to greater ventures

The boat carrying zaled, and the older fisherman stopped at a quiet port where several fisherman, and carpenters were relaxing over the evening wares of food and entertainment. The duo hopped out with zaled glumly looking at the bottle. He wondered  if the inland mainland choices of drinks have improved. Seeing as it was time off for him.

yesh. you would think an island nation funded would've improved somewhat in their ability to trade with unknown entities? or otherwise the exotic stuff would make use of their resources. What would a smokey drink taste like? perhaps like well smoked ham, or turkey? perhaps chicken? hm perhaps this will be difficult to find out.  

the man thought as he gazed back towards where the village was, but shrugged. This was simply what adventure was correct? freedom to discover unbound. Besides he only wanted this to simply back away into the shadows of the world a bit and put his hand on its pulse. The attacks in the past rubbed him wrong and so  best to do his own resasearch.

mm cant stop crazy kids.

zaled thought to himself as he waved to the capitan to hurry in their preparations.

several moments later the captain arrived hosting maps of various kinds. One he recognized as the above northern areas of hoshi, where small ports were avaliable.

another an land of fertility and assuming care rich. by its own standards it may have been best to land survey it fully. making it easier to set up camp, and quietly watch events unfold in the workd. A land he suspected few to have traveled, probably due to similarly to volcano this land had little connection of relevance.

zaled glanced the map over momentarily and for it's worth  it payed off. most would seek confrontation, and peace lastly. unless well they were unlucky and blind to the harsh nature of other people.

"hm what do you know of this land old timer?"

zaled asked with an bit of curiosity filling him slightly. it looked perfect to travel, and otherwise lay low in. The old  man now taking to his pipe glanced over the map and grinned slightly.

"sum of em crits are full of large teeth, nd others full of murky holes yea. they be grimy, but good fr food i heard. years ago corse"

the man  nodded and thought for a moment.

"frogs be good filling tho."

zaled looked a bit skeptical as he wondered how if at all frogs would be appetizing, but he has had snails so it wasn't so far off. The man tapped the map as his charted course to head off to, while the old man took another puff of his pipe considering the place.

"ait there wuld be thar best place fr the ship, and others. sounds gud?"

the man stated, as with little concern zaled nodded. the map was his only true guide for the unknown area.

Within the capsule where she was pulled from, Yuri had to deal with the changing orientation of the capsule as it went from being able to lie on its metallic surface to sliding down. Her comrades were holding onto whatever they could to prevent being moved by the rotating capsule without stop in its motion; Signaling a clear change in their location as it meant that the 3 of them had reached the safety from being killed by the shifting of the land masses; Yuri simply pretended to hold onto something as her chakra practice prevents her from sliding down. She could feel the capsule moving upwards; albeit in a gradual ascend while majority its surface is also bracing itself against the water horizontally. Fortunately, most of her belongings were with her via dimensional means, aside from her current village headband due to the counter intuitive habit of bringing it physically with her daily but yet putting it aside to infiltrate into the criminal organization. She thought it would be paranoid to do it seeing that the village had no abnormal geological activity for very long, it turned out to be better saved than sorry, almost all of her hard earned possessions were almost intact.

It wasn’t a very sophisticated task nevertheless given her recent schedule prior to the current geological activity. One would need to be familiar with the concept of sealing which Yuri kind of learned along the way in her shinobi life; Simply put, it would have to be done with her chakra solely instead of relying on a purchased scroll. Her first thought would be the destination of these items as she hasn’t thought of their location since her practice always focused on expelling her chakra in junction with weapons. She hadn’t had that much time to visit the village archives but it proved to be sufficient.

Touch as one may and let the keepsake be allocated in reverse to one’s expulsion of his chakra flow, let them united and there will be sources to place them through discovery. Each to their own.

Yuri’s interpretation of this particular sentence allowed her to capture the meaning of achieving “space” that each and everyone might have overlooked in the course of their lives, laying her the intellectual foundation of space-time specialty. Yuri could felt the capsule rising steadily as though they were meant to be retrieved beforehand; It might imply that one of the either 2 might be a criminal figure in disguise; If that is true her cover might had been blown. She could hear both of them whining about their aching hands trying to keep them from the curved bottom of the capsule. As she closed onto the sea surface, she could feel a familiar chakra presence faintly and the hatch opened soon after with Yuri jumping her way out first, faking a scrambled fall.

You took a lady instead of a trusted man in these times ? One of the standing rescuer questioned with doubt as the emerging man from the capsule makes his way out carefully with the help of some men holding planks for him to make his way out. Everyone in the boat took a glance at Yuri but quickly turned back to looking at other 2 men. Yuri hadn't been to the organization's ship but had to act as though she had. Looking for any elevation that could get her an answer of where she turned out to be, Yuri promptly moved away confidently as there were noises between men behind her back about where their other buddies were. The chakra presence felt is still around as she moved upwards using any staircase she could see avoiding any closed doors to prevent alert from others, aside from some glances implying that Yuri boarded the ship for the first time. She was fortunate enough to get into open air after some walking.

Taking a look around her, there was an abnormal amount of ships moving away from the island. As for the island itself, it had lost her own face; Zaled must have struggled to contain whatever danger that is happening right now. As though that wasn't bad enough, Zaled was right in the middle of her vision as the ship closed by a port when she turned her back around, explaining the familiar chakra presence. She jumped off the ship from the side facing away from the port where everyone isn't looking silently, intending to swim some 100 meters to reach him; Walking on the sea waters would only make her look very suspicious to the ones on the boat.

Yuri needed some answers to what is going on.

several laughers errupted around the fire as merchants spoke of the wares, and zaled sighed and glanced back towards where the village was. it was as he suspected that the emergency procidures had been activated, despite it's quiet feel,the few that were merchants left providing support.

so once more a child decides to act like a child... can't they fight with purpose, especially using my clans eyes that is... shameful!

zaled thought as the boats sailed off and the men looked somber as they too took to the gravity of the older uchiha. Zaled did not turn to face them but spoke with a grave voice. A mix of nany emotions, but under the surface.It was to take the soft road.

"you would think someone would not meddle with peoples investments eh? but granted since the last threats folks did the wise move and moved folks to other lands, and set up house, and board merchants. I don't know. you would think that in having reason. That people would not try for greed, but i suppose in the hands of children bred as weapons, not the option of peace does not exist in their world... or their choices are a mirror of what they are taught."

zaled went silent as he stopped for a moment surveying the boats, knowing pretty much all of those he taught were safe and out of the frey were good in dissappearing, so he could rest assured that no deaths were on mind. The only guilt was the seemingly way to prevent consistent attacks, a man could not care to fight endlessly especially if it was meaningless.

"Your wares and the contacts I'm sure each of you will do well to keep, and spread among the further nations, The infrastructures I know are intact due to design, and in time we will simply extrovate the lost wares with outside assistance, but otherwise,the fact lightning strikes twice is high, and at most this is a trading hub. I'll stop by time to time, but in it i shall take my ventures elsewhere to study those lands. like i did here."

the merchants all quietly murmrred a bit and spoke up one by one.

"but why not stop a single war, or person"

it was a younger boy among the masses and the men, and women shook their head silently.

zaled glanced at the scource of sound and noted the boy, prolly in young teens of 13-14. And thought of his words.

"it is a question that awnsers itself young man. you cannot change the heart of other, only offer a suggestion and they choose. You cannot stop war, because to stop it is to stop disease and famine. There will always be one full stomach, and in exchange 15 starved people per bite.There will always be 1 healthy body, and 15 people dying of disease. we cannot both eliminate the possibility of selfishness, and expect another to be selfless. We can only choose our reactions, and to a degree impact our fights by choosing our encounters."

zaled said and sighed.

"let's say you go for vengeance, there is prolly another boy like you, younger, older, or simply believing they are righteous in retaliating back. But were you not wronged in the first place? did they bot ruin your home, maybe everyone should pay back. But in exchange you simply gave them an eternal reason to attack you, and everything you represent for as long as you live, and sometimes beyond that. It means you must think beyond yourself, your home, and even land. it is why you choose how you respond, with accuracy and purpose."

zaled said softly. it was not easy to a young person. perhaps radical to them. For even if ne were to obliterate a village humans survive, and vengence only burns brighter even if peace is called it is temporary.

"no matter what you plot you die eventually and even if the greatest warrior, your children's children, and so on take the blunt of the rippling effects that come after your actions. if peaceful they live by peace, if violent then lineage lives ever in danger. What do you say then when you are gone years later. people adapt, and evolve, but so will their methods of vengeance, and likewise if unknown to the perpetrator the cycle gets a new layer, a new face, but sings the same old song."

even the merchants seemed a little lost on his words, but it was simply no different then if people kept bitting hands. why keep building scars. It was then where zaled spotted a figure in the water making their way towards the land.

"seems someone went overboard, lets assist them. rope, and planks folks for people overboard in ships!"

he called out as people scrambled to get row boats ready and the supplies to help people that in panic fell over ships. Zaled himself simply used surface walking and travel towards the individual swimming his puppet and objects still on him as he approached at max speed towards them and stopped 5 meters from them. recognizing them as yuri.

"red? stand on up no need to waste energy swimming"

As she makes her through to Zaled getting her head in and out of waters, her partners in crime a moment ago seems to notice her missing presence finally and started using their tools to get her back; Too late. People on the shore seems to have noticed and coming for help even though she had no need for their aid as It was meant to be a cover. She could hear some attempts to get her by hook ended by failure though the waves covered most of the sound available to her. Wondering if she would have to put this up until she reaches a boat coming from the port or the shore, her constant glancing in front and the feeling of the chakra presence confirmed that Zaled had noticed her as his size became bigger, not concealing the fact that he is a trained ninja; A good one at that however the state of the island. Irony must have played a part at some point in every leader’s lives. However, if Zaled chose to escape from the conflict at the mainland. It would mean that whatever Yuri had been doing recently amounted to nothing; She should have taken the raw gold ore!

Intel aside, looking at pickaxes frequently during this period gave her some thought on how she should craft in the following future. Holding the ones with their blade in crescent, it reminded Yuri the striking force used was catered for the head of the pickaxe in order to preserve the head’s health; Her future creations will have that in mind even though imagination might be a restriction. Seeing as Zaled could still recognize her and not bothered to cover his identity up front, Yuri’s right hand became the starting point for her to pick herself up on the water just as though she is on the ground; The men on the passing ship still looking though by now they were too far to do anything.

Now that he was close up front to Yuri with her standing up as well, Yuri took a moment to gather herself and asked promptly. Here in the midst of a crisis? What is your idea? Where are the others? Yuri didn’t think that she is missing anyone else aside from his presence.

amidst a crisis indeed. But her questions only forced the older man to shake his head as he gestured her to follow him as he spoke.

"I thought many times i was prepared when i would encounter a similar mess of single induvidual just acting on whim, and no thought. But it seems there were other plans. you can only defend so much till it all falls out of your control."

zaled admitted with a sigh and frowned. but as if with a bitter redemption he added.

"We must say that at least everyone evacuated. Families are safe, and sound, but the village as a whole cannot be saved by me alone, or really anyone."

zaled shook his head as he glanced over the girl for a moment making sure she was unharmed at least. That was the least he could do.Forts were lost, but not wars in his experience, as were land, and ground lost, but never all lives. Defeat and loss was disheartening, but a pill to swallow regardless. it was a teacher of repeated mistakes and was brutal. but he welcomed it like an old friend willingly this time.

"So we expand, and let these fine people go their way, and we go ours. Me I'm looking at a new land as we speak among the elderly fishermen. nothing short of irony with dealing with the threat of other shinobi, but it seems they are only interested in destruction of buildings."

zaled laughed as he waved his hand back towards the village.

"It can be rebuilt elsewhere. so a bit pointless if you ask me on why someone did this. But now it is important to move forward red., and not make it look like the past was something to fret over,learn from here even if small, and improve upon it. better then before."

Along with his gesture, Yuri followed Zaled to continue from where he left off. It would seem that her intended plan had to be buried at the moment to be deployed somewhere else; Survival comes back to priority again though under a different circumstance this time round. Her hair had been a mess all this round and she finally had a chance to look proper again as she brushed hair back to look proper in front of the others.

With the implied casualty, Yuri would think take that as another episode of loss; some spirited ladies and their affiliates was nowhere to be seen and would probably settled as a part of history henceforth and some others she met in Kazangakure as well. Everyone had a part to play for it to go out of control, maybe she should had bothered Zaled more while she still had the chance but it seems that Zaled opted for starting afresh elsewhere; Most of her friends moved on to a better place anyway so it wouldn't be a worry.

I guess the severance package didn’t find its way to me again. How goes your expansion plan then? I’m sure you gonna leave some baggage for good. The last sacking of her village occurred while she was abroad; This would be the first time she escaped from one. Some sadness and lost followed. Yuri took it less bitterly than the previous loss though mainland had a good geographical advantage from a defensive point of view, it is indeed a pity to give it up but a new chapter begins nevertheless. Seeing as Zaled giving his goodbyes to the Kazangakure, Yuri would conclude that there was no real way she could have withstood the offensive alone anyways.

her question made him smile a bit, but it was with a bit of amusement. It didn't help that where things fell perhaps was on his willingness to be lenient, and perhaps only address critical concerns, but what house of cards did not fall on try one. The response was simple.

"there are many unexplored or under established places with bigrands, and theives a plenty yuri. Seeing as i prefer some semblance of order besides a blind take on people choosing sides, my stance on open options for safety, and growth is the same. But it seems a village does paint a target. to both the theivery and the blind to reason. For what reasons? i have never figured out."

zaleds words were soft as he lead the way to the merchants ship he was on and waved to each of them to supply assistance to thoes other ships. but the idea was fresh as he gazed at each of the ships.

"perhaps a merchant republic of sorts that ties liasion between both the underworld, and the normal nations. It would keep people from blindly attacking an establishment at least you would think. but well you cannot supress pride and greed universally i suppose."

Zaled's next course of action is.... kind of to be expected by Yuri; She could understand why idleness led to events as such, better to take it to their own hands if it was possible. However, Yuri’s time with Zaled before the destruction had a reason to be limited even its a bad one at it. She couldn't ask the Abysswalker for the fact that his exchange would make her pay dearly and she did not give it a thought if Zaled would do the same. Perhaps she can try this time round now that she have some time on the merchant ship watching the island painted with a new face just as the word of an establishment spreads miles and miles away.

Yuri is no stranger to strange lands as a stranger to noble lands had been a part of her. She looked at the workers shifting whatever that is needed and agreed between each corresponding ships as they are also moving on their next destination, these people are probably headed to the other known havens to thrive again with both of them a small part of the story to close their book. Any idea where are we headed? Assuming Zaled had been getting comfortable with the ones commanding the ships now while Yuri was.....never mind as dwelling on it only creates irrational anger within. She switched her mind away from that topic.

While Zaled spoke as though he seen a lot; Yuri seems to have fit in to a part of something he hasn't witnessed at the moment. They were around you all along, even now. I guess you just chose to ignore their desire. Yuri turn to look at some of the workers moving food supplies. Those of your plane that would get complacent of. Eventually, even Yuri herself will move up in the unseen ladder; For she had not been moving just as she stood on the ship while it does its thing.

yuris question was a simple smiling response from zaled and a small chuckle.

"oh we will see. some kind of swampy land i belive it is called."

Her remarks further on his lack of in depth looking and for simple reason noting the the slipping cracks in most people, but in hindsight he did not think anything of it. or perhaps chose to. his nature was whimsical despite being more cool and level headed. but it made him consider her words for a few seconds before replying. Did he simply desire to be blind? no, but he did not read minds, hearts, nor saw 3 generations of the future for every action a person would or would not do. Was he aware of such possibilities? defiantly not. but for his own sake he relaxed on the idea considering that it was not his fate to fully dictate every persons actions or justify a means to care if they wound up digging themselves a hole.

even though i left it to others to lead while i do my own stuff, its perhaps for the better that its like this. Nothing short of being another show that it was better when people did not run around and kept to a life of fighting for the kingdom. but well it is no different then poisoning a well. i try to stay out of a typical shinobi business, merely because people are fighting over really nothing, defend a village from unkawful and crude indirect measures? a fair cause. Stop mere theivery? also fair so long as oneself was clean, but i suppose i missed on the ulterior motives of others.

zaled thought as he nodded at yuris words and a soft relived smile came up.

"yeah it can get easy to miss things, but we are human despite the chakra we posess, or otherwise methods we try. We are imperfect, and make mistakes. I admit that, but does not mean it makes anything easier. you just get back up. learn and try again."

he spoke up with a level of open honesty. perhaps as a squire he wouldve sobbed. if he was a genin he would've sobbed. but he was beyond some semblance of sadness of mistakes he made, he just moved forward. the world did not stop so nor did he.

oh well. lerts see what the world has in store today.

At the moment Yuri heard 'swamp', his idea became the next spark to her; A very fine place for runaways indeed. However, it would also risk dangers of being gobbled up in one's own den; A double edge sword. She would probably have the advantage of setting up the field first required that Zaled is not as lazy in his ....efforts like he was known to her as some form of a leader. Each land she travelled to, is never the same and with the accumulated knowledge over the lands travelled, innovative workings await. But at some point of time the problem seems to go back to Zaled again, hopefully she would not need to be backed using the scale of a village.

I hope i wouldn't need another enemy to cool down again. Yuri would hope that this would be the baseline; She would have to live up to it somehow. I was nearly missed as well.

This would be the fourth addition to her experiences albeit a limited one compared to the previous. But still, she wanted to know more about the next land, somewhere which communication is mighty short in supply when things needed to get done. Then what will the so-called swampy land have in store for us?