Drifting into the Mist

It was around noon as a hooded and cloaked figure approached the gate of the Hidden Mist Village. His cloak enveloped his entire body, revealing no details about his body except for height and overall build. Although the cloak was broad enough to conceal most of his body type as well. The only noticeable thing would have been the occasional dash of red hair peeking out from underneath the hood, appearing to frame both sides of his face. The face of Nenra Iburi.

The first thing that went through Nenra’s head as he approached the gates of Kirigakure no Sato was that the place really lived up to its namesake. The place was foggy alright! It was a quality that may have been off-putting to others, but Nenra kind of liked it. It was as if a blanket of sorts covered the world. One where he could mold into the mist, become one with it and hide away from everyone’s’ eyes. Away from the world. With his jutsu, he probably could. If only for a little while.

But there was a gate in front of him. A guarded gate. Using ninjutsu right now would probably send the wrong message. So instead he would move up to it with his hands clearly visible. If anyone would attempt to stop him in his way, he would raise his hands in a peaceful manner. If not, he would continue into the village proper.

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242

Nemui would be guarding the gate today under supervision, interviewing new arrivals and assessing the threat they posed one at a time. Using Chakra Sensory and Chakra Insight on a lady prior to Nenra and believing her to be no threat, Nemui would allow her passage before turning his attention to the man. Noticing he had his hands up as some kind of peaceful gesture, Nemui tilted his head in curiosity while ushering the man to come closer with a hand gesture. If he would approach, the boy would hold up his right hand open as a stop signal once he got within five meters before speaking. "Welcome to Kirigakure, please state your name and business here.. as well as why you have your hands up?" Already Nemui had concerns about the man and would actively use Chakra Sensory with the handseal of confrontation, together with Chakra Insight. Unless he were suppressing his Chakra somehow, the boy would use these two skills to reveal Nenra's Physical Capabilities, Seals and Specialty Focus.

OOC:

Amidst the thick mist present around the village this morning, Izu was walking the length of the walls, her byakugan always active to peer and see every minute details, patrolling the gate and supervising Nemui from affar, watching his every move and hearing his every words, making sure he wasnt letting anyone of potential danger inside of the village of Kirigakure. Most were civilians and traders, known to pass the gates often to go fish, sell their wares of travel. But one of them stood out. A cloaked man, not revealing his appearance was always a bad sign, a sign that that someone wanted to hide their identity. As she quickly dashed toward the gate and Nemui's position, running as fast as she could, the blonde hyuuga performed with one of her hand the handseals for body flicker technique, allowing her to go even faster, seemingly disapearing and appearing right as she landed in a dramatic pose beside Nemui, who for a reason that still escaped Izu's logic, was 5m close to the shrouded man, instead of up on his post on top of the gate remparts. All of this would happen in the most discrete maner possible, without producing a simple sound and using the mist as her natural element, landing right in front of the two standing person, as if Izu simply appeared out of the fog, a feat usually renowned troughout Kirigakure.

''Not a single agressive move. Answer his question immediately. Remove that cloak now.'' Ordered Izu to the wanderer, pressing him into revealing himself.


As she stood there, Izu appeared as usual to those who knew her: blonde long unkempt hair, pale almost white skin, white eye showing her byakugans, dozens of dark steel piercing across her nose, mouth and ears, slim figure but tall, dressed with her usual black ample shinobi pants and sandals, her oversized seven swordsman of the mist Jacket hidding most of her trick up her sleeves, but short enough in torso length to show a bit of her belly, covered with a fishnet body suit, and of course, her headband of kirigakure, proud symbol of the village. With her left hand, she would weave really fast the handseals of rat and then dog, instantly summoning out of thin air without a puff of smoke a large needle like sword, long of 5 feet, and tied to a thin steel wire at the bottom loop, wire wich seemed to go and disappear into her sleeves of the same left arm. For safety reasons, Izu pointed her senbon sword toward the man, holding him to the point of the weapon while he was still not classified as safe or not. If he would do any sharp move or agressive attempt, Izu would stand ready drive her sword trough his throat, and jank on the  attached wire once it would traverse him, effectively chopping off his head in a swift motion.

Izu was not impressed by the performance of Nemui whatsoever. To approach an enemy this close, wasnt wise, even if nemui himself was a taijutsu user, a fact known well by Izu herself, he didnt know if the potential enemy would be one too, or a weaponry user like herself, able to decapitate him on the spot. As her face expressed nothing but coldness and seriousness tho, she would have to tell him her way of thinking afterwards. As she waited for the man to undress from his large cloak, she turned toward Nemui to talk to him.

''Also, Nemui, we'll talk afterwards. You, faster.'' said back to the fellow kiri shinobi the teen hyuuga, as well as to the wandering man, urging him to go faster.

OOC:
*=25% off from chakra applied

• using Byakugan -5AP
  
• using body flicker -7AP*
  
• using Storage displacement to pull out Senbon Sword 1x -7AP*
  total AP used= 19
  new AP total= 836/855
  
  
  

As Nenra approached the gate, he locked eyes with the individual guarding it. The guard, a teenage boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, nudged him over and began asking what he was doing in Kirigakure and why he had his hands raised. Just great. Nenra wore this cloak to avoid standing out and move about unseen, as he preferred, but it seemed to have the opposite effect as the boy singled him out instead of the woman in front of him.

Just as Nenra opened his mouth to answer the question, a second figure appeared besides the boy, seemingly out of nowhere. This woman looked a lot more intimidating than the kid. She seemed to be covered in piercings, but the most unsettling part were the eyes. Not just the Byakugan, but the way they were glaring daggers at Nenra. She barked at Nenra to remove his cloak. She then weaved signs and summoned a curious sword which she pointed at him. Her entire aura radiated a "don't fuck with me or I'll kill you where you stand" kind of energy. Nenra froze on the spot, instinctively raising his hands higher, bringing them up next to his face.

The woman briefly adressed the boy before repeating her orders. "Alright, alright..", Nenra replied. He slowly and deliberately brought his right hand to his head to pull back the hood, revealing a somewhat pale face with yellow eyes and straight, red hear down to his shoulders. Then, with his left hand he would remove his robe, revealing a plain, beige shirt, dark pants and typical sandals. Average build, average height. Pale, with a face whose emotional range seemed to go from blank slate to dull surprise. Save for the bright red hair and somewhat unusual eye color, Nenra looked a lot less threatening without the cloak.

"My name is Nenra Iburi.", he said. "And I'm just a traveler looking for a place to rest and earn some coin. I raised my hands to show that I mean no harm." His words were an answer to the boy's question, but he was adressing the woman. She seemed to be the one calling the shots. His eyes were on her, trying to focus on her face without gazing into her eyes too much. Just in case her Byakugan had some sort of trick to it.

---

640

Nemui's use of Chakra Sensory in combination with Chakra Insight would reveal a great deal about the man before him. Sensing his Specialty Focus would tell Nemui that he practiced both Medical Ninjutsu and regular Ninjutsu based on his two A-Rank techniques. Checking for seals, Nemui would not find any as they mustn't have existed, at least in a state that could be detected. Last but not least, the man's Physical Capabilities, this informed Nemui that he was on par with most experienced D-Rank ninja (regarding his stats). With this information the boy knew the man wasn't a civilian and allowed things to play out. Izu's arrival did nothing to distract Nemui from gazing upon the man as he was now on alert and listening intently to everything he said.

When Izu turned to Nemui and said she'd speak to him later she would also see the boy's focus on Nenra, unwavering as he didn't take a moment to acknowledge her. While the man introduced himself and followed up with a statement that he was simply a traveler, Nemui considered the information carefully before responding. "What is your status as a shinobi?" The boy asked with a stern voice, curious of why the man hadn't introduced himself as one in the first place. If the man didn't seem to understand the question he would elaborate, "I'm currently aware of your abilities, so where did you come from? Did you abandon your village, what's the story?"

As Nemui asked away his regular questions that one would ask in a gate inspection of someone, Izu kept her peering eyes over both the young boy making his first shift as a gate guard, making sure he would remain in control of the situation, but also kept her byakugans on the red-haired man, who unrobbed himself and revealed to be a normal individual, at least from a point of view of a Byakugan. As she could peak into and trough the man, she could see he only had the clothes on his back, being without a single ryo, and without a single weapons either, contrary to her, who was armed to the teeth, carrying as much weapon as a small armory of a village would. 

Nonetheless, Izu remained in silence for now, as Nemui asked the right questions trying to see and discover who he was, albeit asked in a rookie way, but after all, it was his first time at the gate, so if she intervened each time, he wouldnt learn anything. As she waited for the interogated man to provide answers, and fast, Izu's needle sword would still point to the man, ready to act at any second should he prove to be a nuisance, or a wanted criminal. The hyuuga unflinshing pose, eyes and blade were sign enough of her seriousness in the incident, and of her experience as a seasonned gate guard, unimpressed by the man and Nemui's performance, but nonetheless taking both very seriously, her face at the crossroads between dead serious with killing intent, and bored out of her mind.

As the man answered the question, Izu added, wether it would interupt him or not, the following, while looking dead set into the eyes of the man, blinking slowly, to indicate that even if she was concentrated to the maximum toward him, she could take the luxury of acting slow, as he was all but threatening to her.

''I'll know if you lie.'' said the blonde hyuuga, her voice monotone and slow, but deep and serious.

Nenra would look from the woman to the boy, whom the woman had called Nemui earlier. Meanwhile, he would slowly lower his hands, letting his arms hand idly next to his body, cloak still held in his left hand. Nemui went on to ask more question, this time about his status as a shinobi. This caused one eyebrow to raise on his otherwise blank face of the Iburi. He hadn't revealed anything about being a shinobi, so it seemed this boy possessed some sort of sensory skill. It was an ability Nenra had always envied, being able to know when to push his luck or when to turn tail and run.

When the boy had finished his questions, the woman added that she would be able to detect if he lied. This was not a problem for now. Where other shinobi might dislike revealing details about themselves, Nenra simply didn't care. He had no reason to lie or to keep secrets, because keeping secrets implied some greater plan or purpose. And currently, Nenra was as much without purpose as someone could get. Living to see a next day, preferably in a soft bed and with a full belly. That was as far ahead as he was thinking. Because of this, Nenra wasn't scared despite the apparent threat of the needle-like sword pointing at him. Since he had no reason to lie and no ill intent, he felt like he could get through this without giving the swordswoman a reason to act on her threat. Didn't mean he wasn't cautious though.

"The story is that I used to belong with a caravan of fellow clansmen. We've always been vagabonds, selling our services to other villages. Unfortunately, one day we found ourselves on the losing side." For the first time, there was a hint of emotion on the man's blank face. It wasn't much, merely a lowering of the eyes and a brief pause.  "I'm the only one left." The only detail he would omit was why they had found themselves on the losing side, which was payback for their cowardice.

When a war went bad for their client, the Iburi cut their losses and ran. Later on, some disgruntled men of said client ambushed them to repay their debt. Nenra felt comfortable leaving this detail out. Apathetic as he was, he didn't feel like shaming his family any more than they had already been.

"I didn't tell you about me being a shinobi because it doesn't change my intention. I'm a vagabond traveling around and looking for work. Need some pesky bandits or thieves taken care of and the shinobi of the village have their hands full? I'm your guy. If thats not how you guys do business in the Mist, I'll just turn around and be on my way if thats okay." He was really looking forward to a warm meal and decent bed, but a few more nights out in the wild was preferable to getting his head cut off or spending the night in a dungeon.

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Nemui listened carefully to everything the man had to say, attempting to fully understand his reason for being here and discern any potentially contradicting statements. While he would be satisfied that the man didn't tell any lies, so far as he could tell, he'd finally speak to Izu although his gaze remained upon the man. "I'm happy with the answers he's provided, what else should I do in this situation?" The boy's question was obviously directed towards Izu although he didn't say her name aloud, if Nenra did have ill intent after all, the less he knew the better. While this same thought didn't appear to cross Izu's mind before she gave away Nemui's name in front of the stranger, he didn't hold it against her.

After a few seconds, the man finally answered the questions asked by Nemui, explaining how he was a traveller and wanderer, usually travelling with his caravan and clan, the Iburi, at least the ones living in the wild, outside the villages system, as Izu was aware some of them lived indeed in villages. As he continued to explained, he said he was the last one left alive after their group runned into trouble and lost. He looked honest, but it seems there was a reason for that trouble and destruction of their group, and Izu would ask that information, letting no details of the story and background check to be forgotten or overlooked. As he continued to describe his wearabouts, the man explained that he was only here looking for honnest work, and bounty hunting. After all, it was logical for a man who spent his life on the road to want only a place to be safe, rest, eat and trade. But Kiri delt with their criminals themselves, as it gave the opportunity to their Hunter-Nin to shine, and to hone their skills. 

Nonetheless, the man seemed honnest, and mostly harmless. Izu was always suspicious of travelers and others, as they could be spies or worse, but allowing outsiders in was good for trade and potential recruits, wich is always a good thing for Kirigakure. As Nemui seemed to have no more questions and to defer to Izu as his supervisor, Izu lowered her blade a bit, still pointing it toward the red haired individual ready to attack a any second, but in a less agressive and 'in your face' kind of way. 

As Nemui asked what else he needed to do, Izu would show him. After all, he was learning from her, and she would explain afterwards, and show it first. Her gaze went back toward the red haired man, and she asked him the following questions.

''Why did your caravan found themselves on the loosing side? Give us every detail. Omission is as good as lying. Once you will have answered and the answers prove us that you are a safe enough element to enter Kirigakure, you will be granted entry. Its important to know the following: you will be able to stay and trade, but to benefit from anything else other than civilian facilities, the Mizukage authorisation is needed. Also, as Nemui here is responsible of you, and me of him, we are responsible of you inside the village. If you would do any criminal act, no matter how small, we will find you and execute you where you stand. Understood?'' Said Izu in an athoritarian voice tone, taking her task very serously. 

As she waited for an answer and reply, Izu continued to peer at the man, and also all of her surroundings, her 360 degree vision letting her be aware of everything, including the area far beneath the young man, if there was any ambush. A few seconds after, Izu added again something, wanting to inform the wanderer.

''I don't think we have any bounties here, as Kirigakure deal with their own criminals. But if you might consider joining our village, you could do all the hunting you want.'' added the blonde haired hyuuga.

Nenra had expected for his explanation to be enough. At first, this seemed the case. The boy at least had no further questions and turned to his superior for her take. Too bad for Nenra she did pry further. And it was the one question he really didn't feel like answering. Throughout the shinobi world, deserters faced a heavy stigma in Nenra's experience. Shinobi were expected to lay down their lives for their causes if neccessary. Refusing to do so meant being seen as a coward.

"Its private, honestly.", he would try. He estimated that the information this woman was really after was whether or not Nenra had any history as a violent criminal or some sort of bad blood with Kirigakure. Anything that could be a possible indicator of him being a troublesome individual. "I promise it has nothing to do with the village. I'm not some gung-ho psychopath either, if that's what you're afraid of." True, Nenra's hands had some blood on them. But really, which shinobi could claim any different? As he spoke, he would make eye-contact with the woman as a sign that he wasn't lying. He was really no threat, he just didn't want to be judged.

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