But Knowledge Brought It Back

--entering from here--


The sun was high in the sky by the time Alice reached the forests surrounding Konohagakure in Fire Country. It was already at least noon judging from the position of the sun in the sky, though it was hard to tell through the canopy of the large trees. She knew the village would soon be in site, so she took this opportunity to stop and take a quick break to disguise her appearance. She had become quite notorious lately as a rogue, something she didn't need when she was trying to enter the village. Taking that into account, Alice had gotten a hold of various fake papers that were created with such high-quality workmanship that anyone checking them wouldn't even be able to tell they were fake. It was perfect for slipping into a village undetected. 

Careful to check her surroundings before she did so, Alice made sure there was no one watching her before undressing, transforming herself into that of her new alias Aiko Namichiro, and donning the uniform she had acquired to go along with the Alias. Last, but not least, she attached Royal's Edge to her hip in it's sheathe and headed toward the village. 

Soon, the now blonde shinobi would arrive at the village gates. What she on her way there was not what she had expected. It looked like a widespread battle had recently taken place, scorch marks, upturned dirt, and countless footprints marked the ground everywhere. The tension in the air was so thick she could nearly cut it with a knife. It was all very strange. Still, she didn't let that deter her from approaching the gates and waiting to see the guards to present her papers and request entrance. 

-5ap for transformation technique
(291)

Lead by example, she had always heard. Risako stood atop the Gate of Konohagakure, her torso leaning over the guard rail. Yu and the black haired generic guard npc standing next to her were what one could call "company." It was true, but the small fox had never uttered a human word in his life and Generic NPC wasn't much of a talker either. Her hands were gripping the dark rail, causing her to make a mental note to self that she should have them repainted. Same as always, guard duty was boring. No one living creature dared to step foot in front of the gates without being called for questioning. Today she wasn't wearing her typical jounin attire, but rather her newly crafted armour. It provided far better physical protection than her previous gear. Over the body suit, she wore a loose but not baggy grey shirt, black pants, and her regular shoes. Mako's sword was resting in its sheath, which happened to be fastened to her belt.

Today was like the rest of her days on guard duty, silent and boring. Until some blonde lady showed up and ruined that. Before she could get too close, Risako called out, "State your business."

Kotsuzui often found himself atop the wall right next to the gates where the battle had taken place. He came here to simply look over the damage sustained to the land by the battle that happened here not so long ago. By now vegetation began creeping its way back but the remnants of a battle could still be observed. So observe is what the Kaguya did. He often did so to remind himself of what had happened. Not that he'd likely ever forget, but for some odd reason the Kaguya always came here to look upon it once more. Usually he would do it on his own accord. Though today he was forced to be here as he had drawn the morning shift for guard duty. A drag really since he couldn't drink the stashed sake he had in his pouches. Had he not been on duty that bottle would be out and probably half empty by now. But he was on the job and drinking would not be permitted. What was one sip though?

The thought quickly faded as he knew he couldn't. Kotsuzui was on the side of the gate opposite to where two other Konoha ninja were posted. If they saw him drinking on the job they may cause a stink about it. Best to avoid such situations. So in the meantime he simply leaned against the railings looking over the vast forests surrounding their village until he detected the presence of a chakra signature. At that moment his eye's darted directly to it's location spotting a blonde haired female exiting the forest and approaching the gates. It wasn't anyone Kotsuzui was familiar with thus she was unlikely a Konoha ninja. Before she got too close one of the guards opposite of Kotsuzui spoke out. His eyes quickly moved to the guard as he finally got a look at her. He was caught off guard once noticing that the guard was in fact their Hokage. What was a Hokage doing on guard duty? Surely there were more important things that needed her attentions. Perhaps with Xyxer still in the village he had taken over the role until his departure. Whatever the reason Kotsuzui would let the Hokage handle the stranger as his gaze fell upon her yet again, watching closely.

Before she had even made it to the usual guard station just inside the open gates where it was customary to check the passports and intentions of visitors, Alice heard a voice from somewhere above telling her to say what she was doing here. Of course, she had to keep up appearances in this form of hers, so her usual sarcastic tone was gone, replaced by an annoyingly upbeat and almost sing-sing tone instead. "Hiiii," she shouted back, her left hand shielding her eyes from the bright sun as she looked over the top of the gate in search of the source of the voice. From the angle she was at it was hard to see anything up there, the sun being directly behind the person in question, but at least Alice could feel their chakra signature, along with that of two others. "My name is Aiko Namichiro," she answered the woman, a seemingly genuinely warm smile appearing on her face as she did so. 

"Jounin of Hoshigakure. Kyousuke-chan sent me here to speak with your Hokage about peace negotiations." It was a bold-faced lie. From her brief stay in Hoshigakure, Alice had learned about Kumogakure's position there, and that connection with the remaining two villages, Konohagakure and Kirigakure, had been completely shut off since the fall of Sunagakure. If she was lucky, no one here would be able to verify her words. Luck, however, usually wasn't on her side. "I've come a long way to speak on the Hogokage's behalf, so I'd like to request an audience with the Kage here. If they aren't available, my orders are to speak to whomever is in charge." It wasn't her first rodeo. Alice had been taking on assassination and infiltration contracts from the Black Market for as long as she could remember. This was always the easiest for her, slipping in without raising alarm; getting back out was the problem. Unbeknownst to her, however, getting into Konoha with that excuse was going to be a lot harder than she expected. After all, Kages didn't usually take on gate-guard duty. 

Still, she remained calm due to years of experience. No outward signs of nervousness or any other emotion except for a tinge of bubbly giddiness was exposed. The alias she had taken up would be quite annoying to maintain, but it needed to be done. Her own senses remained on high alert, keeping tabs on every sight, smell, noise, and chakra signature nearby.

-5ap for transformation technique

(411)

Risako's silvery eyes rolled in their sockets as this visitor mentioned that she was here to negotiate peace between Hoshigakure and Konohagakure. Once this gesture was over, Aiko began to complain about the long trip. Before the one woman party from Hoshi could finish her sentence, the Hokage interrupted her to bark an order, "March back to Hoshigakure and tell him, that from the Hokage to the Hogokage," her voice began to trail off, "the next person he sends to talk about such an important topic will be sent back as a head." This was her decree on the situation, as brash as it may seem. Besides, the two villages weren't at war so what good was a peace talk? If the woman before her continued to press on about entering the village, more appropriate force would be taken.

Kotsuzui stood there against the railing as he listened to the blonde speak, first introducing herself. She seemed to be an extremely energetic person, a little too up-beat for the Kaguya. She informed the trio of guards that she was a Jounin of Hoshi sent to discuss what she referred to as "peace negotiations". The Kaguya's left eyebrow lifted ever so slightly as a result of his confusion. "Peace... are we at war with Hoshi?" he said in his head as his gaze slightly shifted over to his Hokage, wondering how she was reacting to the new comer. His gaze shifted back to the blonde and back again to Risako after cut off the other kunoichi. Kotsuzui couldn't help but let a sly grin spread across his face as the Hokage spoke, informing the stranger how she felt about random visitors. It also informed Kotsuzui the village's stance on travelers who were not from here, or Kiri. From Risako's words, it was pretty clear Konoha had no intentions of speaking with Hoshi, if Aiko was in fact from Hoshi. With that Kotsuzui glanced back over to Aiko, removing himself from the railing in case he needed to act quickly in response to her actions.

Well that hadn’t gone exactly how she had expected it to. Still, it wasn’t what she had considered the ‘worst case’ scenario either. This woman, for the voice was definitely female, seemed rather annoyed at the sudden intrusion, telling Alice to go straight back to Hoshigakure. Apparently the girl was Konoha’s Hokage herself! At least, that was what she seemed to imply. It was hard for Alice to believe that though. Why would the Hokage be on gate-guard duty? Still, if it wasn’t the Hokage, the girl was at least someone of note to be confident in speaking for the village. Even the guard on the other side of the gate wall seemed to take his cue from her.

From what Alice could tell, she had two options now. First, she could heed the woman’s words and leave. That was probably the option least likely to result in a fight. The second option, which she was leaning toward, was to press her luck and see if she could manage to get in anyway. Or at least speak more to the girl in charge.

“My Lady,” Alice began, dropping down on one knee with her left arm folded across her chest in a sign of respect. “I meant no disrespect,” she said, intending to take the riskier option, “I wasn’t expecting the Hokage herself to be guarding the gates. Please, it’s imperative I speak with you. I don’t have to enter the village to do so. We can speak right here if you prefer.” She would keep her senses on high alert this entire time, preparing herself to counter any threats sent her way from refusing to leave immediately.

“However,” she would continue, “what I have to say is of a very sensitive nature. If you could come down here, Lady Hokage, I can explain to you why Kyousuke-chan sent me instead of coming to see you himself.” It wasn’t much, but hopefully saying she didn’t need to enter the village would sway things more to her side. She needed to steer this conversation as much as possible. If they weren’t going to just let her in, then she had a trick or two in her arsenal to get inside the village on her own; she just needed to stall for time.

-5ap for transformation technique

(381)

Patience is a virtue, she had always heard. Immediately after Aiko had knelt down to try a second attempt at entering the village, Risako's cheeks began to flush. "I said go back to Hoshi," she would interrupt, barking a repeat of her previous order. "The two villages are not currently at war, what need do we have for peace talks?" Whatever lies and business this stranger was selling, the Hokage wanted no part in it for the village. With her mind set, this would be the last warning the stranger would receive.

[kots said i could skip him]

Sheesh. This woman, this...Hokage, sure was rude. Just because she was in charge of a village it doesn't mean she can speak to political envoys like that. Not that Alice was a legitimate political envoy at all, but still. How should she go about this now? It definitely looked like she wasn't going to be allowed into the village no matter what, and stalling for time wasn't exactly working out as planned either. She was almost finished with her preparations though; she only needed a very short amount of time until she could leave without any worries. Clearly if she pressed the matter any further the Leaf shinobi would take action. The last thing Alice needed right now was a fight with the Hokage herself, not to mention that other guard who seemed to have a high level of chakra. She would have to continue watching him for any movements as well. 

"Ma'am, you're pretty rude for a Hokage." That'd do it. It was definitely a brilliant idea to insult the leader of the village you were trying to enter while pretending to be a political envoy from another village. Yup. One hundred percent fool proof. "Alright, miss attitude, I guess I'll have to go back and tell Kyousuke-chan you refused to see me and threatened to kill the next envoy he sent. I don't feel bad about what happens to you at this point, but for your village's sake I sure hope he doesn't take that as a declaration of war." She was standing now, her hands in her pockets as she spoke. She was still only able to see the silhouette of the Hokage as well as the one standing next to her, not able to make out any details or features, but the third shinobi was clearly visible. There was no way Alice was going to forget her voice, but it was unfortunate she hadn't been able to learn anything else about the Hidden Leaf village's snarky ass leader. If she wasn't able to get inside the village, she had hoped that maybe she'd be able to glean enough information to make a profit off selling it in the Black Market.

It was clear the two unknown shinobi were getting a bit antsy at Alice's words, not to mention the fact she still hadn't turned around and left yet. At least she was standing though, and giving no signs of jutsu use or anything else that might be considered a threat. In fact, she wasn't really doing much at all except for monitoring the Hokage and her two other gate guards for any changes in their chakra that might give away any harmful intent, the same way she was sure they were monitoring her. No one seemed to be making any moves, and whether or not the Hokage and her gate guards spoke in response to Alice's own words she would simply excuse herself at this point. "I've wasted enough time here," she would say, her smile seemingly genuine once more. "See ya!" she would shout back toward the gates, her left hand still in her pocket but waving her right above her head in a friendly gesture. She made sure to suppress her chakra signature then, and headed back into the surrounding forest. She doubted that she would be followed, but better to be safe than sorry.

[exit]
(562)

TWC: 1,645
using 355 of my 950 remaining holiday wc to round this out to a flat 2,000
claiming chakra disguise 1,000/1,000
claiming temporary paralysis 1,000/1,000
memorizing Risako and Kotsuzui's chakra signatures 2,000/2,000 spent in their presence
10 stats

Approved unless interrupted