Straying

A seemingly empty pathway led to the village gates. Suzume walked upon it, bringing with her some supplies she gathered before taking the first steps towards what might be...a completely new experience for her? Or so, she assumed. There had been plenty of times that she wandered in the surrounding forest, but never had the girl gone as far as she planned to go now. She half expected not to come back, but this wasn't such a big deal anyways. There wasn't any major responsibilities that she had to take care of, so what matter would it be that she was taking off to possibly never return? If anything, it'd only be a disappointment to some that she was no longer present in Konoha. 

Now that she thought about it, maybe it would have been nice to leave a note behind for those few who might be. Just so that they were aware, instead of leaving them to wonder. Although, how big of a deal could it be if she didn't? Suzume at this point was already at the gates, looking back at the scene of Konoha. The towering buildings that made up some of the residencies, the academy she once attended, the general area of the training grounds...and of course, the kage heads to complete it. This very well could be the last time the girl would see everything that she was familiar with. 

Some memories played through her head as though watching an immersive play in the front row seats in an otherwise empty theater. From the days leading up to graduating the academy - the long lost pal that she'd enjoyed a field day with, along with a higher ranked shinobi who had guided them though some tricks. After weeks of doing nothing but lounging around her cave, she decided to get some sunlight but ended up running into a couple of fellow villagers at a restaurant...made that day interesting and memorable. Fast forward to the first chunin exams she attended, watching her own team mate make an unnecessary kill of the comrade that the girl ran into at that restaurant. Then a spar she had with her academy pal, only to never come across him since then. Come to think of it, whatever happened to that elder shinobi that had taught them back in the day too? But, she did have that  girls night out going to an ice cream parlor then clubbing later that on. It was a one time thing, though. There was also that one kid she managed to teach a jutsu to at some point... hadn't come across him since either. Another good moment was when she smoked cigars with the hokage, apparently....as awkward as she had been, even. So was sneaking into Yen's house...and being served one of his home baked pies. Alas, it seemed as though people vanish all the time. So now, it was her turn. 

Maybe Konoha wasn't all that bad, it just wasn't working out for her. Would it be laughable to say it was too comfy for her? She gained the most minimal of skills here, but would venturing forth provide her some kind of further success? She shrugged and shook her head at herself, wondering at what that even meant to her. All she knew is that she didn't agree with how things worked here. There wasn't much point in staying at that. Suzume turned from gazing back at the village she started at, and begun to prance ahead. Being so free as to choose her own destiny in a way felt dampening, and not knowing of any future to come was freighting. How long would she make it out here on her own?

[VILLAGE EXIT]
[WC: 619, claiming 3 stats]

It seemed a bizarre coincidence that Kozachi happened to be there, on duty, at the time that Suzume was approaching the gates. She wasn't the first one to try and book it, of course. Many other, more insignificant scum had tried to flee the village as if it were some kind of sinking ship. Perhaps they thought that with the temporary absence of the main combat force, the world was now free real estate for them to explore and do with as they pleased. Their naivety was almost funny. Incinerating the ones that had drawn their weapons on her, though, was not. Still, despite recent events, she was an Uchiha and she had her pride to uphold.

As Suzume stopped to turn back and look at the village, Kozachi's eyes would narrow and change to the 3-tomoe'd pattern of the sharingan, and she would proceed to speak.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Not normally the way she'd talk to someone she'd met and been acquainted with, but she was on the clock, and when Kozachi was on duty, she didn't like to beat around the bush. There was also that rage that had been slowly building in her for the past week or so. First, Kenjiro, then her best friend, and now Suzume? People just seemed to like walking out of her life, and she was *through* with it. If fate had placed her here for a reason, so be it. The girl didn't believe in any destiny that wasn't of her own making, so she resolved to force this situation to end the way she wanted it to: with both her and Suzume in the village, safe and unharmed. If that wasn't possible, though, she could be flexible.

As soon as she began speaking, the girl would palm a shuriken in her right hand, turning her hand to denote to Suzume that she had done so. Normally, she wouldn't have given the average runaway this courtesy, but she felt that she should at least give her friend a chance. From the distance of 10 meters in front of Suzume that she now was, she had a variety of options. If Suzume took an immediate action to move away from the village, Kozachi would throw the shuriken at her at 80 speed, aiming to shear clean through the shank of her left leg, thereby preventing her from running further. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, of course. Even if she avoided that, however, Kozachi had a variety of other tricks up her sleeve.

[WC 426
200 - 5 (sharingan) = 195 AP
exit interrupted]

It is morning when Satoru finds himself fifty meters away from the gates of Konohagakure, his intended destination. He has strolled along the left portion of a path made of smooth rock, but not close enough that he is brushing up against the greenery. With the sun rising to his left, the shadows of the trees cover him, providing much appreciated shade by extending two meters into the path. This tree line is consistent up until they are cut off by the gates themselves. The journey has not exhausted him nearly as much as he had thought it would, and he has arrived sooner than anticipated.

The gates are within view, as well as a figure standing between them. She is facing into the village hidden among the leaves. At this point, the Nara is fifty meters away from the gates. Assuming that this person is a guard for the gates, Satoru allows his chakra to veil himself and he disappears from view, blending with the shadows of the trees. Once this is done, he forms a hand seal and creates one tangible clone of himself to walk in the center of the path. The original Satoru increases his speed without kicking up dust or touching anything but the ground so that he is ten meters away from the first girl by the time she palms her shuriken. At the same time, the clone, having moved slower, is twenty meters away from the same girl.

When the girl speaks, her tone is quite harsh, causing Satoru to keep his guard up. She is unknown entirely, with skills and abilities about which the Nara is oblivious.

All of these things are done for a purpose. Satoru understands the fact that Konohagakure is an established village, the main hub for shinobi in Fire Country. Such a place would not simply allow an unknown rogue ninja to enter and look around. Telling the guard that he is here simply to see some old Nara buildings and texts will likely get him nowhere. With security being such an important task, he may even be attacked on sight. For these reasons, caution is his utmost priority in approach.

Satoru’s clone speaks up. “Good morning. I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

The entire time, the original Satoru is in the shadows of the trees to the left of his clone, watching the scene before him.

(All speeds outside of simple walking are max speed)
(399/399)

AP Usage:

And that unnerving sensation of freedom would cease to exist as she was stopped by a Konoha guard. Of course, now it was no longer dampening and feared. Instead, the perception of freedom was once again tempting. Not knowing what the future was to hold appeared exciting, opposed to going through the same motions day in and out within the village. Having the flexibility to whatever she wanted, or even nothing at all if the girl chose. However, the opportunities slipped her grip within a moment. Well, it was a fun idea while it lasted? The grass was always greener on the other side, so it seemed...even once the other side was reached at times. 

Maybe it was fate Suzume was stopped, it could have been her biggest regret to leave like this. How could she find out now? The curiosity was killing her...what would it be like to be in complete control of her actions, not having to follow any rules or commands? To have total responsibility for the consequences of her actions? Well, with this she understood why some may stay in a village. So long as they were within those confining walls, one's own fate would tend to also be that of their village's - and therefore an individual might not have to take the full blame if something went wrong. 

But while she was sorting through these notions, she also did take notice that it wasn't just any Konoha guard that halted her...but Kozachi. The girl she went out for icecream and clubbing with some time ago. What a...coincidence? Suzume wasn't about to be straight forward about her activities, though. "Well there you are!" she excitedly smiled, bowing to her as some type of greeting. "I heard somewhere that you were on guard duty today and I figured I could drop by to say hi! It's been a while...but I mean, if you're busy, I'll keep it short. Nice to see you're still around." 

While it was genuine what Suzume said, she was doubtful that it would be a good enough cover up. If Kozachi didn't take it, she'd have no choice but to be persistent. It was an advantage that someone she was aquatinted with had been the one to stop her. She couldn't have pulled this off if it was a stranger. Although, it was dissapointing to see that the other girl supported what the walls held in. On the other hand, Suzume had no idea what the walls were protecting from. Maybe it was rediculous for her to go through all this...however, she wanted to see for herself. Daydreaming wasn't cutting it for her anymore. 

Out of nowhere a stranger appeared among them. With a confused expression, she leaned away from them and took a step back. It was probably better to get distance from Kozachi as well, considering the shuriken she readied. Now, it wasn't often Konoha received random visitors. Suzume sneered her eyes at the stranger, "What are you doing here?" If she was lucky, this would convince Kozachi that she had no devious intentions.

[Wc: 514]

Kozachi wasn't about to have any of this bullshit. It was easy to tell that Suzume was lying, of course. The main problem was the strange-looking shinobi that had appeared on the scene. She could, of course, see their chakra levels, but more importantly, she could see that the stranger before her had a certain color of chakra different from everybody else. You see, if the sharingan can use the colors of chakra to discern between natures and even different people, then it's only common sense that it could match two masses of chakra and tell that they were NOT from different people. It was as a result, therefore, that Kozachi could see the other mass of chakra matching that of the stranger before her a few meters away, under the shadow of some trees.

She had noticed this while the male was speaking, and her eyes narrowed. The priority of apprehending Suzume was now lower on her list by a fair bit. Safety had to come first.

"Suzume, get your ass back in the village, stat. And YOU", she said turning to the male in front of her, "what've you got over there?" She would indicate the matching mass of chakra by pointing with index finger on the hand that wasn't holding the shuriken. Kozachi had surmised by this point that one of them had to be a shadow clone, most likely the one standing right there before her. However, since the chakra seemed to be somewhat evenly distributed between the two, she didn't know which. There was also the possibility that neither was a clone, and that the mass of chakra in the shade of the trees was some kind of dormant jutsu that this guy could use to blow a hole in the village wall, or some such malicious trick. In other words, she didn't trust him for shit, especially because he wasn't wearing a headband.

She knew that for some people, this could be an attack on sight. However, not every headbandless shinobi was a criminal to Konoha, and she'd heard of much more powerful and.... less-than-moral missing nin being accepted into the village in the past. Her reaction, of course, would depend on what the man did. If he was overwhelmingly powerful, she might have to call for backup, if she was able to. It was unfortunate that the mess that had been manageable only a few seconds ago was now spilling out of her control.

[TWC 837
-5 AP
190 remaining]

"No," Suzume refused. "If this guy tries anything then no one will be around to report it." She kept in her place, arms crossed but wasn't as hostile as Kozachi. Although the stranger gave an odd explanation to his unnanounced visit, since he hasn't started any trouble Suzume wasn't about to make any deal of it. Even though her intentions were to leave just now, she hadn't already, and given the situation at hand she wasn't about to let it up. So, the girl would act as a Konoha shinobi would. 

Maybe she would have also questioned the random shinobi, but that was Kozachi's job. Suzume figured doing so might tick Kozachi even further since she already disobeyed her orders while on shift. Instead, she kept her distance, staying observant of the situation. She wished no harm on Kozachi at the moment, if anything was dissapointed that she'd have to get past her to get out of Konoha, but trying such a stunt would be more difficult if she didn't figure it out now. The stranger claimed no ill intent, but just in case the girl would stay on stand by.

If they kept at a stand still seemingly frozen in time, Suzume would perform hiding like a mole and slip out of the scene, and out of the village. 

[-20 AP and EXIT]

However, if someone stirred even a little, the girl would continue to stay put.

The man seemed to be implying that while his clan was from this village, he was not. Interesting. He didn't seem to be lying, at least from what she could tell. The sharingan could read minute muscle movements and facial features, so it gave her somewhat of an advantage when it came to this kind of thing. Still, the best of liars could obviously fake even past her eyes. One thing they did tell her, though, was that his chakra signature was quite bright. Greater, in fact, than even hers. And Suzume wanted to fuck around with people like THIS who could generate both a shadow clone and a cloaking field at the same time? Yeah, no.

"Nara clan, huh? What's your village of origin?" Standard procedure, of course. Konoha had made alliances in the past, but just because they had become a Kirigakure territory, that didn't mean those alliances were entirely nullified. No such policy had been passed, anyway. She sent a terrifying scowl as Suzume's way, implying that she should stay put. Kozachi would have to explain the whole situation with Satoru's chakra later. Nevertheless, the other girl's flippant attitude towards this whole thing was pissing her off, but she had some semblance of a point. To this end, Kozachi would send out a telepathic "stand-by for unknown at the gates" with Satoru's name and appearance, along with the capabilities she'd seen him use. It was less of an alarm and more of a regular report. Since Suzume was both a Konoha ninja (for now) and within the radar's (infinite) range, she would also get the notification, which would hopefully put her mind at ease. At a single thought of alarm from either of them, they'd most likely receive some form of higher rank backup, though Kozachi felt that in this situation, that wasn't necessary.

[TWC 1144
will count AP if things get gnarly, but here's hoping they don't]

"Sunagakure." simple answer from a simple man, no pizzazz to make his words more delectable to the ear as he usually does. Very few know this, but simple language is a sign that Satoru has nothing up his sleeves and has no motives outside of answering the question posed to him and doing what he came to do.

It occurs to Satoru that he might answer by telling her that he is more of a rogue than a villager. Hoshigakure had branded him a traitor and fugitive, so the Nara cannot truthfully state that he is a member of that village. However, as far as Satoru knows, he is still on track to follow Valen Akari to Sunagakure. The Nara does not consider it a lie to say that he is a member of that village.

(137/736)