First Steps [Village Entrance]

“Land Ho!”

Kether’s eyes narrowed as he stared into the oncoming mist. He could only barely make out the vague shadows that indicated there was anything other than more mist in front of the ship. Kirigakure, he thought to himself with a hint of relief. The Village Hidden in the Mist. The name was certainly appropriate, considering he had seen nothing but mist for the past few hours. His journey was finally coming to an end, for now at least.
 
His master had talked about Kirigakure in the past, noting it as a powerful village with exceptionally trained shinobi. That, plus the fact that it was located in an island nation east of the continent made it an ideal place for him to train up and start building up his own reputation. Of course, this was all assuming that he would even be permitted to enter the village in the first place. He had done some research while traveling here and it seemed as though the village was pretty well monitored by its own security forces and might not take kindly to an unaffiliated newcomer arriving without prior permission. Still, he didn’t want to rock the boat (to use an appropriate metaphor) and he was sure that the village leadership wouldn’t feel threatened by a single free agent.
 
As the ship pulled up to the dock, Kether stepped off and immediately began making his way to the village gates. He had no equipment with him other than the clothes on his back, so there was nothing keeping him tied to the ship. Within a few minutes, he was standing in front of the gatehouse. ”My name is Kether Ryusei and I seek passage into the city,” he stated as he reached what looked to be the guard in charge of admitting newcomers.

[WC: 302]

THe boy would make it to the gates, to the guardhouse and if he glanced in would see....Nothing. There was a guard of course. Pinochio stood in a military style uniform behind the door of the guard house, waiting for anyone who might approach to seek entry, however the poor boy was only about three and a half feet all. This small fact made it so the window about four and a half feet up the large door was far too high for him to see out of. Hearing the voice, he hopped up several times to try and get a glimpse of this newcomer. It. did. not. work. Finally the door swung in, and he could be seen in all his wooden puppet glory.

"Welcome newcomer to the village hidden in the mist. I'll need your name and ID. Do you have any weapons on you? What brings you to our fair village this evening? Hope it's not assasination or anything HAHAHAHAHAH" He tried to be social. He really did, but pinochio was not the type. The girls seemed to have gained all the charisma in the trio. High above the gates pinochio's puppet master saya sat against the metal bars, leaned out to lay comfortably in the sun. This was the first time it hadn't rained in some time, and despite the heavy fog obscuring everything from vision she could feel the warmth on her skin. As the boy approached her hands twitched and shifted to control the pinochio puppet, invisible strings pulling him from the guard house as she listened intently for what he was saying. It would be impossible to notice her at the top of the gates, which meant she didn't really have to "do" anything, and from her vantage she had the chance to deal with any danger that might be present. On the other side of the gate Ai sat on a milk crate filing the sharpened tips of her nails as the coach puppet did pushups. None of them were sure WHY exactly he'd been doing pushups for that past four hours, but they didn't question it. It's not like he would get tired from the exercise..... his muscles were carved from wood. He liked the idea of keeping in shape.

(TWC 379)

At first, the guardhouse appeared to be empty. That was certainly strange for a village this large and with the reputation that this one had. Of course, that belief didn’t last for long, as the door swung open and a small boy stood inside. It took Kether a few moments before he realized that not only was this… boy the actual guard, he also appeared to be made entirely out of wood; a puppet, not unlike those used in marionette shows.
 
Kether was even more surprised when it spoke. ”As I said, my name is Kether Ryusei. As for identification, will this do?” He pulled out a small card that simply had his name and occupation as “freelance mercenary” on it. Since he had never been to a real village before, he didn’t have any sort of real identification and it hadn’t been necessary when working out of a black market hub. Most of those people didn’t care who they were hiring as long as they got the job done. ”I don’t have any weapons on me. In fact, I have nothing at all outside of these clothes, but feel free to search me if it makes you feel better. As for what brings me to the village, I’ve heard that Kirigakure has one of the finest training facilities in the world and I was hoping to offer my services in exchange for access to them.” Hopefully, he’d be able to make some extra money on the side as well. His wallet was depressingly light at the moment.

He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow at the puppet’s last question and crazy sounding laugh. Surely it didn’t expect anyone to admit it if that truly was their objective. He squinted at the puppet, trying to make out where the strings that were controlling it were, but he couldn’t see anything at all. That was strange. He tried to peer into the guardhouse to see if he could figure out who exactly was controlling it, but that also resulted in failure. ”Where’s your master,” he mused as he examined the puppet, waiting for a response on whether he would be granted entry into the village or not.

[WC: 366]
[TWC: 668]

Finally, someone who had their affairs together. It was ridiculous how many people came to the gates of kiri and didn't have their important paperwork. It would seem this newcomer had all the important information needed for entry as far as Pinochio could tell, though his inability to see from his eyes made it difficult to actually check the identification presented to him and from high atop the gates there was no way Saya was actually going to be able to read the small card. Still that seemed good enough. He didn't need something silly like a living body or eyes to vet potential threats against the village. He was a strong independent puppet who was an excelent judge of character.

"Good good. Well Kether ryusei, I believe everything sounds like it's in order. Welcome to the village hidden in the mist please check in with the Mizukage's office to inform him of intentions within the village and so the higher ups know your face. It is important to note that if you cause any trouble in our fair village you will be hunted down and disappear never to be seen from again. Is there anything else?" The timing couldn't be more perfect. Poor pinochio. He'd had such a good day at the gates so far, and was able to take care of most things so Saya could have a relaxing day. He was just about to step asside and allow this newcomer entry when everything got messed up by three little words.

"my. I do hope you mean the mizukage, who would be located in the village leader's chambers in the center of town, cuz OTHERWISE you might be suggesting that I, the great shinobi trainer Pinochio was the underling of some genin, and that... Oh that would be REDICULOUS! Don't get it twisted kid, this wooden body holds alot of metaphorical heart. I'm the one who runs things for my team and furthermor--" He was cut off. At the start of his rant a loud giggle could be heard high above as the small girl listening in on their convorsation couldn't help herself. Pinochio really did hate the suggestion that she was the master and he was a tool. From around the edge of the gates a girl appeared, long blonde hair and a white dress over black leggings shifting with her movement. The Ai puppet interupted pinochio's rant, her realistic skin and intricate mechanisms that have her facial features natural movement giving no indication that she wasn't the puppetmaster herself, save from the giggle from on high.

"Pinochio. Lets not give the new entrant a long lecture before he's had the chance to request your tutelage hmm?" As Ai intervened, the smaller puppet's voice trailed, but even as she spoke, he could be heard mumbling under his breath, an action that would seem impossible assuming a pupet user was was using ventrilloquism to make them speak.

(TWC 868)

Upon the puppet announcing that everything looked to be in order, Kether tucked his card back into his pocket. Honestly, he was surprised it had passed for identification, but he wasn’t one to argue when things went in his favor. He was instructed to meet with someone called the Mizukage for a more official check-in before being warned that he would be hunted down and eliminated if he caused any trouble inside the city. That was fine by him, he certainly wasn’t planning on causing any trouble unless it came looking for him.
 
Unfortunately, it appeared as though the puppet had taken offense to his question of its master. It went off on a tirade about how its master was the Mizukage (apparently the leader of the village, Kether made sure to file that bit of information away) and most certainly not some “genin,” whatever that was. Kether’s eyes snapped up at the sound of what seemed to be a loud giggle coming from above the guardhouse, but he didn’t see anyone up there. Before he could investigate further, a girl came out from around the gate and interrupted the puppet, giving it a quick rebuke. This was most likely the puppetmaster, and as such Kether turned to her.
 
“I’m not exactly sure what a… genin is,” he began, ”but if my next stop is to be this Mizukage’s office, then I should probably begin making my way there. My apologies if I caused offense.” He couldn’t help but size up the girl in an attempt to gauge how strong she was. Surely she wasn’t really strong enough to be guarding the gate to this village. Although, if she was truly controlling this puppet, perhaps she didn’t need to be physically as strong as he would expect a guard to be. ”As for requesting tutelage, I am searching for training, but perhaps that is a conversation that could be had later. I need to get my bearings first. Now, if there’s nothing else…?” He glanced toward the puppet and the girl to see if they would stop him as he took a hesitant step toward the gates.

[WC: 357]
[TWC: 1,025]

"Did he just..." Pinochio cocked his head to the side in confusion. How could anyone in the ninja world not understand the basic concept of power ranks. That didn't sit very well with Pinochio, but before he had the chance to grill this newcomer and cut through the lies to find his true evil purpose Ai stepped in front of him. Ai, like her sister, was small, but compared to the three foot tall puppet she dwarfed him. The small boy fumed in anger at the girl's audacity, but he reacted no further. He was impressively throwable and Ai was generally more powerful than he.

"Yes. Head to the Mizukage's office to check in. if you need teaching you can seek out my sister Sayatria. She will be able to give aid both helping you learn the ropes and setting you up with people who can help you learn more specialized interests. Please have a good day" She would move to the side, allowing the boy to pass.

(TWC 1036 granting entrance to the village, putting 1036 towards item crafting exit topic closed after kether's exit)

With permission secured, Kether nodded at the girl and her puppet. ”I will be sure to do that. Thank you for your assistance.” Perhaps he really would need to start with simply learning the ropes after all. He certainly didn’t want to come across as being ignorant of basic information. That wouldn’t look good to anyone who tried to hire him. After that, he could focus on learning more about these specialized interests for training.

[Exit]
[WC: 75]
[TWC: 1,100]

Claims:

Approved