Looking towards the future

After commandeering a fishing boat back from his Kazan expedition, the Mizukage was less than pleased with the events that had transpired over there. As he sailed to the gates of the village, he folded his arms as he was accompanied by two fisherman in the small cramped boat. His armor didn't make the trip any more comfortable as it took mup more space on the boat than he would have liked. Still, at least he got back at all seeing as his own ship was destroyed in that large explosion of a miasma the former kazekage had released. He would not forget this but for now he'd come back, rest and relay the situation to his bodyguard and close friend Keita and decide on what they should do from there. He did admittedly feel somewhat nervous he had to tell him the truth about how he snuck away to lay waste to another land without taking him as added protection, just for him to be ambushed by another shinobi but he would take a deep breath. As quickly as he inhaled and exhaled was mirrored by how quickly his worry disappeared. Eventually, he made it to the shores of Kirigakure, not using a traditional dock but opening a tunnel through the storm so they could sail safely through.

The confused fisherman didn't say a word but he could feel them staring at him quizzically as he stepped off of the boat. Letting out an irritated sigh, the Mizukage had fished out from a compartment in his armor some a large sum of Ryo in the form of two bags, tossing them at the men. He turned his head towards them slowly and in a threatening manner, he spoke. "You never saw me today, don't tell anybody or I will have my finest Hunter shinobi find you, I'll remember your faces." With that, the Mizukage had left and began his walk towards the village gates. He was exhausted, with more than half of his chakra reserves gone, he would have preferred to get some rest as soon as possible but for now his only concern was to make it back to the gates. It took him half an hour or so to get to the entrance as he saw some of his stationed guards there. of course, the most competent one at combat was busy sleeping in his personal booth. This made the Mizukage scoff but he wasn't in the mood to deal with him at the moment. Instead, he was approached by some other gate guards that seem to have noticed who he was immediately upon his arrival.

They attempted to try and escort him to his chambers to which he declined and told one of them to send for his bodyguard, Keita. He had a lot to discuss with him and didn't feel like wasting anymore time. After he sent one of the gate guards to fetch Keita, he sent another one to prepare another ship for him. He figured if he couldn't get what he wanted initially from his trip to Suna, he'd go and search elsewhere for the prizes he sought. The battle in Kazan wasn't without cost however, as he noticed the more he used the power of the eyes, the weaker their sight had gotten. Things haven't been all too clear for him at random times but other than that, his vision was mostly fine. For now, he would wait for the things he sent the gate guards to go and fetch. For now, he'd just try to recuperate as best as he could.

W.C: 600

Keita was taking care of some random paperwork that was placed in front of his office desk when he was working, as his jounin status was sometimes relegated to paperwork, which was especially now that the Mizukage was out and about doing whatever he was doing at the moment, so Keita was mostly concentrating on the papers in front of him. Keita was very diligent in his duties, so there were no errors, as he meticulously combed through the paperwork, suddenly a guard entered the office room that he was in with some panting, which was a bit strange, but Keita kindly and calmly asked them what was the matter. The guards had said that the Mizukage had returned, and that Keita was requested to go and meet him at the gates. Keita thought this seemed fairly urgent, as why had Kizmaru not simply walk through the gates and call for him when he was in his office, so he decided to go quite quickly out of the office and head towards the gates. Keita did not have time to admire the scenery, which was quite breathtaking when viewing the buildings that would rapidly pass him by with the slight rain that was falling adding to the atmospheric view that made the village quite scenic. Keita rapidly dashed on top of the buildings heading towards the gates, and considering he was always wearing his armor, he was ready for anything. 

It seemed that he was in a bit of a rush for little to no reason, as he approached the gates, there seemed to be nothing wrong going on, and he could see Kizmaru's figure in his armor from quite a ways away, so he slowed a bit. Knowing that he probably did not need to sprint over here made him want to be a little more proper when greeting his kage, so he slowed his pace and got a bit of his breath back so that he looked perfectly fine when he landed on the ground near the gate guards, before casually walking towards Kizmaru while giving him a light bow. "Welcome back, Lord Mizukage." Keita would say with a smile, greeting his long time friend and leader with only a slight casualness, as he was usually very proper when portraying official etiquette. Keita then went on to ask the Mizukage why he had wanted him there specifically, as it would be plenty easy to simply walk into the village and head up to his office before having Keita summoned to him. 

"So, Lord Mizukage, may I ask why you called for me out here instead of inside the village?" Keita questioned, and was getting ready to answer the Mizukage should he ask about the general affairs around the village, such as Murata escorting some genin to the Haven Country to participate in the chuunin exams, but he was really unsure as to what his old buddy was going to ask him, and why it needed to be out here. Perhaps it was some sort of important information that was time sensitive, but Keita attempted to quiet his mind so that these random thoughts that he was having would not distract him from what was currently happening, as sometimes he would space out when running through a bunch of different scenarios in his head. This would not stop him from being infinitely curious, however, as that nature of him would always be the dominant one.
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WC: 576

Catching his breath, Kizmaru waited patiently for the things he had requested to get done. Catching his breath, he was feeling some slight pain from his battle but nothing he couldn't walk off with a couple hours of rest or some basic medical treatment. While he rested on his feet, his bodyguard and friend Keita had appeared at the gates just as he requested which made him feel better already. When he was greeted by Keita, he responded with a greeting of his own but kept it as official as possible because their were people standing around. He figured it was best to keep their relationship private as it might cause an uproar if people knew they were friends outside of their Bodyguard-VIP relation. "Greetings Keita, how've you been?  Sorry to call you all the way out here instead of just coming to visit you but it seems there's some pressing matters that need to be tended too and I might have made a mistake that almost cost me my life. The reason why I've summoned you here was because I've had several things I wanted to talk to you about as well as various places that I may or may not need to travel too."

"There was a time where Kirigakure was attacked by two Kazan shinobi almost a year ago and recently, I've snuck out in order to bring retribution to them. On my way there, I met an individual that seemed harmless enough. I was right of course, but I had doubted myself as I was attacked from an unknown position. At first, I thought it was the strangers exiting the village but the big surprise was the former Kazekage, Kenshin Uzumaki, the ragged man or whatever his self-proclaimed title was. He appeared out of thin air, we fought for a little while but he was using some sort of high ranking concealment technique that even shielded him from my Sharingan and Ram's vibration senses. It was quite odd. After a while of what seems like endless exchanges, he decided to release some destructive, black miasma that indiscriminately destroyed the area which sent me to the bottom of the ocean. I decided to use the oxygen seal you placed on my body in order to build up some nature chakra. Apparently he might have entered stealth again and disappeared after I had gathered some Nature chakra at the bottom of the ocean for when I came back to the surface, he was gone." 

"So instead, I just finished my task of flooding the island with my water techniques and leaving the island. It seems they had planned to catch me while I was most vulnerable but if that was all he could bring to the table, I hardly believed he defeated my predecessor in a fair fight. Now then, since Suna has openly tried to get rid of me, I guess I should prepare to respond in kind. For now, I figured it would be best to inform you of his fighting style, patterns and habits. Hm, maybe I should restart the story from the beginning and tell you all that I know about the encounter." After Kizmaru had told Keita the short story, he had restarted it from the beginning in excruciating detail as well as the things he picked up on such as habits, techniques, potential natures he recognized, ones that he didn't and fighting style. After all, if he was prepared to go to war, so be it. For now, he'd have to go elsewhere in order to find things to stock up on. After he was done, informing Keita about the things he had experienced, he decided to inquire about some choice places to visit in order to amass the power and the knowledge he sought out. 

"Since Suna is no longer an option to visit in order to procure assets, I have the two other nations in mind. I would like to visit either Hoshigakure since the chuunin exams are starting or have already started. Since its a big tourist attraction currently, it wouldn't be odd for us to go in under the guise of spectators. The Hogokage was strangely polite in the summit but I can't help but feel there was hidden animosity in his words. Still, it's not like I'm going there in order to meet him, just to see if there's people there to barter and trade with. there should be a person or two that is willing to trade with us. The next idea I had in mind was Kumogakure. It turns out they have a library that is regarded as equal to our own grand academy library and offer very selective forms of knowledge rather than just outright teaching techniques. I would like to study there a little bit in order to pick up some knowledge to better myself. The reason why I've called you here is because you'll accompany me at all times, no more going off on my own now that it's clear that I have enemies elsewhere. So you too will come with me on my endeavors."

W.C: 853

As Keita was wondering what was so important, it seemed like his friend the Mizukage was going to get straight to the point, as only a few moments after Kizmaru had greeted Keita, the former immediately started to explain what had happened during his trip to the Volcano village, or rather, the area that was previously the volcano village, as Kizmaru was describing a scene where he was attacked by the former Kazekage. Keita wondered if there was something tracking Kizmaru's whereabouts, as it was not quite possible for the Kazekage to know where the Mizukage was, especially because no one knew where his destination was, so there was no way that the information leaked. Keita had some thoughts about it, especially when Kizmaru got to the part that described some sort of advanced concealment technique, as the area of expertise sensory brought could hide you from all sorts of perceptions, as well as find others. He figured that the former Kazekage somehow 'remembered' Kizmaru's chakra signature as a powerful sensory ninja and used that to track where he was going to be and cut him off, as this was the only explanation that made sense to Keita. He was still going to go and do the rounds in the village to make sure that the information was not somehow leaked, but this would be for another time, and if the kage actually gave Keita the permission. 

Kizmaru then started to talk about how the former kazekage had unleashed an incredibly destructive miasma that plummeted the land they were on into the sea, and he was glad that the oxygen bottle seal was used to good effect by his friend, but Keita was far too engrossed in the story to think about what he wanted to do about this. It seemed like eventually they would need to pay the sand village a visit and get to the bottom of why they thought they could jsut assassinate the mist village's leader after a disagreement in how the leaf village subjugation was handled, or rather not handled, by their poor efforts. Keita rolled his eyes in his head at the notion of that man being any sort of impartial negotiator that he was made out to be and presented himself as at the kage summit that happened a bit ago. Keita knew there was something wrong with him the moment he started speaking, but there was never a good chance to inform Kizmaru, and even if he did, his kage would have most likely known as well, as he had quite acute senses when it came to the character of people, and whether or not they were going to stab you in the back with a pretty face. 

Kizmaru then kept speaking, recalling the matter of how the opponent he was fighting suddenly vanished when Kizmaru had got back to the surface of the ocean, and this was obviously a ploy by the person to run. It seemed like the person could not defeat Kizmaru in a one on one fair fight, and so he simply left with his superior sensory technique before Kizmaru saw which direction he fled. This would be problematic indeed, as that powerful of a sensory technique would need to be studied, or at least have the research and development division of the village start drafting up counter measures, but without anyone that could use the same technique, there was not really a frame of reference. He needed to make sure that there was actually no one in the village that had such a technique, as if there were, it would be fairly easy to come up with some sort of countermeasure, especially with their assistance. Keita was a bit quiet during the whole explanation, as not only was he being respectful to his kage by not attempting to interrupt him, but he was also in deep thought about certain details that he was explaining, and so he did not have time or brain power to interject, and simply listened, trying to digest all of the information.

The initial story was now over, and so Kizmaru had ended the first story with how he flooded the entire village, essentially wiping that land mass off of the map, which was an impressive feat, even if there were no one there defending the village. Not everyone could say they had destroyed an entire village, and this was a feat to be remembered for a long time, although he was unsure how far the information would spread. It would be obvious that the attacker or would be assassin could put two and two together and see that Kizmaru was the one that destroyed the village, even if he had fled before the event actually happened, but he was unsure about whether or not the would be assassin would spread the information out, and whether or not it would be used in a smear campaign against Kiri, although it was pretty obvious by now that any such attempts would be useless, as Kiri would not bend nor break under any the pressure of the other villages, no matter the amount that they thought would cause the back to break. Kiri would stand tall against this smear marketing campaign, as it would be fairly simple if the people of the other villages actually wanted the leaf village free, they could simply discuss terms and offer compensation, but it was obvious they would not do that. 

Kiz waited for Keita to digest the information from the story that was just told, and so Keita decided to finally speak. "Well Kiz, I'm glad you're safe, I believed that you would be, but it is still very disconcerting that the old Kazekage would attempt an assassination. It seems like we might need to pay them a visit." Keita said off handedly, but it was still fairly sinister coming from someone as kind and calm as Keita was. The comment seemed so casual that others that did not know him might have thought that he was joking about the matter, but Kizmaru knew him well enough to know that he was completely serious, and that there might be a few people in Suna murdered in the coming months by chain strangulation. After speaking up a bit, Kizmaru said that he would have to go over exactly what happened in excruciating detail, as there might have been something that he had missed or was not thinking of, especially since this happened recently, there was probably not enough time to digest and contemplate things such as the person's extensive habits and their abilities. Knowing Kizmaru, however, they both probably threw some of their more serious techniques at each other, so there was a good chance that the man's strategy could be analyzed further. 

Keita listened to the entire story, and it seemed that this man was adept at using techniques that would corrode and destroy, absorb and decay. This seemed similar to Keita's current strategy, which was to whittle down people until they were no longer capable of fighting, but the other person's style seemed far more sinister. Kizmaru described how he had fought back, and that there was a heavy amount of chakra in the air from the amount that they had used and threw at each other, which made it seem like the sage mode and whatever transformation the would be assassin used were the bread and butter of how they were attacking each other, and so this would be something to take into consideration later  when devising a strategy. Keita listened to the much longer version of the story, nodding and offering a bit of insight every now and then, asking a couple of questions, like if Kizmaru could feel him using natural energy like he did or if it was something else, and soon he had the entire picture in his head about what had happened, at least from Kizmaru's perspective.

After discussing for a small amount of time after the story was finished, Kizmaru then started to speak about their current plans, and Keita wondered exactly where they should go as well, and if they were going to head out right this moment. Although he was ready, he had plenty of things in his storage scrolls to last him an extended trip, he was still wondering about how they would report this to the other members of the village, and it seemed like they would just relegate it to the guards. Kizmaru outlined a plan that included going to a couple of different villages, Hoshigakure to start, so that they could find someone willing to trade in a few assets. Keita had a hunch about what those assets were, but he was uninterested, especially because he had learned that his blood type was exceedingly pure, and so any outside mutations implanted in him would fail automatically. He greatly agreed about going to the grand library in Kumogakure. "Ahh, a library with a large amount of knowledge, this sounds fantastic, but I believe we should go to Hoshi first, as that seems like a time sensitive situation, as we could very easily go with your plan to head there incognito." Keita was quite excited at the prospect of a grand library similar or better than their own academy. 

A scholar's place should be in a library, and he also decided that he was going to ask Kizmaru if he could take over as the curator of the grand academy's information department, so he could start collecting the ancient and forbidden knowledge across the world as well, so that Kirigakure could boast a large amount of information. He did not like that they did not lead in terms of science and technology, when the answers were all there for people to grasp onto. Kizmaru then said that Keita would be sticking closely by his side, to which Keita did a light nod and a small smile, as he was happy to go around and explore with his friend, especially because he had only been to one country outside of Kirigakure, which was the sand village. He was always cooped up in the village, but this was by his own intentions, so he was greatly intrigued at the idea of traveling around the world a bit to go and get some knowledge and some trading done with other people in the world. Keita thought for a moment, and decided that he wanted to take this opportunity to ask when they would be leaving the village, as well as how long they had planned to be gone, as this might effect the village in a slightly negative way if they did not return shortly after the chuunin exams had concluded. 

He wanted to see the looks on the faces of the genin that came back either triumphant or defeated, and hoped that they would have zeal and determination to better themselves once they had experienced some competition with the other genin from other parts of the world. This would temper them whether they won or lost, but he would make sure to scold those that thought that they were too big for their britches, as the saying went, as hubris was the easiest way for a shinobi to die, especially because it seemed that Kiri was becoming some sort of enemy to the rest of the ninja world. Keita contemplated this a moment before asking the questions that he had thought of a moment before. "So Kizmaru, when are we leaving for the other villages? You've already heard my piece about which village I think is best, but I would also like to ask when we will be returning. I think that being back close to the ending of the chuunin exams, either before or after, would leave the village less stressed and chaotic overall, what do you think?" Keita finished it there, as he had a tendency to get a little long winded in his explanations and questions, so he caught himself and waited for a response.
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WC: 2010

After he had finished his explanation, he had paused a bit to catch his breath in order to listen to the advice that would be given to him by his buddy. He needed to make absolutely sure what he was about to do next was the right course of action. Seeking counsel from his bodyguard, he made the correct assumption by doing so as Keita's words made him feel like he was on the right path. It seems like it took Keita a moment to take in all the information he was just given, which was fine considering all the information he had just revealed all at once. The destruction of a nation and the assassination plot of the Mizukage were probably too much to take in all at once. After a while, Keita expressed his relief at him returning mostly unharmed. He was feeling a bit of pain but not much to worry about since it didn't hinder him too much. Instead he would continue to listen to Keita's words as he processed the information given to him. It was up to him to decide what kind of route he should take in achieving their goals. He wanted to know which course of action they should take first.

According to Keita, he believed they should head to Hoshigakure first since it was a time sensitive event taking place over there and would either be harder to get into or the people visiting that might be worth talking too would have passed through already. He could honestly say, he agrees with Keita's judgement on this one. It was best for them to go to the more time sensitive place first. Nodding in agreement with Keita's suggestion, he wasted no time in looking towards the dock to see if the gate guard he had sent on that errand had finished yet. As far as he could tell, there was nothing indicating the gate shinobi was coming back for the time being. Giving an aggravated sigh, he wondered if he would have been better off going to the dock himself in order to see what's going on. Deciding to wait a couple more moments, he decided to answer Keita's last pending questions. "Well, I'd prefer to leave for the other villages as soon as possible if we can unless you have prior obligations here first. I've already sent one of the gate guards to prepare a ship for us to travel immediately. If our enemies have already made their move, so should we."

"As for how long this little adventure of ours will take, I'm uncertain. Could be weeks, maybe even months but one thing to say for sure is, it'll be a long time before we return here. Hopefully, the village will fair well without us for a couple of months. If not, it probably wasn't worth the effort of building up. Maybe I should hold more mandatory training drills for the shinobi for occasions like that. Either way, I think it's best if we go to Hoshi first with time not being on our side. I've sent somebody to fetch us a ship that we could use while we travelled there. I would have gotten a smaller, faster boat but after that encounter, I think its best for me to rest and tend to the small wounds I have from enduring one technique in particular. But, let's make our way to the docks instead to see what the hold up is." Kizmaru was feeling a bit testy but who could blame him after what he had gone through recently. Making his way to the docks, he quickly scanned the area on foot, until he found the gate guard he'd sent prior to his conversation with Keita arguing with what seems like a shipwright. 

Walking over towards them, Kizmaru wanted to see what was going on with the two of them. As soon as he approached, the gate shinobi had noticed his presence first and began to explain. "I'm sorry Lord Mizukage but it seems this person isn't too willing to cooperate. He's asking about what happened to the last large ship he'd sent with you. I told him I didn't know nor did it matter but he's not complying. What shall we do?" Kizmaru shifted his eyes away from the gate shinobi briefly before telling him he'd handle it and walked over to the shipwright who also happens to be the business owner of the docks. A stern looking, hairy man with his arms folded was standing not too far from his position as Kizmaru walked over to greet him. They didn't have much of an exchange as the man basically asked Kizmaru what happened to the previous ship he had borrowed to which Kizmaru had to respond that it was taken out by a large range nuclear explosion by an enemy attack. He couldn't exactly tell him the whole truth as he didn't want to start a panic in his nation but what said wasn't a complete lie either. 

The shipwright just shot Kizmaru a quizzical look before sighing and relenting, telling Kizmaru that he owes him a lot of money for destroying such a fine ship. The Mizukage had sheepishly chuckled before nodding his head, watching the shipwright walk away with some discontent. Now that the matter was temporarily settled, he turned back to the shinobi to dismiss him to which he had promptly bowed and disappeared. He then walked back towards Keitai in order to inform him that their ship would be coming around for them soon.

W.C: 930

Keita had said his piece about his particular opinions about where they should go and when they should return, and he was currently waiting for Kizmaru to think about it and make a final decision, as Keita had already told his friend that he would assist him in whatever endeavor or operation that he wanted to do, as Keita was very loyal. As he was thinking about the possible scenarios that Kizmaru would say, he was secretly hoping that Kizmaru wanted to go to the library first, as that was of course Keita's destination of choice, as knowledge would never take a back seat in his mind and his priorities, especially when this library had a large amount of renown. What Kizmaru actually said was something to the effect that he had agreed with Keita's assessment, saying that they should go to Hoshigakure first so that they could perhaps grab some extra trading while a large amount of people were there. Keita was silently disappointed that they were not going to go to the library first, but this was something that he was ready and prepared for, so it was not quite as serious as others might think it would be for him, if they knew in the first place. Keita then listened to the rest of the explanation, wondering if there was something wrong with Kizmaru, as this was the second time that he had a really long explanation and speech, almost as if he was monologuing to himself like some sort of fairy tail villain. 

Regardless, Keita simply silently listened for the first part of Kizmaru's sentence, as he was detailing out that they would be going to Hoshi first, and then swing by Kumo for the aforementioned library for some sort of knowledge, although Keita was unsure of what the knowledge would really be, but it had to be something worth the trip, as Keita had quite a bit of knowledge already, but something in a grand archive that would make the Mizukage want to travel to go and get it was something definitely worthy in Keita's eyes, as he had a lot of faith in Kizmaru's judgement of things. Kizmaru them mentioned that he had sent a guard to go and prepare a ship, which surprised Keita a bit, as he did not expect the departure date to be right at this moment, although he was ready and half expected this to happen, it was still sort of strange that it did. This was fine though, as Keita also listened to Kizmaru saying that he needed to recover from a couple of wounds that he had, and even though he made it seem like he was not quite in a lot of pain, this just meant that he was but he was putting on a tough front. Keita would make sure to heal him on the journey so that he would be in ship shape in case something happened over there that they needed to get violent to solve. Keita did not want Kizmaru to be in anything but his best shape when they had to attack someone else or defend themselves. 

Keita was thinking about it, and although he did not enjoy violence, it would still be great to see how well their team work had developed over the years, as they had not been teamed up against anyone for a long while, Keita remembered working together with Kizmaru to stop a thief near the warehouse district, but the thief ended up trying to kill Kizmaru, so he ended up having to die with his attempt. Keita was sort of excited to see if they could work together better now that each of them had trained quite a bit, each of them having powerful techniques and more refined battle strategies, as well as them being in sync for most things. Keita was confident that he could play the roll of support, which would make the enemies target him, so it would be fairly easy to catch them in their slip ups and suddenly turn into the main attacker, as seeming weaker than you really were was a simple and powerful tactic that other people did not really ever use, or at least Keita did not read or see anything of the contrary.

Kizmaru then started to talk about how they were going to head to the docks right then and there to see what was taking the guard he had sent there so long to procure him a ship. Keita simply nodded, and then started following Kizmaru towards the docks, thinking that this would be a fun and interesting trip, and maybe they could even get a little bit of excitement out of it, if something went wrong. Keita followed Kizmaru and started to chat along the way, as he had not quite seen his friend in quite a while. "Well, while you were gone, I had to take over quite a bit of paperwork, so now that we are both leaving, it seems some other unfortunate soul will need to pick up the proverbial mantle, as it were. Also while you were gone, here is a list of people who headed to Haven Country to participate in the Chuunin Exams." Keita finished the first bit while handing Kizmaru a detailed list, although only a single team had gone to the chuunin exams this time, he wanted Kizmaru to have the accurate paperwork about it. After that, it seemed like they had reached the docks, and he saw one of the guards from the gate standing next to a grizzled old man. 

The man was quite the hairy one, even for the rough and tumble people around here at the docks, and soon the guard rushed over to Kizmaru's side and started to explain that the fisherman did not want to cooperate with their trip. Keita wondered why, but then he remembered that Kiz left with a ship, obviously, but there was one less ship in the harbor when Keita glanced around. Keita stayed with the guards as Kizmaru went up and talked to the man, and so Keita did not quite hear their conversation, but he chuckled to himself, knowing full well that the boat probably was not going to be back any time soon, and reminded himself that he should definitely chastise his kage when he got the chance about it, even though it was most likely not his fault, it was still hilarious to think about him simply losing an entire ship. It seemed that Kizmaru had smoothed things over with the shipwright, even though the old man complained and said that he would owe the dock master a lot of money for the ship that was lost, but this was fine. Kiri had quite a bit of funds, especially from their current subjugation of the leaf village. 

Keita then waited for Kizmaru to come back to him, as it seemed that everything was ready for their departure. Keita checked the srolls that he had on his person, making sure that everything that should be there was present and accounted for, before turning to Kizmaru. "It seems like we are all set to head out, if you want to do that right now. It should be fun to go to Hoshi, I want to spectate our genin if we can, I think that would be fun. I love analyzing and critiquing battle strategies, if they're still doing one on one battles in the chuunin exams." Keita was obviously referring to the normal chunin exams, as the blood games that were held a number of years ago would not be very fun to spectate for those outside of Kiri's sphere of influence. It was a bit too hardcore for the people of the other villages, but it was why the Kirigakure ninja were so much tougher and willing to fight than the other villages. 
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WC: 1321

Earlier when they walked towards the dock, Keita had mentioned he had taken over the responsibility of paperwork, which made Kizmaru chuckle a bit. He figured Keita would be well suited to menial tasks like that simply because he loved having his nose down in a book or some papers or something. He was also informed that a group of young Kirigakure shinobi had left the village in order to participate in the chuunin exams hosted by Hoshigakure, handing him a list with names on it. Kizmaru simply blinked at this information as he looked over the list of names of the Kirigakure participants. "Ban Hozuki, Kita Hajime and Gonk Hoshigaki, eh," Kizmaru had said under his breath. There were quite a bit of other names but they didn't stand out as much as the three he mentioned. He then glanced over to see who the leader of this trio was, or at least he hoped to find somebody that could be designated as leader as he would have liked. There, he had seen the name 'Murata' which put his mind at ease since he'd remember the name from that walk in meeting a month or so back. 

She was one of the ones requesting to leave the village with some other volunteers to aid her in her endeavor. Maybe she had also decided to take some Genin along in order to take them to the exams to kill two birds with one stone. Well, he had already known about their scheduled departure beforehand so this wasn't a surprise. When he was done looking over the list, he handed it back to Keita. As he did so, the shipwright had returned in order to deliver the news of their ship being ready to go where they pleased. He was informed it wasn't as large as the one he travelled to Kazan but it'll travel faster than the large cruise ship. He also noted that maybe it'll be faster to evade whatever 'nuke' the old one was hit with. With that, he gave both Kizmaru and Keita directions to the ship before heading off. It seems the shipwright holds a small grudge that one of his ships was lost in some freak accident but Kizmaru couldn't blame him. Now that their ship was ready, it was time for them to get going. 

"Yeah, everything is in order now Keita. If possible, I'd like to be on our way as soon as possible in order to get the 'items' I'm looking for. It would also be nice to see how our shinobi fare against other up and coming shinobi of the world. it would be nice if they won the entire thing. It would also be nice to see what kind of strategies others are using and maybe learn from them. You never know what you might find useful. Well, let's be off then." Chuckling to himself, he began to follow the directions of the shipwright owner in order to make his way to the ship he was to use. Arriving at where the ship was docked, it was a lot smaller than the ocean cruise ships he's used to being on but it was still pretty luxurious for himself to enjoy. Ironically, he didn't like having a lot of luxury while on land but he loved how comfortable he is riding on an expensive looking ship. Boarding it, he immediately went to find some kind of recline lawn chair he could rest in. As he went to lay down, he had completely forgotten Ram was on his back the entire time as he jumped out of the way to avoid being crushed. 

"Sorry Ram," Kizmaru had said to his animal companion, as Ram balled its  appendage as close to a fist as possible and shook it threateningly in Kizmaru direction before waddling off to find something to eat. letting out a relaxing sigh, Kizmaru began to relax a bit as he turned onto his stomach. He realized it was impossible to lay down comfortably with the armor he was wearing but he didn't want to take it off at the moment since he always felt so unsafe without it on. The solution to this problem was for him to just use the transformation technique to change into his Jounin disguise and disguise his armor as a whole. Weaving the hand sign of dog, he changed his appearance into that of him wearing a Jounin attire. He could now lay in the reclining lawn chair properly although the weight of the armor still remained, not that it was a bother to him. He'd begin to relax a bit, as he now eased into a relaxed position. His mind slightly wondered about what Ram was doing and if he was causing any mischief somewhere but as long as he didn't leave the ship, all was fine.

He figured after some quick rest and a nap, he'd begin to try and locate him and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. The ship hasn't left the dock yet but was in the process of departing soon after it let a bit more people on for passage to Hoshigakure. Assuming this was a private ship, similar to the last one, to his surprise it wasn't as they were letting quite a few people on that were rich aristocrats and minor lords of the nation. It seems the chuunin exams in Hoshi were a big thing and nobody wanted to miss out on seeing it for whatever reason. Kizmaru simply waited for the ship to depart as he laid there in the chair.

W.C: 938

After Kizmaru had gotten the piece of paper Keita had handed him with the details on who was going to the chuunin exams in Hoshi, he scrutinized it for a moment, saying the names of the genin who went there out loud. Keita wondered how Kizmaru felt about these genin, and he also wondered what their chances of winning were, as different villages had different ideas of strength, so hopefully they could face off against different opponents with different strategies to temper their battle skills a bit. Keita had heard rumors of the genin sparring in the village, but he was unsure about their particular strengths and skillsets. Perhaps if they come back and were not granted the rank of chuunin, Keita would take a few under his wing and start to train them in the art of combat. Would have been pretty fun to have a team before this, but there were too many responsibilities before this, he simply could not take the time, plus the kage was not here to grant him the right to take on a team, so there was that little hiccup in the process as well. Keita watched as Kizmaru was looking towards the ship, and they both started walking towards it while talking about things. Kizmaru suddenly started speaking about how it was time to go, and Keita nodded.

Kizmaru then said that they should set sail quickly so they could go and get the items that he had wanted to get. Keita assumed that this was some sort of extra bloodline ability that someone might have when they visited the other countries, something that would compliment the senju and uchiha dna within him. He wondered what it was that could enhance such a powerful combination of genetic traits, but nothing much was coming tom mind at the moment, as Kizmaru had the powerful armor and the wood constructs he could create for defense, the lava abilities he had as well as his sharingan abilities were great offense, and the sharingan gave quite a bit of utility as well. Keita wondered what exactly Kizmaru was looking for, or maybe he was just sort of 'window shopping', as it were. Keita nodded, before Kizmaru told him about how he wanted to see how the genin fared against the other ninja of the world, which was exactly what Keita was thinking about a couple of moments ago, so this simply reinstated the fact that he and Kizmaru were on the same wavelength in terms of priorities and ideas, minus that fact that Keita valued the library more, personally. 

Speaking of the library in his head, Kizmaru then detailed that it would be great to learn some things from some other people, and Keita could not agree more, as he was really excited to go to the library. "Hopefully our members perform well and give us a good showing, as it would be great if they simply dominated everyone else so we could get to the library faster, honestly." Keita said in a half joking tone, but he definitely meant it, at least a little bit. It would be great if their ninja simply swept up the competition quickly, so that they could conclude their business there and immediately head to the library. As they finished talking about that particular topic, they both then started to actually head onto the boat. Keita was still speaking pleasantries with Kizmaru, and then thought of something fairly important. "I have quite a few ingredients in my scrolls, we should definitely have a barbecue out at sea. What a picturesque idea that would be. I just hope that the rain stays mild so that I can actually have the coals stay lit long enough to cook some fish." Keita said off handedly as he saw Kizmaru start to sit down. 

As Kizmaru sat down, it seemed like he sort of squished Ram, the wonderful little armadillo that Keita adored, and so he quickly apologized to it. Keita went over and pet it to comfort it a bit. Keita also bent down and unsealed some fruit he had in a scroll before giving it to the rather intelligent armadillo. "It's okay Ram, your owner will learn eventually." Keita jeered his friend as the workers of the dock started to unhook the boat from the docks so that they could actually start to leave. Kizmaru was lounging on the deck in a nice chair, and it would be great when they actually left the area around Kirigakure and out of the storm sphere, so they could bask in the sun with the ocean, as this was essentially a luxury cruise liner. Keita decided that he was going to start making some barbecue, and he motioned to one of the workers there. The worker came up to him on the boat and was awaiting instructions, and Keita unsealed some simple fishing poles and some holders out of a scroll before handing it to the worker. "Please take these and set them up on the side of the ship when we get out to sea. I'd like to catch some fish for some cooking later on in our journey." Keita then dismissed the worker who went over to the side of the ship and started securing the fishing pole holders to the side.

"For now, however, let's have some barbecue here out on the deck. The coals and fire should be ready by the time we leave the storm sphere." Keita mentioned, before unsealing a variety of things out onto the deck, including some bricks that would be placed around the deck so that the fire could not accidentally land on the ship. Although he knew the ships were fairly fire resistant, at least to simple flames and lightning strikes, he was still going to be cautious, as one always had to be when working with an open flame. After setting everything up, he was ready for when they left the storm sphere so they could have clear skies, open oceans, and some grilled fish and eel for the journey of lounging around. This was going to be the most comfortable they had been traveling in a long time, Keita especially, as he felt particularly comfortable on the open sea in a boat, rather than the carriage that they had to take to Suna, the rhythmic motion of the ocean currents were much better than the bumpy and harsh dirt roads when on land. With that, Keita was fully ready to head towards their brand new destination.
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EXIT in 12 HRS to Haven
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WC: 1093
Total WC: 5000
Using 3750 for Uzumaki Sealing Technique, 5000 with 25% discount 
Using 1250 for Elemental Bomb Seal 1250/1875 with 25% discount

Waiting for departure, Kizmaru could relax easier now that he transformed into his Jounin attire. It was good to be able to rest like this after a big battle where it nearly cost him his life. Though all that mattered was he had escaped relatively unharmed, finished what he set out to do and went on his way. He was a little disappointed his assailant didn't give chase but it was probably for the best since his chakra reserves were running fairly low. Keita was still nearby so he had continued to have a little chat with him about their hopes and expectations of their village Genin. Even if Keita was joking about the whole 'Kiri Genin dominating the chuunins' statement, deep down that's what he'd like to happen. Well, regardless if they did or not, he'd be proud of them, unless they were to somehow lose in the very first round then he'd be disappointed and would have to intensify the curriculums. Either way, when all was said and done, he'd have to travel to Kumo regardless in order to see what kinds of knowledge they have that may differ from Kiri's own pool of knowledge. Followed by the chuunin exam comment, he mentioned something about having ingredients for a barbecue in his scrolls which he found odd since he didn't have prior knowledge of their casual travels to another land. Maybe he was just prepared for any kind of situation to happen, even ones that were non-combat related.

 A barbecue would be nice right now as he was quite hungry and it would also lure his other friend that seems to have a black hole as a stomach back to his initial location. Turns out however, Ram didn't go far as he thought since he was just sponging fruit off of Keita and being coddled by him. This put his mind at ease as he went back to resting in the reclining chair. Hearing the banter of Keita only made Kizmaru grin underneath his facemask before turning onto his side away away from the two of them. However, he decided before he forgot he had something to tell him. "Oh, by the way, you've been my bodyguard for quite some time yet you aren't one of my personal Hunter-Shinobi, I found that odd. So from today forward, I'm officially promoting you to Hunter-Nin. You may also learn the our village element Tempest release when we return from our little adventure." After that little 'ceremony', he waited a little bit longer for the dockhands to get everything in order before he could physically feel the boat moving. It was time for them to depart to Hoshigakure in hopes of being able to get what he's looking for.

[Exit to Haven Country in 12 Hours.]

W.C: 458
T.W.C: 3769

Ability Claims (Applying 25% Stat discount)
Using 3,750 words to learn S-Rank Nukite

Approved