Team Purple Act I [Requesting Entrance]

[Shiruko Makoto]

Sand...had changed quite a lot, actually.

There were significant structures aboveground now, the rebuilding apparently proceeding apace. What must have been the Kage tower rose majestically out of the windswept sands, gleaming in the midday light. At the distance they were at, it still wasn't hard to see the numerous coloured symbols splashed over the surface, carved and painted into the silvery stone.

Beyond that, there were...people. On the surface. Not a sight he'd seen much of last time, to be sure. In fact, the whole trip over from the port had been peaceful, with a lack of need to pull up his scarf or wear his goggles.

Partly because of me, he thought smugly, as the phoenix flooded him with an approving feeling.

"This is the entrance to Sand, huh?" Sheimi said, peering up at the dojo. Her hair was straighter than he'd ever seen it, without Moon's humidity making it bunch up and stick together in waves that sometimes, on wetter days, nearly became curls. "Where's the rest of it?"

"Still underground, I assume," Makoto responded. "Could you hand me the invitation? I should take point; I've been here before."

Sheimi shrugged. Amusement. "Sure." She dug it out of a pocket on the side of her travel pack and handed it over. "Here."

Tatsuya murmured something, and his snake hissed what may have been a laugh. When they both glanced at him, he shrugged. "She likes traveling, and I haven't been here before," he said simply.

"Weirdo," Makoto muttered. "The talking snake likes travel, of course it does."

Sheimi merely rolled her eyes. Superiority, more amusement. If he focused on her emotions, he could mostly ignore Tatsuya and the weird gap in his.

"All right," he said aloud. "We're going to have to present a united front on this. Although, just for reference, I'm not rooming with either of you when we get to the hotel."

"Definitely not," Sheimi said, but she was looking at Tatsuya and frowning when she said that, not at him.

Oh, this is not going to go well...

Since he had put himself in the position to do it, Makoto had no choice. He walked up to the doors of the Dojo, much like he had many months prior, and knocked sharply three times.

 

[Senju Kazuki]

[col]

It would not take long for the trio to feel a sudden drop of temperature. It would be quite a weird change considering they were in the middle of a desert. It was supposed to be hot, so why was it so cold now of a sudden? Of course, to feel such shift, one had to have weak willpower. If all of them possessed indomitable will, they would not feel a thing. But even those of the group that potentially could be affected by it, could eventually gain a degree of resistance, if not outright immunity, to it. But the sudden drop of heat was not the only sign that heralded the approach of Kazuki. The wind, even if there were no breeze at all, would start to howl. And any visible shadows would become livelier as the partly Deep Court Ancient came near. Three sharp knocks echoed through the grandiose entrance hall of the Toraono Dojo. And the end of the third, the large doors began to open. Despite being old and worn out, the entrance to the realm of Sunagakure received constant maintenance and such, no metallic sounds would come out from the old hinges. Once the doors had become fully opened, the epicenter, the cause for such weird phenomena would be revealed.

An adult male stood there with his arms crossed. He had short, spiky silvery hair and his completion would indicate he was very sick. Kazuki was as pale as a corpse, but he was far from being unhealthy or close to dying. He was dressed with a black and gray robe with silvery trimmings and an open colar, along with a large, red, flowing toga drapped around his body and across his chest. Black combat boots and black pants finished his choice of clothing. His black irised eyes were locked on the three strangers. And despite bearing a potential threatening demeanor, his face showed nothing but calmness and confidence. He had come to greet them, not fight them. And a struggle would only ensue if they sought one. "Welcome to Sunagakure. How may we serve you?" he would greet them. Time to play.​

|[legend="[[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qMBans8jyM][b][u]Senju Kazuki[/u][/b][/url]]"]

Senju Kazuki - Senju Overlord

[/legend][/col]

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

Makoto was, possibly predictably, the only one who even so much as twitched at the abrupt temperature drop. Tatsuya appeared completely unconcerned, whatever abnormal thing about him shielding him, and SHeimi was likely in the same position. Makoto was not possessed of quite the same iron willpower as the two crazy people he was traveling with, though the phoenix could shield him enough so that it felt more like a cool breeze than anything.

Which, in all honesty, was a bit refreshing in their current location. Wind was a bit creepy, but honestly, he'd been in the Sandstorm.

"They sure like their dramatics, must be a ninja village," Sheimi murmured off to his side just before the doors swung open.

Makoto barely glanced at her before turning his attention toward the Sand nin (probably? Safe bet,) who stood in the door. His first time around, the girl who greeted him hadn't put on quite the show of theatrics. But then, Wind Country was entertaining a major event; perhaps they desired to be showier.

He was not getting any hostile intentions from the man, either.

He held up the invitation; the gold embossing around the edges ought to make it obvious what it was. "Greetings from Moon Country. We were invited to an event out in Wind Country, and we thought it to be a better idea to stay in Sand itself in the meantime, especially as I personally have been here before."

To most people, Moon Country would evoke different imagery--as a tourist locale, or a noted neutral nation, or perhaps for the rather high percentage of religious people kicking around in the main city. What was fortunate, however was that none of the images it tended to evoke were in any way threatening.

And honestly, they were supposed to make nice anyway.

He pinged something off Tatsuya--not any kind of wariness, but the sense of 'he might just be about to open his mouth'--but apparently Sheimi had caught it somehow too, as her irritation briefly flared, and Tatsuya registered an instant of surprise before settling. A rapid glance in that direction showed she had somehow used her water control to soak his socks and the lower legs of his pants with cold water, without any handseals or visible sign of it. Makoto did his best to hide his smirk.

Yeah, it's a good idea for me to do the talking.

"If it's an issue, of course, we can head back out to the port and stay there," he added, mostly to draw attention from his teammates, "but we're not here to cause trouble."

Not deliberately, anyway.

 

[Senju Kazuki]

[col]

"Greetings from Moon Country. We were invited to an event out in Wind Country, and we thought it to be a better idea to stay in Sand itself in the meantime, especially as I personally have been here before." Makoto would declare as he held up the golden invitation that had been sent to, practically much, everyone in the world. If there was one thing one could say about the Wind Daimyo, he surely knew how to throw a wedding party. But, Kazuki also knew the man's true intentions about Sunagakure. They were a delicacy he fully intended on devouring. In fact, the first bite had just happened. This trio had come in a very bad time. Despite being a man with extensive traveling under his belt, the Overlord had never set foot inside that particular part of the world. So he had no idea the Moon Country was filled with religious zealots. Or that it was a tourist locale. And that meant, they were fated to receive him soon enough. But any kind of visitation would have to wait until Sunagakure's threats were quenched. And that was something that had no end in sight.

After a brief, practically undetected commotion between all three, Makoto would speak again. "If it's an issue, of course, we can head back out to the port and stay there," he added, mostly to draw attention from his teammates, "but we're not here to cause trouble.". The White Wolf would shook his head upon hearing this. There was no need to travel back, Sunagakure would certainly welcome them. "There will be no need to return to the port. The entrance of Sunagakure is still open to past visitors, especially those that entered in peace and left in the same manner. And I am certain you came in peace, otherwise, we would not be meeting like this." the Silvery Haired Man would note. "You are free to enter Sunagakure. Housing might be a little hard to find, due to recent events, but I am certain you will find suitable accommodations if you search well enough. Just stay out of trouble, or trouble will find you." Reaper stated as he began to move aside to allow them entrance. Unfortunately, such motion was cut short as he remembered something. "Apologies but I will require a blood sample from all three of you. It is standard procedure since those recent events I have alluded to. If you are willing to allow me to extract one sample from each of you, then you are free to enter." the Sennin added. He had returned to his original position. He was adamant, they would not enter without surrendering a blood sample.

[MFT - 449]​

|[legend="[[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qMBans8jyM][b][u]Senju Kazuki[/u][/b][/url]]"]

Senju Kazuki - Senju Overlord

[/legend][/col]

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

It was a bit of a relief that he noticed that Kazuki ignored or missed their small slapstick comedy of errors. Makoto silently thanked his lucky stars that the Sand nin had not noticed, or cared about, their team dynamic. It was embarrassing enough that he just happened to be the least disastrous of a trio of walking disasters without the people they were attempting diplomacy with cottoning onto that fact.

"Managed to find a place last time, I'm sure we'll find somewhere," he said with a shrug. Though it wasn't surprising that Sand would be housing a lot of visitors at the moment, there were probably a couple decent hotel rooms left.

He doesn't seem like someone to bother negotiating with, he thought as he picked up on the man's adamant resolve with his empathy. Good thing none of us give a damn about giving a bit of blood.

He shrugged fluidly. "I don't recall that from last time I came here, but none of us have any objections to that." There were people in Moon who would, but he had heard Sheimi scoffing before over people who got superstitious over it, and Tatsuya wasn't even from Moon.

He glanced back at the other two, just to make sure, but Sheimi had already rolled up her left sleeve with a complete lack of concern on her face. Tatsuya already had his right rolled up; apparently he was still enough of a Shoukyou to have picked up their family's traditional left-handedness. He pushed his own right sleeve up with an internal shrug; unless they ran cross-references between the three of them, they wouldn't find anything unusual. Even then, a total lack of bloodline markers anywhere in them wasn't completely unheard of even outside of Moon and not a red flag.

He did wonder a bit at the reaction to the invitation as he tucked it away, though. He hadn't gotten a proper read there. He knew Sand and Wind Country were politically separate entities, but was there some kind of bad blood...?

"If you have syringes or anything, we can speed this up and do it ourselves," he said easily. He had first-aid training, at least. Maybe one of the others did too.

(Taking blood from visitors was probably just to check against criminal records, so they had nothing to worry about, and there were more sure ways to harm visitors, if you intended to, than giving them rusty needles and hopig they died of tetanus or something.)

 

[Senju Kazuki]

[col]

"Managed to find a place last time, I'm sure we'll find somewhere," the Leader spoke, or at least, the most diplomatic member of the group. That was the conclusion Kazuki had made so far. Makoto had been the only one that had spoken to him. Not necessary a strange thing, but still quirky. But who was he to point fingers? "I don't recall that from last time I came here, but none of us have any objections to that." he noted. The Overlord would nod upon hearing such remark. "Indeed you are correct. It was not. But it is now and every visitor is being requested this. As I have said, standard procedure nowadays." the White Wolf told him. Well, their blood also had other uses, but he was going share with them just that. "If you have syringes or anything, we can speed this up and do it ourselves." the diplomat from the Moon Country stated. Again the Silvery Haired Man would nod, and apparently, three syringes and three vials appeared on his right hand. "Feel free." Reaper noted as he tossed those items to them. Once the three vials were filled with their respective blood and after he had received them, the Sennin would, once again, step to his side and give them a full view of Sunagakure's entrance.

"Welcome to Sunagakure. I hope you enjoy your stay and the upcoming wedding." he announced. Once Makoto was passing by him, Kazuki would extend his right hand and present with him with a card. "If you see anything out of the ordinary, or feel the sudden urge of speaking with Suna's authorities, press the symbol on this card. I will know where to find you and we can talk." the Overlord would instruct him. His voice had been low enough to not allow any travelers to hear it, but high enough to be fully understandable by Makoto. SHIELD was in its infancy still, and this was not just a SHIELD business. It was about the village's safety.

[Topic Left]

OC
Entry granted.
SHIELD card given.​

|[legend="[[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qMBans8jyM][b][u]Senju Kazuki[/u][/b][/url]]"]

Senju Kazuki - Senju Overlord

[/legend][/col]

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

[Thought I'd done this already, guess not. Sorry. x.x]

Nothing more than the aura of mild suspicion and caution that he'd expect from a gate guard, which made Makoto relax a touch. In retrospect, he probably should have shown the token he had been handed on his way out of Sand the previous time that marked him as a friend, but it was in his pack and he wasn't bothered to go digging it out.

Albeit, if he did that at some point around his traveling companions, it could at least prove he genuinely hadn't caused any diplomatic incidents of any kind during his last trip to Sand.

He accepted the card and glanced at it, his eyebrow only twitching upward very slightly before he inclined his head and tucked it into his jacket pocket.

"Much appreciated," he murmured. "Likewise, I know a few people here, so if something happens that I can assist with, I'll be sure to chip in if I'm in the area."

He could feel Sheimi's look at basically volunteering them for getting into trouble, but assisting the Sand nin with any trouble that cropped up was literally part of their mission, so that wasn't on him.

(If he had known Kazuki thought that he, of all people, was a successful diplomat, Makoto would have been both knocked over and smug for a while. It was probably for the best his empathy wasn't that specific.)

Still, they weren't there to cause trouble, that much was true. He moved toward the village opening and descended once more into the underground of Sand's main area, and after only a slight hesitation and exchanging of glares, Sheimi and Tatsuya followed him.

[Topic Left; Village Entered]