jumping over an entire country!

Hysterio wandered the lands, looking for his master. He wondered whether he would ever find him, as he had been studiously, well, studying the surrounding scenery and had not yet found him. Hysterio decided that Xyxer really had been serious when he had said to meet him at the sea. Hysterio began moving in the direction he believed the sea in. He was right, Hysterio WOULD be arriving at the sea, given a rather longer time than he had initially expected. What Hysterio THOUGHT he was doing was heading straight for the coast, through the land of Rain. Where he was really going, was into the Land of Bears, and through there, Kumogakure. HE was worried he might arrive at Kumogakure early, ahead of his boss, but if that happened there would be little sense on going back and backtracking until he found his boss. That would be a waste of time. They had originally decided to set out for Kumogakure many days ago but nothing had happened, and the leader of the Tengakure ninjas, or at least, the one Hysterio Shinkou acknowledged to be the true leader of the Tengakure ninjas. There was that other ninja who had claimed to be the Tenkage, but Hysterio had literally never seen him before, even if he was a Co-Tenkage with Xyxer, or was picking up the rank of Tengakure leader, after Xyxer, it did not bode well if he was fairly unknown. Granted, Hysterio had shown up not very long ago at Tengakure, so perhaps this new fellow had actually done something of worth before, before the Nerd as some people called him, had arrived after emigrating here from a small village. Speaking of which…

If he remembered correctly, he was actually on the way towards Kumogakure, as well as his old village, where he had grown up for most of his life. Ok, technically he was still growing up, but most of the formative years of his life had been spent in his old home. Heck, he had not even spent a full year in Tengakure before it was destroyed by a lunatic who called himself its leader. Well, that was that then for the village. Hysterio would strive to benefit the village as long as he could. While he was headed this way towards Kumogakure, and incidentally his home village, he would stop by and check up on everybody, as well as going to Kumogakure to see if he would be able to do anything in advance. Maybe he would be able to pick off a few sentries or gain an ally or two. You never know. Besides, he was sure that he would not be so violently ill, the kind of ill involving regurgitating one’s lunch, if he killed someone, he would make sure he remembered why he killed, in whose name (Tengakure, now relocated and renamed Kirigakure) as well as for whom (his friends and family of course). He tried not to think too much about the fact that the ninjas of Kumogakure were likely fighting for the same reasons he did. Well, it was him or them and at the end of the day he preferred that he very much stay alive.

He continued running through the forests, and eventually came upon where his village should have been. But there was nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing that is, except for a large helping of nothing and a crater that would have been smoking if Hysterio Shinkou had been there earlier. His first reaction was that of grief. Even if everyone had somehow survived, sentimentality still had a hold on him, and he vivdly remembered each building he had studied in. Yes, that is how his mind still worked. He tried to get a hold of himself, and eventually tried to find survivors. There were traces that appeared to have happened after the whatever had caused the smoking crater, but there was not much else. He bowed his head in memory of those presumed lost. When his head rose again, a new light shone from within his eyes, not of the Meigan or Yuumei (which was as stunned as he) but of a new desire in his heart. He would grow strong enough to protect anything remaining he held dear, and search the world for survivors, as well as for those who had done this, this terrible deed. He doubted that it was a second case of the leader wanting to relocate, there were not enough tracks leading away from the site of the crater to indicate there had been any evacuation. He sighed, unhappy with the results of his train of thought. No longer was there a place he oculd truly call home, considering he had not even made it to Xyxer’s new reincarnation of Kirigakure. Not at all, no.

He picked up stuff where he had dropped it and continued on his way. He was going to head to Kumogakure and aside from them, hopefully he could prevent any further trouble like he had had at his own two villages he had ever been able to call home. He could see the coast now through the trees, and he turned, following the coast north, heading towards the Lightning Country borders. He would be there soon, there was no way anyone would be able to interfere with him at the speeds he was travelling at. Nope, not at all. Otherwise he would have seen them. Upon getting to the borders, he was struck by the fact that there appeared to be no guards around. He had not seen any guards around from the village of Tengakure but that made sense because they were packing up and moving. Kumogakure, despite their stability and militarization, had no guards either which he found disconcerting. He slowed down and looked around him. Nobody. He clambered to the top of a tree and he could see Kumogakure, or some other large village, off in the distance. He clambered back down and walked away, plotting his next move.

(ttl wc: 1006, claiming instant travel between Moon Country and Lightning Country)