Coming home.

[Takaki Saeko]

It had been a long, hard journey back to Kumogakure from the North. Without the benefit of chakra, his age was apparent, and his bones creaked and joints ached. The chill had not yet completely left his body, and it would be months before he learned to feel warm again. The frozen gulag of Naraka just kept on giving, after all. Moro, Ayumu, and that little red riding hood girl, Kahako, had gone on ahead to enter at a different time – to conceal their involvement in Masao and Kitsune’s escape and flight back home. Technically, their entire mission had been illegal and under no one’s authority. Masao and Kitsune were in fact taking a big gamble that the Raikage would not simply extradite them both back to Bear. Shin was an honorable man – honorable to a fault, sometimes. As he approached the gate, he was greeted by a familiar sight.

[Secretary? Really?!]​

“Onii-chan!!” squealed his white-haired secretary as she glomped him. Masao patted her on the back, gently. For a demon hellspawn creature, she could be kawaii…sometimes. He noticed that she carried a bag full of office supplies – why did she have to leave the village to get those? Unless they were demonic office supplies – better not to think too much on it. “Where were you, you baka?!” she demanded.

“Nyaruko-chan, I’ll explain later. For now, I’m going to the hospital with Kitsune-chan. You will need to deliver quite a few messages for me in the meantime. Let the Raikage know I’m back, and ask him not to toss me out just yet for being an escaped criminal. Tell Donuts he’s going to have to do my job for a while longer. Until I can get this chakra seal off of me I’m not a shinobi, just a guy with a bolter and an agenda,” he smirked. “I also want Donuts, Ambassador Tanaka, and Chuunin Kichida ready to give their full intel reports to me. I hear Bear and Marsh are at war and I want to know where Enishi is and what we’re doing to track him down and kill him. Captain Ishikawa is to increase the guard and bring us to condition red. Did I forget anything… Oh yes, Tama-chin. Tell the Hand to meet me in the office or I’m really going to give her drillhair this time,” he said, as the secretary jotted down notes with supernatural speed.

“Oh, and tell my wife I wish to see Takayama’s body to pay my respects. If the Sileo won’t honor his body, I will do so,” he said.

“Now, will someone please let us in?!”

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Tama was sitting atop the gates, staring listlessly off into the distance. She was totally paying attention to the goings on below, but gate guard duty was boring. All you did was sit around and stare off into the distance waiting for something to show up.

It didn't help that the guard next to her couldn't stop talking her ear off about the joys of being a faceless NPC whose only job in life was to sit atop these blasted gates and, gasp, stare into the distance. Oh joy, why did I ever agree to sub for Tomo's guard shift, she thought to herself.

Then she spotted someone approaching the gates below, and saw an opportunity to leave the boring NPC behind. "Someone's approaching, gotta go check it out!"

Leaping to the ground, she ran over to the haggard man and the white-haired assistant before realizing who it was. "Papers and stuff, what's you purpose for entering Kum--, Barfight-sennin? What happened to you? Er, do you need to go to the hospital or something. Do you even have papers to show me?"

[Topic Entered--Entrance granted Upon presentation of Papers or equivalent stuff]

 

[Takaki Saeko]

"You know what, on second thought, I'll see less of you in prison. Back to Naraka I go!" said Masao to Tama as he turned three-hundred-sixty degrees and walked away. Or at least, he did so in his imagination.

No, in reality he was actually glad to see one of his own Branch, and one of his trusted subordinates, at that. (Tama may have been an annoying git with a blatant and furious disregard for the dress code, but in the end, he knew where her loyalties lay). Any prudent member of the senior leadership of the village knew that there were those shinobi he could rely on, and those who plotted his downfall. Vile whispers might convince the Raikage to go ahead with the extradition, for example. The fiasco with Takayama and Enishi had been more than enough to convince him that the Kingslayers had agents in the village, along with every other foreign power nearby, and that often times, these same spies answered to multiple masters. For the time being, until he had his powers back and a firm finger on the pulse of the village, he would need to be careful.

"Tama-chin, be a good Hand and watch for Shinrya Kitsune, okay? I have to go to the Hospital and get something taken care of," he sighed. "In before venereal disease!" he scowled at her preemptively. "And no, I have no papers. Only this," he said, showing her the true mark of his office: The Brush.

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Tama flinched at the sight of the feared symbol. She had finally gotten her hair back to the way she liked it, slightly messy and disheveled. She had no intention of going through that kind of torment ever again. But there was no way it wasn't Masao who was standing before her now. Only he could wield a brush and strike fear into Tama's heart.

"A-alright. Watch for Shinrya Kitsune. Should I tell her to see you when she returns?" she asked, as she signaled the guards above to open the gates.

"Oh yeah! I learned a new trick while you were gone," she said quickly changing the subject, "I can make fireballs disappear! You should be amazed!" She stared at him clearly asking him to shoot a fireball, or any thing really at her. But she was unaware that his chakra was currently sealed away and unusable, so her request could not be accommodated at the moment.

After listening to Masao's response, she would wave him through the gate at then clamber back up to her spot again and, like Masao requested, keep an eye out for this Shinrya Kitsune person.

[Feel free to leave, if Kitsune is still outside of the village she can post in here when she returns. I'll wait in here with Tama.]

 

[Takaki Saeko]

“Yes, tell Shinrya-hakase to meet me at the hospital. She’ll know where,” he said, relieved that Tama would watch for his companion. It would do no good to lose her now, not after what they had suffered together. The gate doors slowly started to swing open, propelled by thousand-year-old machinery that was more magic than science in the present age. Nyaruko gave Masao another glomp-hug before jetting through the gates to relay his messages, leaving him with Miss Panda.

“I can make fireballs disappear! You should be amazed!" said Tama, quickly reverting to her spastic need for attention and spectacle. Masao merely shook the brush at her again.

“I can’t summon chakra right now, Tama-chin, but I can still make your split-ends disappear,” he said gruffly, before proceeding onward and past his hand’s insufferable presence. Seriously, how the hell did the Shogun tolerate her? Perhaps Shiranai was an M-Man, after all.

[TL, entered village, thanks!]

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune walked up to the gate, in slightly better shape than she had been back in the frozen wasteland, yet still exhausted and starving. The second thing she’d do once she got into the village would be to go on a binge-eating streak. But first, she’d have to get the damn chakra seal removed so she could be her old, warping, self again. Upon reaching the gates, she’d hit the bell so she could be let in and get back to her old life.

Man… I hope it’s a friendly face at the gates… Otherwise I’ll have a bit of a problem explaining who I am… No papers… Only this sword with my family insignia at the hilt… Meh… I hope it isn’t some ignoramus that doesn’t know my family crest. That Takagi Masao fellow should have taught all the students of the academy about the nobles in the country… she thought to herself and sighed as she waited.

[Let me innnnnn D: ]

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Tama spied another figure coming up to the gates. And once again, she jumped down to see who it was. This time it wasn't a familiar face, and Tama had to ask, "Who are you? I need your papers and stuff to let you in." Unfortunately, Tama had never paid attention to the classes on family crests, and so didn't know a single thing about them. However, the young chuunin was told to wait for another person, a Shinrya Kitsune. So her first thought was, Is she this mysterious Shinrya Kitsune? But Tama knew better than to ask that question. Anyone would say yes if that let them get into the village. There would have to be another way to prove her identity, especially if she was like Masao and not in possession of any official documents, but she didn't know how.

Luckily for the both of them someone who did know a thing or two about family insignia showed up on the scene.

Kazuhiko warped to the spot where Tama was standing and instantly recognized the med-nin from the dossiers he had been sifting and sorting in the Torre recently, in addition he would be able to identify the insignia as that of the Shinrya clan. Because unlike a certain brash, reckless, silly chuunin, Kazuhiko actually had paid attention to those classes on who was who in Kumogakure. "Shinrya Kitsune-hakase, it's an honor to actually meet you in person," Kazuhiko said with a slight bow. "Mochizuki-san, I will vouch that this is the real Shinrya Kitsune."

"Okay desu. Then Shinrya Kitsune, if you really are Shinrya Kitsune, Barfight-sennin-sama wants you at the hospital for something or another. Oh I can make fireballs disappear, wanna see? Barfight-sennin said something about not being able to summon chakra, but he was probably just trying to avoid me...," Tama rambled on just seeking attention at this point.

Kazuhiko whispered to Kitsune, "Just go on. Masao-sama is waiting. I'll handle the Hand." Kazuhiko had a resigned look on his face as he said to Tama, "Oi, you want fireballs? I'll give you fireballs." Kazuhiko's hands both ignited in birght orange flames. Tama's face paled, "I just wanted a fireball gently lobbed at me, I don't need an inferno!" she said as she started to dash away from the gates and into the village, Kazuhiko warping after her.

[INPC Topic Enter]
[Entrance Granted upon demonstration of family insignia, Topic Left INPC Topic Left]

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune was just about to facepalm when it became apparent that Tama didn’t know the family crest of the Shinrya clan but fortunately another person dropped by and recognized both it, and her. ”Perfect! Someone that didn’t slack off in class.” Kitsune said and nodded at Kazuhiko. ”Erh.. Barfight-sennin? I’m assuming you mean Masao-san~. Yeah, we both need a thorough checkup after the prison.” she finished and sighed. Then, as Kazuhiko whispered to Kitsune, she nodded and entered the village after sheathing her sword, and pulling her clothes a bit tighter around herself.

[Dynamic entry! Erh, i mean. Village Entered. Thank you Tama-chan :3]