Loser Inches

Hmph. So, it looked like he had made it. Kozata emerged from the foliage to gaze upon the village of Hoshigakure. What a seemingly peaceful place. He had no doubt that there would be many chakras there for him to feast on... but that wasn't his mission, now was it? As he approached the gates, he tuned in his chakra sensory that he had acquired, and which he was still getting used to. So, this was how ninjas were able to detect each other so well. Even though he had his doujutsu, an ability like this was indispensable, as it could cover a much wider area.

He got pretty close to the gates, and tilted his head slightly, inspecting them and what little he could see of the village. So different from Kirigakure... he missed the mist (badum-tss) and the coolness of his own village. Even though this place was certainly far up north, it appeared to be near Suna and the land of stone, where Iwagakure used to be. This meant that it was probably dry. He didn't know why, but Dio told him it was because of something called a "rain shadow". He thought he had heard of something like that before... had it been some science class in the academy? His muddled brain couldn't remember.

He gave a loud knock on the gates, and looked around. Maybe there'd be a guard on patrol he could talk to. "Oi!" He yelled out, hoping to catch someone's attention. Maybe he'd be able to tell someone about his mission. "I need to talk to a guard!"
[WC 266]

Hado hummed a tune. He was one of the guards on duty, watching from the shaded area, where he could be harder to spot because of his skinny frame. When another young boy approached, Hado felt that nothing could be that bad. Not wanting to appear threatening, he suppressed his chakra, and checked his remaining items, the kunai and shuriken in weapon pouches on his legs.

Telling the other guards that he could come down to meet the guy, he then strolled out towards the other fellow. "Hey! Another kid! What brings you here?" He had a grin on his face, he did not often see visitors here in this desolate landscape.

Koazata would not knock on the gate, as the gate wasn't closed or anything and the guards were outside of it.

Kozata would be 15 meters from the gate when Shina, one of the guards, would call out to him.His chakra was extremely high so she was wary of him, her chakra senses were active as well. Shina stood atop the 10 meter tall gate, lookin down at the boy.

"Halt! What's your business?" It was a slow day at the gates, most of the pilgrims had arrived already, and this boy was the only current traveler.

When the genin guarding the gate alongside Shina said he would go down and meet him, Shina raised her hand as if to signal for him to stop, the signal would be visible to Hado and hopefully he would understand it. The boy had a potent chakra, even more potent than Shina's, he wasn't just some kid you should come down and greet into the village.

Shina

As he got within a certain distance, Kozata was approached by some random guard. Oh, thank goodness! He'd half-expected the walls to be empty or something. His face would show the clear relief as he stood there, looking at the guard. Dio was rather disgruntled that they weren't able to walk right in, but that was to be expected. What kind of fantastic ninja village didn't have guards at the gates? At that moment, Kozata spontaneously thought of a volcano, but wasn't sure what that had to do with anything. Oh well. It was time to address this guard and attempt to fulfill his mission.

This guard, in particular was a girl. Kinda cute. Not that Kozata cared, he was a tad too young to be flustered by such things.
"Hey! I'm on official business from Kirigakure. Looking for some kind of scary man who's taken up residence here; I have a message for him from the Mizukage that I'm to deliver personally."

Naturally, because of his rather addlebrained attitude, he'd already forgotten about the rest of his mission. However, Dio hadn't forgotten. The yuumei was impeccable in its planning, and wasn't about to let Kozata return to Kiri so soon. No, he'd have to influence the boy some...

He saw some other guy try to come up, only to be stopped by the guard. He looked kind of wacky and ditzy... just like Kozata himself! Maybe if he got into the village, they could be friends.

"Oh, ok boss." Hado stood, sitting on his heels so to speak, as his initiative was shot down, rather rightly, though he did not know it himself.

Kirigakure... wasn't that the place that was by the sea? But wasn't it destroyed? Weird.

Hado had not paid much attention in geography class but even he had heard of some of this stuff.

The boy was from one of the major shinobi villages? Shina recalled Den briefly informing her of them when she joined Hoshigakure, and had explained to him that he was wary of contact with the new Kirigakure because he had heard rumors of the Mizukage's identity, apparently it was a man whom Den had been in some sort of conflict with, Den hadn't elaborated much on the incident. 

"We haven't received any messages from Kirigakure about any of their shinobi entering our territory..." Shina trailed off as she wasn't sure what that meant, could the boy possibly be lying or had the Mizukage decided for some reason to not inform Haven that he was sending a shinobi to their capital?

"Who is your message meant for?" Perhaps that could shed some light on the situation. Shina wasn't sure if Den would want a shinobi from Kirigakure wandering around the capital, but if he simply delivered his message and went on his way Shina doubted he could cause the capital much trouble. 

There was still a chance the boy was some missing ninja that was making up some fake message to try and sneak into the village. With a chakra as potent as his the boy could easily be an older missing ninja using the transformation jutsu as, but beyond assigning some guards to the boy to watch him Shina wasn't sure what she could do unless she just turned the boy away, but that could cause more problems with Kirigakure for Den.

Wow, this chick was cynical as hell. Though, it did fit with Kozata's perception of how young women were... kinda weird, gross, snooty creatures, who hated men and distrusted them as the "oppressor". Naturally, he hadn't actually talked with many of them, but in his young egocentric mindset, he knew this all to be true. However, he now had such a woman to deal with, not to mention that boy. Well then... he doubt, he could take them both out, but this would send the whole village crashing on him. No, it was best to be diplomatic and work with what he knew.
"The Lord Mizukage wishes to send a private message to one of his old friends, from the original Kirigakure. A man whom he repeatedly described as "having a fearsome aura". Although he was not astute enough to give me the name, I'm sure that you know of this person already. Perhaps you've sensed his chakra before, and could tell me who he is?"
He had to have a little help from Dio for that one, as the word "astute" wasn't naturally in his vocabulary. He knew he looked really awkward and such standing there without any weapons other than the basic ones, but he had all he needed already on his body...

Huh? A "fearsome" aura? Hado had no idea who that could be. He stood and watched from his post, interested to see what he could glean. For now he would cool his heels and sit back and watch, figuratively anyway. Hopefully nothing bad would happen. Perhaps this guy could be a friend.

A fearsome aura was a really vague statement. Shina assumed that it must be someone with a more potent chakra than hers as the boy who was sending the message somehow possessed more raw power than she did, as far as she knew if it was a villager that meant it was Denkiteki or a member of the Queensguard. Den was a foreigner and had dealt with the Mizukage before so odds were it was him, but he had never said he was from kirigakure and hadn't made it sound like he and the Mizukage were friends.

"We don't have anyone within this village that claims to be from the original Kirigakure... however if you can see if they know of anyone who fits that description." Hopefully Shina wasn't making a mistake by sending an unannounced visitor to the palace, but it was the public grounds she was sending him to and most of the Queensguard were at the palace so if the boy proved a threat it could be deal with there, she was sure they could keep any civilians and the Queen from harm should something happen.

Shina would turn her head towards Hado after speaking, the traveler still visible in the corner of her eye as she did so, "Could you escort the visitor towards the public area within the palace and notify a member of the Queensguard there that Kirigakure has sent a messenger?"

"Okay" Hado grinned, bouncing up from his standing position. "Let's go bro! I'll be back quick Shina-Sensei!" The slightly energetic genin hummed a quiet tune, gesturing at the other boy outside the gates. "Come on! Let's go!"

If the other fellow walked into the village and followed Hado, Hado would take the lead, trotting happily through the main streets of the village into the public area of the palace, and staying between 1 and 2 meters in front of the other. At this time of day the crowds were not too bad, though it was hardly quiet either. Pausing outside the gate, he would say "Nearly there!" Hopefully the other boy did not get lost or worse, Hado would get in trouble potentially, and so could the other fellow.

A quick dash inside on some pathetically short legs, and Hado would come to a halt inside the public area of the palace. Looking around for a Queensguard, he gestured at the other boy to follow. Running up to the nearest Queensguard, he said "Heya mister Queensguard! Just thought I would let ya know we have a messenger from Kirigakure here, one of them ninja villages from far away! It sounds important! In case you need me, I'll be here chilling out with this here fellow for now until relieved by the way!"

Hado was kinda smiley still, happy to meet someone else. God, look at the little boy, he was like a dog, as if he had no friends or something. While they waited for someone else to come up to talk to the other boy, Hado would try to speak up a conversation a bit. "What's your name? I'm Hado, good to meet ya!"

Of course, if the other fellow wandered off elsewhere without following Hado, then Hado would most likely notice due to his metal sensory.

**************

The Queensguard was perhaps more than a little taken aback by the young boy's relative irreverence, but at least he was not picking his nose. Kirigakure? Important? Sounds like this could be a diplomatic issue or something, he better go talk to the Queen about this. Waving at one of the few extra Queensguards, and then a short conversation later, the first Queensguard was off to talk to the Queen about this. Meanwhile, a second Queensguard had assumed the station of the first, without an interruption in coverage. It was a changeover similar to when the guards at the local pool switched in and out. It would not take long for the first Queensguard to reach the Queen herself with news, though, given that the ninjas were becoming closer to the royalty, he might tell any important ninjas as well. MIGHT.