Shooting Stars [Travel Topic.]

Nobody realizes what he has on hand, which is a good thing, it means he'll only have the normal assortment of chumps coming after his head rather than the incredibly competent chumps that'll slit the Akari's throat in his sleep. He's plotted out a path to Haven and it's a bit roundabout, but that's the point, he'll make it appear as if he's going elsewhere before rounding backwards, and then routing again in order to cut a line through the Shadow Lands in order to reach Hoshigakure.
Call him paranoid, but on these long treks he likes to have everything he possibly can, paralysis tags, explosive tags, a few handcuffs, the normal set of wire and kunai, a medical kit and perhaps he'll look into some more powerful sealing equipment at a later date...
But for now, he's got a lot of preparation work to accomplish, he's gotta drop off the note, pick up his rations for the journey, make sure he has his purifier on hand and keep a look-out for people who are planning on killing him on his path.

All in a days work for Mercury Akari, who awakens early, before the sun is even up and while he has some darkness to slip away in.
His first order of business is to gather his travel bag, what some would consider a cumbersome rucksack..But he's a Taijutsu specialist, so this kind of weight doesn't slow him down at all, in fact the added weight only helps him during a few of his more interesting maneuvers. Still, he's prepared for a running battle, just in case the citizens of Hoshigakure aren't as honorable as the rumors suggest..
He'll not be drafted, imprisoned or stolen from on the whims of some Kage and their toadies..
The thought has his eyes narrowing slightly and flashing gold for a moment, he blinks and the sight is gone, and he returns to packing, before he stands up, snatching a simple letter from his nightstand and he slips out the door, shouldering his pack with a hum.
Dealing with the Villages always makes him nervous, after all, if they decided he was a Criminal then he was a Criminal, he'd be forced to either destroy the village and kill all survivors, or to join another village in order to seek refuge...

Either way he'd be trapped, either living on the whim or running day and night from the so called 'Great Nations' who would rule over him with their false idols built on partial power...
In some ways he despises the Great Villages, but the time of the Clan Wars was said to be an era flooded with more blood than even the Great Wars could claim, with more fatalities and treachery than could be afforded for Humanities continued survival..
But that leaves the rest of those Shinobi and people who do not wish to be held into bondage by a 'Duty' forced onto them by a Clan, or to be under the thumb of a singular powerful Shinobi who could do away with them as they please.
Why do people covet the position of 'Kage'? Why fight and kill others so you can take over as Kage through martial prowess? And why would people follow a Kage who killed their last Leader in single combat, razed them to the earth and declared himself Leader? Why not run away with the rest?

Where is that duty when met with certain death? No, the idea of the Village has been dead for awhile, those Shinobi have no honor or duty in them, no real Purpose..
He's seen it again and again from veterans passing through, escapees from attacks on their village, which was summarily conquered, with it's denizens rolling over for the stronger Ninja.
No he won't be joining a village, if a place he can live happily and lay his life down for exists, he wouldn't wanna be standing alone to defend it. Those S-rank monsters are only monsters because their powerful, they're willing to kill but not prepared to die for what they believe in...
These thoughts carry him to the door of his 'Partners' teacher, which he pins the letter to before turning and making his way outside of Tanazaku.
Still he has business to take care of, which requires the resources of one of the Villages, he's deemed Hoshigakure as the easiest to get to and among the least likely to try and ruin him...Even if he has to give away a few favors, he should be able to get the surgery he requires from them, and their relatively new to Shinobi defenders..So he'll be able to flee through the citizens easily enough, it's hard to fire on him when he's taken an entire crowd hostage after all.

He'll also have plenty of places to slip into in order to hide, a village is large after all, and while it's only a matter of time before someone discovers him, it's also only a matter of time before he'd find a weakness in their defenses and slip through before they even realize he's gone.
No, he won't allow himself to be captured, he doesn't care what it takes...
He's sure they can gather information on him, he's not all that discreet when it comes to after his work is done, he isn't a faceless specter like those Black-Ops that run along the borders, unseen by felt watching as you walk along, a bit too close to their village for their comfort.
How broken are those people behind those masks? That they'd throw away their identity so easily? How much do their ideals matter in the face of their duty? And why throw themselves into a life like that?
He can't understand it...But sometimes, he's envious of it..
The surety that they are fighting for something they're glad to fight for, he wishes he could set himself up in a village and just believe wholeheartedly in the propaganda, to be brainwashed and to truly believe in the will of the Kage..

But he's no sheep, he can't believe in something like that, no matter how pretty it looks on the outside.
So...What does he fight for? Why does he continue to move forward like this..? What does he kill and die for..?
That question has kept him awake for years now, had him tossing and turning, debating and thinking to himself for countless hours on end..
What is his Purpose in life? Will he ever find something he can truly believe in to the extent that the Village Shinobi do? Will his kicks one day hold the power that the Village Shinobi do when their fighting for their purpose?
Yes, he scorns the Shinobi of the Great Villages...
But he also envies them, for they have had at birth something Mercury still lacks to this very day..

Something worth fighting and dying for, a Way of the Ninja.
Mercury's feet leave the ground, and he sails through the air soundlessly, slipping off the path and away from any prying eyes, in order to travel through the pitch black forest surrounding the country borders..
Unseen, unheard and currently untraceable...Mercury slips away into the night, on a path that could change his life forever, perhaps on his business the young Mercenary will find what he's been tirelessly searching for, or perhaps he'll find the end of a blade wielded by a superior opponent, in either circumstance the Shinobi shall fight with all the Passion his Uchiha blood allows, and the clarity that his Mother's eyes promise him..With all the soul his fallen friend left him, and all the Will that is his own, yet made up of all of these things.
And so we carry on, and so continues the Tale of Mercury Akari.

[Travelling more than one country over;2000 words - 700 from 70 speed = 1,300/1,300 words filled in, instantly traveling.
Requesting approval.]