Pursuit lets wisdom ride the wind [COMPLETE]

[Sayomi]

Takes place before the zombie event.

What awaited curiosity?

Windswept blond hair glided behind a girl clad in jumping shadows, her arms swaying idly behind her. Having just left Hiromasa, Masumi was backtracking her steps, searching for any wounded surviving shinobi. A fact gnawed at her. Where were the bodies of the dead? It was quiet, the smell of decaying flesh did not perforate the air.

Hoping down from a destroyed building roof she landed on the ground, it was as if oblivion was all around her. Slowly the girl walked her eyes jumping around meticulously searching for anything. She wore a light tan track jack half way zipped, dirtied from battle. Sher gray form-fitting pants fell to her ankles, revealing cuts and bruised legs.

Her face was dirtied, cut, and emanated sorrow. "Where have all the people gone?" She asked herself aloud within the midst of hell itself as she bit her lip. It seemed as if the world became just a tad bit more lonelier

[Sharkk]

Sitting down, his back to what was left of one building he looked around smiling, ignoring his battered body for the moment. Smoke, the smell of burnt flesh, and death all filled his sense of smell, flicking his tongue for the moment he tasted it. Smirking he pushed himself to his feet and glanced about still. The dead were gone, the village was silent, except for the occasional rubble falling to the ground and the sound of his own breathing.

Placing his right hand to his left shoulder he began rotating his left arm trying to loosen up a bit. It was then he heard a soft voice. It asked a question, turning to face where the question had came from he smirked as he saw a familiar face, Masumi. A talented, young, female Hôzuki. Walking with a slight limp he made his way towards the girl, with his limp being a fake one. "I just got done asking myself that. The place ssseems so desolate. But, don't worry, I'm sure there are plenty of survivors."

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[Comatose]

The desolate village looked the part of a snuff horror film, ruined and destroyed buildings littering what used to be the village blocks. However, where there was before not a soul there were two ninja here. I approached from what would be geographically south, along the ruined road, at the same rate I had been for some time. This road happened to be the most direct route to where I had been going, to a 'meeting' of sorts, of the most devious of people. Nevertheless, I expected these two to be Ninja of the village, and so long as I acted the part, they had no reason to suspect me otherwise. As my approach reached it's end, ever nearing them I gave them but a wave, a nod, and a single word.

"Hey. . "

[Sayomi]

Her eyes finally caught evident movement, but it wasn't no person of threat, but simply a fellow shinobi. She didn't know much about the man in front of her named Yuu, but she did know he gave her a feeling. It was unexplainable, but her instincts told her to be wary of him.

"I hope there are..."

The blond responded quietly, her voice just high enough so that he could hear her. She placed her hands behind her head, her posture relaxing as she looked around, a figure approached slowly from the south road.

Masumi's eyes searched for a head band, but couldn't find one. Could he be trusted? She sighed as he greeted them both. Even if he couldn't Masumi was confident her chances of beating if he proved hostile would be good with Yuu beside her. Not many powerful shinobi lived after the war after all...

"Oi!"

Masumi replied calmly acknowledging the man, a bit of edge within her voice.

"What brings you around these parts?"

She asked casually, her grin showing her sharp, shark like teeth.

[Sharkk]

"Hey..."

[/b] The unexpected greeting caused Yuu's left eyebrow to raie as he turned to this new individual, one that he had not seen before, then again he wasn't one to always be out and about. Lowering his eyebrow he shot his gaze to the sky, darker than usual. Half laughing he lowered his head as he prepared to respond to the man, though he was cut off by Masumi before he was able to even begin.

Rubbing his slightly sore neck he tilted his head once Masumi was finished speaking. "Hello, I don't think we have met before, sssir."[/color] But, as stated before that was a common thing for Yuu and the majority of surviving Hidden Mist shinobi. None the less, he kept his gaze on the man, his tongue flicking through the air.
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[Comatose]

The small prepubescent girl caught my eye first, upon closer inspection, more of an attractive subject than the tongue flicking oddity. Each one of the ninja sported a Kiri Headband, which, was something I had to expected to encounter. Though I didn't have one, producing one was a simple and quick task. With a sleight of hand, my hand digging in my pocket, I pulled out what was seemingly a Kiri headband. The weight, texture, density, elasticity and sign on the front were all perfect. Since all headbands were essentially the same besides the insignia, I knew all these variables to a great degree, and being so close I easily manufactured the insignia based on theirs.

I displayed my 'headband', though crafted of paper, and quickly pocketed it, before stopping to continue the conversation forced upon me.

"Oh, I'm a Jounin of Kiri, the war had me far-gone, and I've finally trekked all the way back here. It's been a pickle, let me tell you."

Lies that were perfected through years of misdirection. I knew I could lie because they had not seen through my ploy yet, had they had any of the more treacherous bloodline abilities, like Sharingan, they could have easily known I definitely didn't belong in these parts. However, due to the lack of organization, and state of this country after the war, they had no reason to suspect anything other than what I fed them. Poor lowly ninja.

[Sayomi]

Masumi raised a brow as he reached slowly into his pocket, her own hand poised and ready to grab a kunai at a moments notice, however she retracted the thought and movement once her eyes saw that it was an headband barring their insignia.

Most would have been satisfied with that small piece of evidence, but Masumi? No. Something was off. Why was his headband in his pocket and not displayed as all Kirigakure shinobi did? The thought was on her mind now as he put it back into his pocket.

She was on to him.

'So he's not going to put it on?'

Adding to her suspicions is the fact that this unknown ninja had not given them his name, any other from the Mist village would had if an ally was in doubt of their alliance. A grin stretched out on her face, razor white pearls lining her mouth. She'd play along.

For now....

"Thank goodness your okay."

Masumi would say in a light tone, loosening her body posture. "I'm glad to see you made it back safely. Have you seen any other surviving comrades?" The blond inquired nonchalantly. She needed to get in a position to capture and interrogate him.

For now all she could do was play the part he thought he was so skillfully he was controlling.

[Sharkk]

Watching the man still his arms folded as he listened to the man after watching him re-pocket his headband, odd. Why pocket it? Why carry it if you have no apparent want to wear it? Smirking, perhaps the man was telling a lie, which would mean he was a deviant of sorts.

Though perhaps he could be an ally rather than an enemy. Lowering his folded arms he glanced to Masumi, listening to her speak now before he found himself lowering his gaze to the ground only to bring it back up to the man's own gaze as Yuu himself began to speak.

"That road you came from, did you hapen to sssee any dead bodies? There ssseems to be an odd occurance of them vanissshing."

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[Comatose]

There was little mystery as to why he didn't put it on, it would have been more habitual for him not to do so. During the war it would have been more advantageous if your opponents did not know whom was an enemy or ally. If one could lure them into an advantageous position of them being off guard and go for an easy kill why bother having to spam Ninjutsu? Though, apparently, such reasoning was beyond the youngsters of this village.

"Sorry, youngsters, the details of what I had to do is privileged information. I can tell you two aren't Jounin or even Chuunin, so I can't really explain too much."

The headband was then fastened to my arm, before I stopped but five meters from their positions.

"Has the next Kage been named yet?"

[Sayomi]

"No, not that I know of."

Masumi quickly said, watching him put on his band. 'Why now?'' From all this time why did he finally decide to take his headband back out of his pocket and put it on? Was he some kind of mind reader? Whatever the case Masumi tried her best to keep her cool.

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[Sharkk]

Tilting his head to the side he watched as the older male added the Mist headband to his attire, odd. Listening to him though he prepared to answer the man, but was cut off by Masumi, hmm. Laughing he nodded and replied. "Nope, the old man ssstill breathesss."

[/color] Glancing about he yawned. "It'sss getting late, I'm going to go look for more sssurvivorsss."[/color] And with that he was gone. He'd keep an eye out for the man, if he saw him again he'd ask if the man was a liar or really was a Mist shinobi, hoping the latter wasn't true.
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[exit]

[Mitternacht]

Silence had fallen.

All the fighting was over, ruins of once magnificent buildings littering the ground, unused weapons lying about here or there. Nagato had never seen so much destruction in his life, however short it was. This war was way more devastating then he had thought. He heard all other shinobi villages were similar to his own, bombed out and empty. One thing that brought him the most discomfort was the simple absence of the dead. Where could they have gotten to?

He knew not what to do, walking around, hands tucked in the pockets of his black jacket as the wind whipped around his coat tails. His tight hood stopped the rain from tousling his hair, but unlike usually, he really wouldn't have cared if it had been messed up. This was just too much. There were more significant things to think about other than his fucking hair. He was kind of mad at himself he had even thought about it. His headband slipped down his brow, so he simply pushed it back in black, the emblem of Kirigakure shining proudly.

Three voices penetrated the howling. He perked up, listening carefully.

Nope, the old man ssstill breathesss."

He wanted to rush to the voices, but he felt no energy to make any move. So he simply kept his pace, angling his body in their direction. His face was dirty, a mix of blood and tears here or there. Tears for his people, his allies, his clansmen. This was not right. War was not right. A genocide like this should never happen. Nagato came upon a small square, two individuals conversing and one departing. He silently approached the two.

恐ろしいはこれです...

"This is so horrible..."

[Comatose]

It seemed I had luckily managed to subvert these two ninja, or at least one of them. If anything happened, I could take on a single ninja with ease. Nevertheless, I was on guard, and took a longer route than initially intended going a longer way toward the center of the village, and to the congregation.

— exit

[zibishi]

His light blue eyes pierced through the sky as he gazed and analyzed the three conversing Shinobi. He could hear traces of their conversation and hadn't been particularly interested as he sat on a rooftop of barely standing building. The wood was marked with dried blood and the occassional limb and he wondered where the bodies had went, but it wasn't enough to cause him to delve into any longer or waste his time. The shinobi were dead and he was alive that was all that mattered.

He watched the group closely as one man, who had notified himself as a Jounin slipped on his headband and Zibishi raised his eyebrow in suspicion or was it curiousity? Did the man have to elude someone and removed his headband as a strategic tactic, or was for a less interesting reason such as it was simply uncomfortable. The young Sansutsomu cocked his head to the side and shrugged his shoulder as he called out to them from his perch.

"Yo, how yall doing there?"

His eyes looked up and he watched another approached the conversing trio and Zibishi wondered what his story was as well.

[Sayomi]

The blond bit her lip as the so called jounin began to walk off, she wanted to tail him, but there was no proof to her accusations, so for now she'd keep
it all to herself. If he caused trouble she'd hear wind of it, and she'd definitely be there!

As two left another two came, both Kirigakure genin like herself she assumed. Pushing her worries to the of her mind Mausmi waved her lips curling into a sweet smile.

"Oi!"

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