An Unfamiliar Environment

Kyson and Royalty had finally reached their destination. It was time to approach Konoha's village gates. This will be the third village Kyson has been to. But at least this one is an allied village. So there shouldn't be any problems getting in since they have their ninja ID and a letter to prove they come from Suna.

As they reached the Village gates, Kyson wasn't going to say anything since Royalty knows more details about the mission than him. Hopefully this will be a fun little "vacation" according to what Lord Kazekage said. Kyson had a book bag full of his equipment. Had on his normal attire: Black Trench coat, black V-Neck, black sweat pants, black ninja sandles, and his headband wrapped around his right tricep. 

"Alright, here goes nothing." Kyson said to Royalty with a low voice. He was a bit nervous since he isn't used to this place. But hopefully nothing would go wrong.

As the two arrived, Roy just looked up at the vast entrance of Konohagakure. He had sort of the same feeling as when he and Kyson had first arrived to Sunagakure. To anyone here, they were foreigners. This was the mindset that Roy kept in mind. Despite the knowledge of the two's coming presence, they still had to be cautious in whatever they do.

Once Kyson spoke, Roy felt a lot of pressure on him. He always did most of the speaking for them. This time probably wasn't going to be different. After looking at Kyson then back towards the gates, Royalty reached into his backpack and pulled out the letter in which Koroshi had written. He then lifted the letter up above his head with his right hand and opened the left side of his trench coat with his left, exposing his Sunagakure band. 

"We are here!" Said Royalty. He said it loud enough for anybody in the vicinity to hear them. He did not scream however.

Boring, boring, boring, boring...

Well, here she was again. Once again the gates needed watching. And once again Ashi drew the short straw. Not even Chai had deigned to come sit through the impressively mundane duty of checking people in and out of the village. Of course such a duty did not require a mask, so the woman looked like one might expect a jounin to. A forest green Konoha flak jacket over a black T-shirt rounded off by a pair of blackish combat pants that looked maybe one size too large. Oh, and, of course, there was the headband of Konohagakure hanging prominently around her neck.

Thus far the woman's day had been populated with merchants, an endless stream of merchants. Not the most enjoyable day, but there were worse things she could be doing. There were always worse things. Sitting at the pseudo-customs-booth just inside the village gates, Ashi was surprised to hear a declaration of being here. For half a second the woman considered staying still and waiting for the owner of the voice to find his way into to the booth. However, she thought better of it and made her way out of the booth and to the gates with her messy ponytail of hair swinging behind her almost like a dog's tail.

Turning the corner two figures came into view. One was holding a some scarp of paper over his head while also revealing what Ashi identified as a Sunagakure headband. An odd performance, but it was not one that would not go unnoticed.

"Good afternoon," Ashi said cheerily, flashing a toothy smile that distorted the red markings on her face. "What can I do for two shinobi of Sunagakure today?"

It was at this point the woman realized she was not wearing shoes. She had slipped them off while sitting in the booth where no one would see her feet, but forgotten about them in going to see the two gentleman at the gate. Shame. Such things happened. At least it the weather was starting to show signs of spring with the relatively warm breeze blowing at her back.

Worse things have happened.

As they approached the village gates, they saw a woman standing by the entrance. Well, here goes nothing. The woman standing by the entrance looked somewhat friendly, so hopefully the two of them aren't going to have a hard time. It was weird being in a place that wasn't covered in sand and not hot every single day. Kyson missed this kind of weather, but he really enjoys the rain. This made Kyson think about the the time him and Royalty were in the rain country. Kyson was in heaven at that moment. A few seconds later, the woman by the entrance began to greet the two of them. It seemed she noticed our headbands and knew what village we came from. She spoke friendly, this made Kyson able to relax a little more and not be so tense. So he began to speak to the women.

"Good afternoon, we have been sent by Lord Kazekage himself to deliver a letter to your Hokage. It has to deal with clearing one of your shinobi's name and clear him of all charges that were put on him. My friend actually spoke to Lord Kazekage himself, so he will give you more detail about our mission and show you the letter for proof." Kyson said as he spoke to the women. He couldn't say much about their mission since Royalty only gave him a little brief explanation about what they were suppose to do. So the rest was up to him to explain.

With the letter still waving into the air, Roy turned to notice a woman come around the corner. She smiled and offered to assist them in whatever they had needed. This seemed like a great start. Roy had not known anybody from Konoha. Therefore he had not known how the people were like here. If this woman was a reflection of the whole village, then their trip shall be smooth and hassle-free.

To his surprise, Kyson spoke first on the matter. Roy wasn't entirely used to it, but it seemed that Kyson has learned to get out of his comfort zone. It was settling to see him become more active in whatever affairs presented them at the moment. As he spoke, Roy could tell that Kyson wanted to pass the limelight to him. His information was limited all because Roy did not tell him all of the details. Well, he would know now.

"Yes.. A boy by the name of Salzem. My Lord says he is innocent of being called a traitor to your village. Unfortunately, this is just about all I know of the matter. I have never personally ran into him. This letter should explain any and everything. I also have some words to pass onto the Hokage from the Kazekage himself. If we may, could we speak to your Lord?"

Royalty tried to be as polite as possible. He realized that just arriving to another's home and requesting to see their leader seemed a bit, alien-like. He did not expect to meet the Hokage without any special interrogation to show that they mean well. They might even just wait until they could set up an appointment.

Salzem?!?

Ashi's heart skipped a beat, but her face gave nothing away. Truly she doubted that a jail-breaking thug could be innocent. One does not escape from custody by accident, after all. All that said, the judgement of guilt did not lie with the Inuzuka. She was not a kage nor a statesman. No, she simply carried out their orders and protected her village.

"Well," Ashi said with a slight tilt of her head. "Let's get you checked in, so we have everything on record and we can go from there."

The woman turned her back on the pair of Sunagakure shinobi and made her way back to the customs booth just inside the gates.

Not wearing shoes is actually kind of nice.

"Come along." The woman would call over her shoulder.

If the boys followed her the trio would be at the booth in a matter of moments. Of course, Ashi would be one one side of the counter with the pair on the other side. Well, unless they had some odd inclination to follow her into the one person booth.

"I'll need to see your papers and the seal on that letter."

The contents of the letter did not much matter; it was not for her eyes. Shinobi of Sunagakure might as well be part of Konohagakure-only a small label separated the two. Ashi had heard whispers that nepotism of the Fourth was to thank for that. Apparently it paid to have powerful family members, such was life.

After Kyson began to speak. It was Royalty's turn to take it away. As Kyson listened to Royalty, this was the first time he was hearing the entire mission in full detail. Once Royalty mentioned Salzem, Kyson froze for a bit. He remembers that name from some where. But he couldn't put his finger on it... That's it! Salzem was mentioned by that Konoha visitor by the name of Kouse Uchiha. His whole purpose was to come to Suna and bring him back. Its crazy how al of this links up and Kyson wasn't aware of it at first.

After Royalty spoke, the woman turned her back and began to walk towards a counter to get them checked in. Kyson noticed she had no shoes on. This was a little odd to Kyson. Maybe its normal for people to walk around with no shoes on in this village. Kyson didn't worry about it much, it wasn't any of his business anyway.

"Right behind you." Kyson said to the woman after she said "Come along." Kyson followed her to the counter and stood on one side while the women walked behind it. She asked the two if she could see our papers and the seal on that letter. Kyson looked towards Royalty since he was the one who was given the information and paperwork personally. This was going a lot easier than Kyson expected. But it comes as no surprise since Suna and Konoha are allied villages.

The woman gave a nice reply and walked away. It didn't seem like she knew much about the Salzem person that was in question. Roy felt compelled to ask but it could have been a sensitive topic. He did not want to bring it up more times than he had to. Roy just left it alone and awaited further instruction. 

After a brief moment, the woman told them to follow her. Royalty looked over at Kyson for a second when he spoke and then walked in the path that she did. When she went around the desk, she asked to see the paperwork that Koroshi had given him. Reaching into his backpack, he grabbed two folders that held the Sungakure information for both Royalty and Kyson. Laying the letter on top, he handed both to her and smiled.

"This should be everything you need."

Sorting through the papers Ashi found the pertinent information. ID numbers, names and of course they had already told her their reason for being here. All in all, it was pretty routine. Taking a small stamp with the seal of Konohagakure on it she quickly stamped both Kyson and Royalty's travel documents. She then placed the documents back on the counter.

Next up was the letter. Flipping it over she found the seal to be intact, which was a start. However, a intact seal does not a legitimate letter make. Ashi had heard tales of letter, much like the one she held in her hand, that were rigged with explosive tags on the inside. One could never be too careful. Holding the letter up to the afternoon light, the off-duty anbu nodded once.

Well, it seems fine...

"We do ask that you keep your travel documents on you at all times," Ashi said as she placed the letter on top of the travel documents before pushing the pile back towards Royalty. "As for an audience with the Hokage."

Ashi paused for a moment and pointed at the map that lay embedded in the booth's counter.

"You will want to go to the administration building to make an appointment."

Moving her finger downwards on the map to the outskirts of the entertainment district, Ashi spoke up again.

"If you are looking for the cheapest inns you'll find them here. Well, that is assuming you don't mind a bit of noise now and again."

Withdrawing her hands Ashi put on her best customer service smile, which amounted to a toothy grin and bid the pair farewell.

"Otherwise that is about it. I hope you enjoy your time in Konohagakure."

So, much for the dangerous lifestyle of the anbu...

Royalty gave the woman the paper work she asked for. Kyson just stood there and waited to see if everything was okay. He can't believe he is a couple minutes away from entering another village. He feels like he's traveling the world. He can get used to this. Kyson watched the woman as she was looking through the paperwork hoping there was no issues. 

She was now finished, she told them that they should keep their travel documents on them at all times. Just in case someone stops us, we have paper work to prove that we have permission to enter the village. 

"Got it." Kyson said to the woman. She also stated that they need to head over to the administration building to make an appointment with the Hokage. Kyson looked closely at the map she was pointing at that lead to that building. She then stated there are some cheap inns in this village that we could stay at. But Kyson doesn't really want anything cheap. This was a mission/vacation for them. Kyson has done a lot of missions and saved up a lot of ryo, so finding a nice and classy inn shouldn't be too much. He should be able to pay for him and Royalty. On top of that, they are getting paid for this mission as well.

"Thanks, but I've been saving up a lot of ryo. So a nice and expensive inn shouldn't be too much for us." Kyson said with a slight smirk on his face. The woman said that was about it and we were now free to enter the village.

"Thanks for everything." Kyson said as he looked at the woman with an innocent smile. Kyson looked at Royalty and began to speak.

"Well, here we go." Kyson said  as he was walking inside of Konoha.

(Exit to Konoha)