say...according to some, I grew mad," She smiled at Myrrdin, leaning foward a bit when she passed him, her lips close to his ears. "It's really nice to have meet you, Myrrdin. Sadly, I think that my business has not yet concluded as much as I thought it had...probably there are some...issues with the terms we've agreed upon."

Giving Myrrdin a pat on the shoulder, the woman walked out into the rain, the two Amegakure shinobi silently following her from a distance, looking at Myrrdin with an inquisitive, yet grim expression on their faces. They walked up to Risu and placed a hand on her shoulders, apparently exchanging a few words before she raised her hood over her head again and gave them a silent nod.

327/5538

Something about the woman seemed to have changed at the male's words, she began speaking of skeletons in the closet and how everyone had stains with no exception before she stood up. Instantly as she did so more chairs could be heard moving as two Amegakure shinobi stood as well their eyes trained upon the woman, the male had seen them come in just shortly after the woman had and while they did not seem suspicious the male could tell their attention had been on himself and the doctor. He originally dismissed their presence as a threat believing the two shinobi to just like everyone else, simply surprised by the sight of a shinobi bore the Sunagakure symbol upon their hitai-ate after everything had happened so long ago. The male had grown accustomed to the stares during his travels and learned to ignore them for the most part, however the actions of these two shinobi now made the male question what exactly they would want from a simple doctor like the woman.

As the woman leaned in to whisper in his ear the young male would touch the seam of her cloak, his touch so light that a simple doctor like the woman would not notice, nor would the two shinobi moving in towards her due to the angle. His touch would transfer a small amount of the male's chakra into the cloak inscribing an ancient and powerful formula upon the inside of the fabric, no matter how far the woman would move away from him he would be able to find her and get to her in an instant. It was the only reason the male would not move to stop the woman from leaving, nor attempt to intercept the two shinobi that followed her out of the tea shop. Once the shinobi pair was outside the shop the male would finish off his tea placing his own ryo upon the table before moving to the bathroom of the teahouse, once in the bathroom he would form the clone seal creating a single shadow clone that was wearing his Anbu gear, or at least a copy of the same armor he wore beneath his own clothes. "Follow them, find out why the shinobi of the hidden rain have an interest in the doctor, and ensure no harm comes to her." With a simple nod the clone bound out the window of the bathroom, climbing up to the roof top to begin his pursuit.

It was better for the male that the clone moved to pursue rather than trying to interfere himself, considering he was here to gain allies for the hidden sand not enemies. The male would wait in the bathroom long enough to ensure that those his clone was pursuing were gone before exiting and heading to find an inn to rent a room, as he walked he would casually place his hands on various walls throughout the village along the way. Each one of his touches placing another formula of the Hiraishin technique, as it was better for him to be prepared for whatever might happen.

---

522/6549

Chakra 190/440:

While Myrrdin was prepping himself and sending out his clone after the two Amegakure shinobi and Risu, those aforementioned people were walking through the streets of the inner city, the two shinobi, though without a doubt each a jonin, seemed to act very cautious around the one who had claimed herself to be a doctor, their gazes never leaving the now yet again hooded woman out of their sight. To their own surprise though, the woman let out a soft chuckle while being escorted, looking at the tallest of the two with an almost comedically innocent smile. "Just to be sure...but, why did you boys even bother picking me up? I mean...you could've just send someone with a message, but to have two jonin escorting me...that's both awkward AND pointless," She let out a chuckle again, yet she suddenly got the feeling that the three of them were being tailed, a feeling it was, nothing more. However, as she had been not just a member, but the actual commander of Konohagakure's ANBU at some time long ago, she knew that no matter how hard you'd try to shake said feeling, it would persist unless proven wrong immediately. For a moment, Risu stopped in her tracks, the two jonin following suite. "Rather than being so annoyingly stoic and silent, you're going to explain to me why you got me dragged along, I'm not moving until you do."

The two jonin looked at eachother and then at Risu. "You seriously don't know why you're being called? Here we thought with you showing your true self in front of our leader, you'd at least have expected some response from us."

Risu's innocent smile turned into a rather sinister grin, moving along again as she did, another, more eerie sounding snicker escaped her lips. "So what's this than, a show of force to get something out of me?" The two men, seemingly not intimidated at all, laughed and gave a solemn nod, making this whole farce even more strange. "After you had made that deal with our leader...it seems he has decided to have some alterations to be made, he knows how you were in the past regarding deals and he will most certainly give you a suitable reward in exchange."

392/5930

[short post, but bear with me XD]

The male's journey to an inn would not take that much time after he left the tea shop, even if he was taking the more scenic route to the inn to give himself more places to place seals throughout the village. "Welcome to the sleeping giant inn," came a voice from behind the counter as the male entered the inn, it was a quiet like inn with dim lighting and hardly anyone aside from the woman who greeted him inside. This will work out perfect, the male thought to himself as he approached the counter and rented a room for the night. Once inside the room the male would shut and lock the door after putting the do not disturb sign on the door, Myrddin would let out a sigh more from annoyance than relief, considering he had to tell the inn clerk several time he only wanted one night not an entire week despite her persistence.

Now that he was alone in the room the male would shed off his clothing tossing them upon the bed uncovering the Anbu gear that was underneath it before pulling the anbu mask from his pouch and place it over his face. The best part about all of this is that now he would not have to worry about ruining the relationship with the rain village and the sand village, his anbu gear fashioned by the hidden cloud would draw their attention to them rather than the sand and with the Kazekage's emissary locked away in his room all night he would have the perfect alibi. Placing one final seal upon the wall of the room so that he would be able to easily return to it when everything was said and done, the male made the seal of confrontation and instantly appeared next to his shadow clone who had been trailing the doctor and the shinobi that took her from the tea shop. The clone had kept several meters away from the group to lower the chance of being caught following them, whole still keeping them within his eye sight or ear shot if he was not able to see them he made sure he could at least hear them in an attempt to understand why it was that the shinobi wanted the doctor. At the appearance of Myrddin next to him the clone would nod silently before taking off to continue the pursuit from another angle to increase the pairs odds of keeping up with their targets while the original followed the same trail that the clone had been originally.

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{It's all about the build up}

Clone chakra: 190
Personal chakra: 180

The two jonin brought the woman to a rather secluded building, near the outskirts of amegakure, surrounded by the village's well known waterworks, with pipes forming clusters around the building almost like some sort of neural network. Risu, thanks to having had access to many of the old manuscripts of both the ANBU and her own uncle's Black ANBU had known for quite a while that within these places, long ago, the Akatsuki had been formed and deformed into the monstrosity it had become later on. "Nice little place you got here...but I still don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here," Risu scoffed at the thought of doing something against her will, she had been freed from her restraints in the past and was not eager to be bound by some fool once again. "Strange, why would your leader want to see me here and not in the headquarters?"

The two jonin pushed her through the door that acted as the entrance of the building, with not a single window letting the light outside, the door looked like the only possible way inside of the weirdly hidden building. For a moment the two of them looked at eachother and then at the woman in their midst. "Our leader has had an altercation with you and your men quite some time ago, during the siege of Inabayama...with the tension between the nations rising again, he wishes to employ the talents you once used in the Land of Wind." One of the jonin pushed the woman inside and out of Myrrdin and his clone's sight, only barely audible as he followed her inside soon after. "Many may have forgotten...know you...fall...Suna...Lamya."

The door closed and the jonin that was still outside , locked it and banged on the door, at which point a small metal slab on the door slid aside so he could hand over the keys to the people inside, after which he kept watch.

"So you actually managed to capture a remnant of my army and you seek to exploit my knowledgeto try and recreate the process with which the Ryujin had been created?" Risu laughed at the very idea of having to recreate the flawed creation that had been the Ryujin. Though they were in a sense an effective combat ready force, they had numerous flaws and disadvantages which she had not managed to repair and eliminate from the program. Even her most recent work in Iwagakure had ended up being a failure. However, being allowed to have another crack at it with the backing of the one ruling Amegakure from the shadows would not have been a bad thing. Alas, she still didn't like the idea of doing it for someone else.

The jonin escorted her through a long hallway with a multitude of iron doors on each side until they reached a last door at the very back, which gave way to a staircase running down to a lower level. The layout of the place was strangely familiar, reminding her of the Black ANBU hideouts that had been scattered across the shinobi world and focused heavily on experimentation and specialization. The very thought of the times she had been dragged through those places made her shudder just a bit. "We're here," The jonin scoffed, pushing her to a door at the end of another hallway at the lower level. "Get in, the leader wishes to speak with you privately."

As she was shoved inside, she was greated with a dim lit room, a man wearing some sort of breathing apparatus sitting on a chair behind a metal table, reading what seemed to be various documents, documents she knew all too well, as they were hers. "Welcome Lady Orochi, please, do sit down...we have lots to discuss."

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Myrddin would follow the trio to the very edge of the village, a network of waterways that surrounded a building in which they were leading the good doctor. The woman seemed strangely calm about this whole ordeal, causing a feeling in the male's stomach that something was off about the whole situation. As they pushed the woman inside the conversation became harder for the male to hear, something about the siege of inabayama. He recalled the aftermath of the siege and the stories those who survived had told, though he had not been there himself as he had been deployed on a covert mission of his own.

Myrddin almost did a double take when he heard the word Suna, what did this all have to do with his village he wondered. The last thing he was able to make out was the name Lamya before the door shut, he had heard the name before but he could not place it and now with them inside the building there seemed to be no way he could continue to listen to the conversation. Myrddin would drop his head as he watched the man who remained outside slid the keys into a small slot on the door before standing guard at the door, he was hoping that he would have been able to follow the doctor without much trouble but now it seems that she has been taken into a place he would be unable to follow. Myrddin would gaze across to the clone that was in the other alley way across from him who shook his head, meaning that there was no other way inside the building, leaving the only way inside was through the door and though the guard in front of it. The male could not sense any other guards in the area, but that did not mean more could not show up if he drew attention to himself through an altercation with the guard. He was unsure of using Hiraishin into a place that he could not see, he would have no idea what he would be appearing in, but with no other options left to the male he would form the seal of confrontation concentrating on the seal he had placed on the woman's cloak. He would appear silently approximately three meters behind the pair inside the long dark hallway just as they began their decent down the staircase at the end of the hall, sticking to the darkness to avoid being detected the male would wait a few seconds before following them further as he slowly made his way to the staircase and ensure that they were not nearby before he descended the stairs to the lower level. As he reached the bottom of the stairs the male heard the male that was with the doctor say they were here and his leader was waiting inside, he heard a door close but made no move as he was not sure if the guard had entered the room with the doctor nor which room they had entered. Myrddin would move slowly and quietly as he began creeping down the hallway listening for any sign and watching for any sign of the guard of the doorway, while also keeping his presence from drawing attention.

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Clone Chakra: 190
Personal Chakra: 170

The guard remained outside of the door for a moment, before walking onwards to an adjacent door and getting inside of another room, closing the door behind him. Leaving Myrrdin in a place which was filled with the buzzing light's as the only noise, yet the muffled voices from within a particular room could be heard through a door, the one into which Risu had been shoved by the now long gone jonin.

"I do apologize for the rather harsh treatment, my dear," The voice was sharp, raspy and somewhat familiar to Risu, yet she could not place it completely within her mind, only noting that it was a strange voice in the end. Though she was accustomed to the darkness, the one behind the desk had used a clver mixture of shadow and dimmed light to create the same visually impairing conditions as the twilight outside would have, with though a face being shown partially, even that part that was truly visible was still hard to discern. "Your research in regards to the Ryujin in Suna has been quite the intriguing read, showing your lack of morals, compassion and scrupules. Though posing as a mere country bumpkin doctor, now that's something I would not have expected, certainly not from someone as vivacious as yourself...maybe vivacious is the wrong word here, but nonetheless it seems so unsuitable for a woman of your predeliction in life."

Risu remained silent during the talk, letting her hands rest on the metal table, still slightly wondering why she still had the thought, that gnawing feeling of being followed and watched upon. "Let me put this bluntly...you drag me all the way here to exchange pleasantries or does your speech actually have a direction to go in. Do please make it simple, direct and quick, so I can decline whatever you're offering in an instant," She did not like the man's tone of voice, the arrogance dripping off of every syllable. However, though posing a strong, hard demeanor, she was nonetheless a bit intrigued to what the actual point would be.

"Very well,"The man dropped the files onto the table and let out a muffled sigh through the breathing apparatus. "You were responsible for creating possibly the greatest fighting force this world has ever seen in the shortest possible time, but your records mention flaws in particular to the point where you noted down that though you highly emphasized unity, some Ryujin were able to retain either specific thought or even full mental capacity. I want you to restart this research, but rather than in Iwa, I want you to do it here. Here where your true identity can be kept safe and where any you wish to bring into the fold may be kept safe."

"It's a tempting offer, but to do so...to create that which you seem to ddesire, I must travel to the land of wind to retrieve some valuable assets," Risu really didn't want to be forced to tailor her research to this man's desire, finding him strangely unsettling for her taste and the familiarity in his voice made it all just worse. The man laughed and seemed to nod a bit. "Is that why you tried to get the information out of that sunagakure jonin? To see if it was safe for you to return to the very place where you had committed your greatest crime? Lamya, the one accused to be the mastermind and sole benefactor of the glassing of sunagakure?"

Risu hissed through her teeth in anger, seemingly disagreeing with something the man said. However, unbeknownst to them, the jonin that had escorted Risu inside, had come out of the adjacent room, reacting to a screaming and wailing coming from a room further away from Myrrdin's position. However, the scream was loud enough for the sunagakure shinobi to hear every word uttered from afar. "The Empress of the Ryujin is back, with an ivory crown, she will drown your world in chaos and watch upon the unfurling despair with golden eyes!!"

The jonin entered the room from which the screaming originated, yelling and grunting until everything was silent again...

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The hallway seemed to go on forever, at least it did to the male and his slow pace through it, listening in carefully to each door as he passed to see if they held the doctor inside until finally he found a door in which voices could just barely be heard. Though he could not make out everything that was said between the two that were talking within the room was saying, he could hear enough to know that they were speaking of experiments of some kind and of Suna. It was then that he heard the words Mastermind and glassing of Suna that it all came to the male, he had heard the name Lamya before, she was the one who lead the monsters he was told about in the siege. What he could not understand was how the doctor was involved with such a monster, and why it mattered so much to the leadership of this village. According to the reports Lamya was killed during the siege, why was their name being brought up now and what the connection was with the doctor. Myrddin would press his ear to the door trying harder to listen in on the conversation when a wailing from down the hall nearly made him jump out of his skin, the scream was quickly followed by movement from the other side of the doorway across the hall from where he stood crouched down against the door. Moving quickly the young male was able to remain out of sight as the man from before exited the room and headed for the noise that was down the hall, the voice was repeating itself over and over again speaking of an empress that wore an ivory crown and watch the world drown in chaos with golden eyes. The male's mind suddenly clicked as he realized that the doctor had ivory horns that resembled a crown as well as golden eyes, was he truly so naive, he would question himself had he unknowingly sat with the very woman that destroyed his village all those years ago as well as started the war of the villages. The male shook his head, how could he be so foolish. He did not want to believe what he was hearing when it fell silent from whatever it was the man did within the room. Myrddin knew as soon as the man exited the room he would be spotted and his cover blown, rather than return to the door to the room the doctor was in the male would approach the room that the yelling was coming from. As the Amegakure shinobi exited the room he was met with the blade of Ikari slicing his neck, the body of the man dropped to the floor inside the doorway as Myrddin stepped over his body into the room kicking it too the side. The room was in total darkness though he need not his eyes to see, whatever else was in the room was breathing heavily. The male's naturally blue eyes glowing like a fire in the darkness, "Tell me what you know of this Empress." The male stated in a tone that was mimicked of a man he had an encounter with not that long ago as he shut the door to the hallway, though his mind was still on what was being discussed in the other room with the doctor he needed to know more.

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When the body of the jonin slumped to the ground after Myrddin had cleanly dispatched of the man, the frail looking man...if you could even call it something like that just grinned rather sinisterly. When asked what 'it' knew about the empress 'it' yelled about, the creature hunged a bit forwards, revealing its own disgusting, terrifyingly grotesque appearance. The man's body had a flacid, almost ghoulish pale color and eyes reminiscent of those of a fish, completely devoid of life and soul, a head that seemed to be held together by seems and scars with swaths of gray hair on several places on the otherwise bald scalp. "She is our maker, our savior, our leader...our goddess," The voice, now subdued and less hackling, sounded coarse and hollow. It seemed the thing in the dark cell wasn't used to talk so much, as with every word he had othered in this subdued voice, he had to take a ragged breath with a pauze. "We were her elite, her Ryujin...but then she had to die at the hands of that strange fellow with the konoha outfit... and even though her death did sever our connection, our bond, we Ryujin had no place in this world...most of us went along with the crimson eyed woman and the sealer, both of which had proven vital to the proposed restructioring of suna into the Ryujin Empire..."

The man looked at the Suna shinobi and smiled, some life coming back in his fishlike eyes, showing a similar blue color in his eyes as Myrddin. "Oh...a Kozai...fancy seeing one of your ilk so far from home..." Distracted, the man smiled rather gently before seemingly having his soul snuffed out of him again. "Four years ago...the empress should've died, but none had accounted for her student to be present as well...the Raven Lady, as long as she survives, the return of the Empress is secure...alas I fear, I shall not be of any use to my empress anymore...the deterioration has already begun to set in long ago and now these fools have managed to find me and dragged me out of my peaceful existence, all in the idea that they might use me to entice some hack to try and recreate the brilliant work of Lamya. Though, just as I am no longer strictly alive...I fear that hack they lured in might be in grave danger, for the leader of amegakure isn't exactly to be counted among the living either... If you are by any chance investigating this place...follow the string, follow the chakra..."

Seemingly losing his mind and devolving into a rambling fool again, courtesy of its deterioration, the creature continuously repeated those last words: Follow the strings, follow the chakra.

Risu in the meantime stood up from her chair and slammed her fist upon the table. "Oh shut up, you know well enough that I had nothing to do with the glassing of suna or the persecution of the karisuma, that was all Sarutobi Mitsuo's doing and the work of one of their own traitors, I simply became the ideal scapegoat due to my failed attempt to take out Hastur before he could enact his plan to plunge us all into a meaningless war."

"And yet...here we are, you still forever branded as the one behind the attack, the one to blame for both the fall of suna and the subsequent siege..." The Amegakure leader chuckled with his hollow, raspy voice. "So now...the option is simple...you either provide us with a new regiment of these Ryujin or we'll just have you imprisoned, to collect your bounty from thegreat nations."

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