Set in Stone!;

[The Dude]

A shimmering reflection of light catches Ji's attention as a single and bizarre thing floats from above him to the left. It swam gently through the air circling him slowly with powerful thrusts of it's transparent tail. It was in exactly what it appeared to be as implausible as it seemed; a swimming bubble fish. It would circle Ji a few times before bumping into him and popping resulting in a small rainbow colored mist.

"Shooooot. Why'd you have to do that..." The voice was upbeat but clearly upset as it called from even higher in the trees than the fight had taken place. Sitting up on one of the branches with her legs dangling over the edge in toed socks forced snug and cramped into sandals. She looked down upon Ji with a distant look in her mismatching eyes and confusion on her face. "Now we need to have a funeral for dear Nigel. People do that when things die right?"

With nothing more to say, she turned and looked off at the sudden sound of birds taking flight from a tree. She careened her head for a better look and leaned right off the branch falling downwards in an absent minded tumble laughing all the way. Somehow, despite her lack of effort in motion or action in any form to prevent this horrible conclusion she landed upright unharmed on her fight without a sound.

Her skin was flushed red with warm blood but it seemed to shimmer brighter and softer, though barely noticeable. Her hair seemed to be all different kinds springing forth from the top of her head, curly in one part while smooth straight and pampered in others. It also seemed splotched by random colors as though someone had just shaken random globs of paint into her hair. Her eyes were both beautiful and terrifyingly other worldly, though in color one was blue and the other green. She looks at Ji with a broad smile and a sunny cheerfully infectious laugh that causes even Ji to feel somehow more upbeat and elated about everything in his life at this moment.

"Hahahahahahahaha, that was so cool! I was all like woooooooosh and the air and the branches and everything was so cool!... Who are you?"

[Messatsu!]

As Ji called out and requested the presence of the old, pale man, he -in turn- received an 'answer' (if it could've even been called such) that he had never expected. A fairly bright creature descended from above and swam in the openness of air with whips of its transparent tail every few moments.

As it circled him, Ji turned and turned to follow it, that was until it bumped into his body and popped as though it were a fully blown balloon. Thereafter, a voice from above drilled down into Ji's ear's, a voice that beseemed a woman. He lofted a brow as she comically cared for whatever creature that was that'd blown itself up for being overly curious.

Confusing him even further, the girl tumbled off the tree and eventually landed onto the ground, laughing the entire time in tandem with her own descent. Her skin, apparel, and even her hair all seemed, well, quite odd. If anything Ji had been certain he never met that woman considering that he'd have remember someone so 'colorful'. Standing only a handful of meters away from Ji, she spoke with an upbeat tone and demeanor, one that had been far from mutual. Wanting his body back while desiring the answers and power that the pale man spoke of, Ji hadn't exactly been in a pleasant mood.

"Sigh. My name is Ji. Now, where is that old man, I asked specifically for him, not you. Or is killing you part of this little 'test'?"

[The Dude]

"Ji?" She repeated his name thoughtfully, "Hmmmmm. Gee!" She spat the last word enthusiastically and another translucent bubble burst into life from her lips. This one took on the form of the name 'Ji' in bubble letters and floated idly between Ji and the strange girl. "There was something important I was meant to do. That name rings lots and lots of bells in my head. Hmmmmmmm." She turned and wagged a warning finger at the shinobi, "Don't tell me, I'll think of it. I'll think of it!"

The symbols floated before her and she began to rearrange them in the air mumbling, "Maybe it's like a riddle. I just need to rearrange your name maybe?" Strange, but there was only so much she could do with such a short name and having done all variations and patterns she clapped her hands on the bubbles bursting them. "Hmmmm no that wasn't it. Maybe the answer's in the dialogue? What did you say again mister?" She pulled her hands apart and astonishingly more bubbles materialized, this time spelling out the very words Ji had said.

She pulled a pair of binoculars out from a small pouch on her thigh and scanned the words pointlessly whilst mumbling to herself. "Ok... so. OH! You're name is Ji! That's right, I remember that. You were looking for an old man? That's a little bit creepy don't you--" Her sentence cut off abruptly and silence followed before she resumed simply. "Oh... big brudda's gonna be maaaad."

She turned back to Ji and began jumping up and down excitedly, "Big brudda wanted me to tell you something! Something Important Jibiwibi!"

[Messatsu!]

That girl had been so strange, enough so to the point where she seemed immediately harmless, however, the longer Ji lived in that new world, the faster he realized that almost no one could be trusted completely. Fortunately, at that point, one thing had been certain - the girls memory failed to be anything admirable to say the least.

As Ji's own name floated out of her mouth like a inflated bubble, his brows lofted in confusion even further. Using said bubble as an instrument to jog her memory of a forgotten task or message, Ji watched as she tried so contentedly to remember.

Growing a childlike impatience, the tip of his foot tapped against the ground. Before long, more bubbles beckoned forth, however, once they had, instead of his name they turned out to be the very words that fell from his parted lips. Finally, after using what looked to be 'normal' binoculars, she remembered who he was and who he'd been looking for, but then something went entirely wrong.

She mentioned someone betting mad, someone that apparently went by 'Big Brudda'. According to her, he had some important message of some kind to pass along, and as curious as ever, Ji wanted to find out. Forced to remain calm, he refused to let himself grow overly impatient.

"Fine, I'll humor you. What did this big 'brudda' want to tell me and why is it so important?"

[The Dude]

She began searching her person for something, clearly confused having forgotten where she left something. It didn't take too long before she finally found a phial of red ink and opened it before setting it calmly in the open palm of her hand. She retrieved a paint brush that had been lost in the nest she passed off as hair and turned around running towards a tree. "Hurry up or you'll miss what brudda has to say." She looked back and waved Ji over, signaling him to stand beside her.

Without waiting to see whether he would or not she lightly dabbed the paint brush in the bottle before gently making a few test strokes of the brush on a tree. She pursed her lips to the side of her mouth thoughtfully and drew a small fish for her own amusement. Then she drew a simple design, easily confused at first glance until the design moved in a specific way. It was clear, the design was a pair of lips and as they parted words were heard. The words were spoken too quick and fast to be understood, and using the brush again the girl swept up the red paint. "Whoops, too small for brudda."

She drew another pair of lips this time larger, and as the lips parted this time it was a perfect rendition. The voice would be recognizable to Ji and the girl as belonging to the man who had kidnapped Uso. "Hello Ji. If you're hearing this message, then one of two things has happened. You've either adapted and learned to fight without your natural in born strengths proving you're a man of reaction as opposed to action. Or," there was a moment of silence and the lips seemed to frown slightly. "Or my dear sister has forgotten to ask whether you completed your quest and simply given you this message."

"Uh oh..." The girl shuffled her feet awkwardly looking down at the ground ashamed.

"At any rate however, I pose to you a riddle. It shouldn't be difficult but the second part of your test will be this. The answer will lead you to my location where Uso and I await your arrival. The riddle is..." There was silence as if to punctuate the rest of the speech from the riddle itself.

"Long have I witnessed war, death, and pain,
my masters change but I'm still the same.
I reach for the stars but never come close,
my purpose is just to give my men hope.
Too dangerous to be left alone,
too important for destruction,
too powerful to be contained,
Please new master, what is my name?"

[Messatsu!]

As the girl spoke and ushered Ji to her side, he cooperated without question and made his way over to her side quickly. Standing next to her, his head leaned in to see the paint that'd been splattered across the palm of her open hand. It seemed that whatever she painted, it sprung to life thereafter, perhaps a technique, or maybe just long lost magic that the world fancied to be fake? Regardless, as she drew the final pair of lips and it popped up and out of her hand, it spoke to him with a voice that still freshly burned within the forefronts of his mind, the voice of the old, pale man.

Connecting the dots from what he said, Ji managed to pass his initial test of adaption and moved on to the next round so to speak - riddles. While he hadn't been too familiar with riddles, he heard his fair share during the time he spent growing up with Namyeol's family as well as his own mother. Nodding to show his willingness to continue, he listened to the entire riddle. Once he had he knew his circle of suspects were small, considering his social life hadn't even had a chance to crawl since he left Mount Youbin and headed for Amegakure to be his fathers successor.

"My, my father?! He's the only person I know that has been constantly thrown into war therefore witnessing it. Death and pain -according to my mom and Namyeol- he knew that well as well. His masters did chance, from some guy named Faust, to Kouketsu, and then Shiji, a sage Namyeol spoke highly of but died a long time ago. . ."

"He gave men, hope, at least every man from Amegakure, including myself, and my mother. Reach the stars? Hmm"

Quizzically, he folded his arms and tapped his foot as he paused.

"He reached Amegakure and managed to set it free, but died doing so, he never came close to seeing its rebirth. Your name is Masuyo Kekkai. If it isn't my father then I don't know who it could possibly be, I don't even know that many people. So, is it really him?!"

[The Dude]

"It's a where? Not a who!" The girl shouted excitedly jumping up and down. Oddly enough the lips seemed to frown at her as she clapped her hands over her mouth in shock. She shook her head and scowled looking down at the floor again mumbling and cursing darkly behind her own hands. Her eyes blazed red and flames literally reflected darkly around the iris's of her eyes.

She looked up at Ji and shouted in frustration suddenly, "That's the last clue you get from Jibi weebi! You have to do this on your own! If I say anything more if you get the answer, you'll fail his test! Thinking Jibi think, Uso is depending on you! Where!?" She lifted her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down in frustration and concentration to keep from saying anything more.

The lips pursed to the side expectant and doubtful. Patient and silent. Everything in the area became still and silent and all focus, whether by eyes, ears, or even somehow miraculously lips looked on intent on Ji. Everything came down to him, and though played a friendly game of riddles it was impossible to know just how high the stakes of this particular game had been set.

[Messatsu!]

Having heard an answer he hadn't expected, Ji stepped back with his thumb and finger stroking his chin while he contemplated upon the old man's riddle once more. They mentioned that it'd been a place and not a person, which, made sense considering that the riddle itself matched with what Ji had in mind - a hidden village. Confident with his answer, he huffed a single sigh before answering to potentially solve the riddle at hand.

"It has to be a hidden village, namely the minor's ones considering they were used as the very battlefields for war. Amegakure, or better yet, its command tower. "

[The Dude]

The girl jumped up and down in circles while spinning happily before becoming dizzy in about ten second and stumbling and falling backwards into a bush while flailing her arms. "ooooohhhhh.... thorns," her voice carried up from out of the Ji's view in the depths of the bush. "Wait a minute are you still here?! What's wrong with you hurry up and go! You know the answer don't expect me to take you to your own village! Hurry before brother does something bad again!"

There was urgency in her voice as she struggled to get out of the bush. More than urgency there was sincere concern for the well being of Uso. This had always been an event to be taken seriously, but it's never a good sign when the other side is concerned for your own.

[Messatsu!]

The young girls reaction, admittedly, took Ji by surprise as she jumped up and down while informing him that he needed to actually go to the command tower itself. He wanted to know why, but considering the girls personality and how vague both she and her 'big brudda' were, the best option he could've taken had been to not ask at all and use that time to make his way to the command tower. With Ji's spirit still attached to Uso's body, he truly wished to not get involved in any sort of combat, at least, not against someone overly powerful where his Mangekyo sharingan would be needed.

"Thanks I guess, even with all the riddles and things. Farewell."

Having said his goodbyes, he turned upon both heels and bolted off through the column of trees, zooming through the thick forestry and headed straight towards Amegakure & its command tower. Feeling as though time had been agaisnt him, he moved as quickly as possible, nearly pushing Uso's body to its limits with speed.

"I've got to hurry back, if anything happens to Amegakure, I'll tear this country apart to find that girl and that old, pale man."

Before long, he reached the village's gates, where -naturally- they mistook Ji for Uso yet they still let him in without question considering Ji's relationship with Uso. Nodding to the guards, he rushed into and through the village streets, well on his way to the tower. As seconds of travel turned into minutes, finally, Ji reached its base entrance where he shoulder tackled the door, thrusting it open vehemently before examining its interior for anything out of the ordinary.