The rattle of the wheels on the tracks and the gentle swaying of the cars jostled Kiyoshi in his seat. He couldn’t unglue his eyes from the window. He’d never been on a train before. Hell, he’d never been outside of his village. The central valley of Kaminari no Kuni spanned on seemingly forever, with the distant mountains rearing up proudly, creating a jagged-edged bowl effect on the landscape. The train cruised through the valley, stopping at every small town along the way. Kiyoshi was starting to realize how big the world actually was.
Most people got off when they were one town over, but not Kiyoshi, and not the Shinobi who he was traveling with. The CPSS agent sat silently across from Kiyoshi, his face stoic and disinterested in the marvel that was steam locomotion. Kiyoshi peeled his eyes away from the window for the occasional, furtive glance towards the imposing stranger. He was very plain looking, average height, weight, and build. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about him at all. It suddenly dawned on Kiyoshi that that was probably a desirable trait for someone whose whole career was centered around stealth and deception. If it weren’t for the standard issue body armor and Cloud Village headband, your eyes would pass right over him.
Kiyoshi’s ponderings turned his eyes towards the window again. As the miles passed and the sun made its arch in the sky, the mountains in the distance slowly loomed closer. The lush, fertile farmlands of the valley gave way to rolling hills and dense forests as the sun sank below the horizon. With his head pressed against the cool glass of the window, Kiyoshi faded off to sleep.
The train jostling to a stop shook Kiyoshi awake. The sky was grey with the impending dawn, and at some point in the night, the train had made it’s way up into the mountains. The CPSS shinobi motioned that this was their stop; but when Kiyoshi got off the train, the shinobi didn’t join him on the platform.
“I’ve got to head back to the valley. Your village wasn’t the last one on my route, I just wanted to make sure you made it here all right.” Even his voice was completely forgettable. “The train doesn’t go all the way up to the gates. You’ll have to walk the rest of the way. It’s about 10 miles from here to Dragon Tooth Pass.” He paused and smiled, then. “Think of it as your first test.”
The train’s whistle blew, and the crew were waiving people on the platform away from the cars. The shinobi on the train turned and walked back into the car, then stopped, as if he’d forgotten something.
“Oh, yeah, don’t even think about running off. The next nearest hint of civilization is over 50 miles away, and you’d have to go through one of the most dangerous forests in the world to get there. Your only chance to survive is to stick to the road, and head straight for the village. If you hoof it, you should get there by lunch.” And with that, the doors shut and the train was gone.
Kiyoshi was alone, the platform all but deserted. Honestly, he was more than a little insulted that the CPSS agent would think he’d run away. Then again, Kiyoshi could see why he’d be so concerned. Sometimes prospective shinobi weren’t too enthused by their conscription. Some were kidnapped, or even purchased from slavery. It made sense that the agent would be on the lookout for him to run away.
There was nothing for it, and standing around pondering wasn’t going to make the 10 miles any shorter. Kiyoshi shrugged his small backpack onto his shoulders, and began walking down the road. Little did he know, the CPSS agent had slipped a tag bearing a tracking seal into his bag while he slept. Back on the train, the shinobi smirked as he felt the tag head towards the village.
Kiyoshi wouldn’t call his route a road, per say. It was more like a footpath that happened to be wide enough for two carts to pass each other unmolested. It wasn’t paved, but the earth was fairly hard packed from countless years of travel. It was flanked on both sides by tall evergreens, fir and spruce, interspersed with the occasional sheer rock face or plunging ravine on one side or the other, or sometimes both. The path shifted constantly, rolling uphill and down, but always climbing higher. Even though it was early summer, it was still quite cool in the mountains, and could be downright chilly if there was a stiff breeze or one was walking in the shadows of the trees or cliffs.
After cresting a particularly steep rise, Kiyoshi, panting hard, was delighted to see that the terrain leveled off for a bit, and a fast-flowing stream running along the side of the road before it plunged down into another ravine. He was no slouch – Kiyoshi grew up working hard on a farm, after all – but the air was much thinner up here. He estimated that he’d walked about half the distance so far, and had climbed at least a half-mile in altitude. Plopping down beside the stream, Kiyoshi sighed in relief.
He peeled off his tennis shoes and socks, hanging the latter to dry while he rested, and sank his feat into the ice-cold mountain stream. The intense coldness was a shock at first, but after a couple of seconds, he no longer cared. He was promptly distracted by his stomach giving a ravenous growl. He hadn’t had anything to eat since the morning before. He had been too excited to eat on the train, and he hadn’t thought to have breakfast on the platform. Rustling through his bag, he pulled out the sandwiches his mother had packed for him.
His lip quivered and he fought back a tear when he thought of his mom. Boys don’t cry. More importantly, shinobi don’t cry. Kiyoshi knew he was being ridiculous, but it was the principle of the thing. He pulled out one sandwich, and put the other one away for later. It only took four bites to finish off the PB&J, and one or two gulps to polish off what was left in his canteen. With a grunt of determination, Kiyoshi pulled his feet from the stream, dried them off and pulled on his now-dry socks and shoes. It only took another moment to repack his bag, refill his canteen from the stream, and get back on the road. He had been wary to drink straight from the stream without treating the water, but this high up, and running that quickly and cold, the chance of getting sick from it were pretty minimal.
The sun was starting to get high in the sky by the time he got to the gates. The trees thinned out and eventually disappeared, leaving Kiyoshi to wander through narrow passes of unclimbable sheer cliff faces. As he rounded a particularly sharp corner, he was struck by the imposing sight of the gates. It was enormous! Nothing could be that big! Kiyoshi was even a little miffed at the sheer pomposity of building something that big. Tiny specs moved in the towers and on the parapet, guards watching the approach of strangers.
Kiyoshi paused and dug through his bag for the packet of papers that the CPSS shinobi gave him to present to the Gate Guards. A temporary passport and the initial paperwork identifying him as an Academy initiate. Re-shouldering his bag, he approached the massive expanse of… where the hell did they even find that much steel?
”Hello!” He called once he was in the gate’s shadow. ”I’m Takahashi Kiyoshi – uh – a shinobi with the CPSS gave me orders to report here?!” Kiyoshi waved the packet of papers – which he then realized was completely ridiculous. At that distance, he might as well be waiving a pile of take-out menus. Completely at a loss of what to do next, Kiyoshi simply waited for someone to check his paperwork and let him in.
[MFT, WC: 1359]
Most people got off when they were one town over, but not Kiyoshi, and not the Shinobi who he was traveling with. The CPSS agent sat silently across from Kiyoshi, his face stoic and disinterested in the marvel that was steam locomotion. Kiyoshi peeled his eyes away from the window for the occasional, furtive glance towards the imposing stranger. He was very plain looking, average height, weight, and build. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about him at all. It suddenly dawned on Kiyoshi that that was probably a desirable trait for someone whose whole career was centered around stealth and deception. If it weren’t for the standard issue body armor and Cloud Village headband, your eyes would pass right over him.
Kiyoshi’s ponderings turned his eyes towards the window again. As the miles passed and the sun made its arch in the sky, the mountains in the distance slowly loomed closer. The lush, fertile farmlands of the valley gave way to rolling hills and dense forests as the sun sank below the horizon. With his head pressed against the cool glass of the window, Kiyoshi faded off to sleep.
The train jostling to a stop shook Kiyoshi awake. The sky was grey with the impending dawn, and at some point in the night, the train had made it’s way up into the mountains. The CPSS shinobi motioned that this was their stop; but when Kiyoshi got off the train, the shinobi didn’t join him on the platform.
“I’ve got to head back to the valley. Your village wasn’t the last one on my route, I just wanted to make sure you made it here all right.” Even his voice was completely forgettable. “The train doesn’t go all the way up to the gates. You’ll have to walk the rest of the way. It’s about 10 miles from here to Dragon Tooth Pass.” He paused and smiled, then. “Think of it as your first test.”
The train’s whistle blew, and the crew were waiving people on the platform away from the cars. The shinobi on the train turned and walked back into the car, then stopped, as if he’d forgotten something.
“Oh, yeah, don’t even think about running off. The next nearest hint of civilization is over 50 miles away, and you’d have to go through one of the most dangerous forests in the world to get there. Your only chance to survive is to stick to the road, and head straight for the village. If you hoof it, you should get there by lunch.” And with that, the doors shut and the train was gone.
Kiyoshi was alone, the platform all but deserted. Honestly, he was more than a little insulted that the CPSS agent would think he’d run away. Then again, Kiyoshi could see why he’d be so concerned. Sometimes prospective shinobi weren’t too enthused by their conscription. Some were kidnapped, or even purchased from slavery. It made sense that the agent would be on the lookout for him to run away.
There was nothing for it, and standing around pondering wasn’t going to make the 10 miles any shorter. Kiyoshi shrugged his small backpack onto his shoulders, and began walking down the road. Little did he know, the CPSS agent had slipped a tag bearing a tracking seal into his bag while he slept. Back on the train, the shinobi smirked as he felt the tag head towards the village.
Kiyoshi wouldn’t call his route a road, per say. It was more like a footpath that happened to be wide enough for two carts to pass each other unmolested. It wasn’t paved, but the earth was fairly hard packed from countless years of travel. It was flanked on both sides by tall evergreens, fir and spruce, interspersed with the occasional sheer rock face or plunging ravine on one side or the other, or sometimes both. The path shifted constantly, rolling uphill and down, but always climbing higher. Even though it was early summer, it was still quite cool in the mountains, and could be downright chilly if there was a stiff breeze or one was walking in the shadows of the trees or cliffs.
After cresting a particularly steep rise, Kiyoshi, panting hard, was delighted to see that the terrain leveled off for a bit, and a fast-flowing stream running along the side of the road before it plunged down into another ravine. He was no slouch – Kiyoshi grew up working hard on a farm, after all – but the air was much thinner up here. He estimated that he’d walked about half the distance so far, and had climbed at least a half-mile in altitude. Plopping down beside the stream, Kiyoshi sighed in relief.
He peeled off his tennis shoes and socks, hanging the latter to dry while he rested, and sank his feat into the ice-cold mountain stream. The intense coldness was a shock at first, but after a couple of seconds, he no longer cared. He was promptly distracted by his stomach giving a ravenous growl. He hadn’t had anything to eat since the morning before. He had been too excited to eat on the train, and he hadn’t thought to have breakfast on the platform. Rustling through his bag, he pulled out the sandwiches his mother had packed for him.
His lip quivered and he fought back a tear when he thought of his mom. Boys don’t cry. More importantly, shinobi don’t cry. Kiyoshi knew he was being ridiculous, but it was the principle of the thing. He pulled out one sandwich, and put the other one away for later. It only took four bites to finish off the PB&J, and one or two gulps to polish off what was left in his canteen. With a grunt of determination, Kiyoshi pulled his feet from the stream, dried them off and pulled on his now-dry socks and shoes. It only took another moment to repack his bag, refill his canteen from the stream, and get back on the road. He had been wary to drink straight from the stream without treating the water, but this high up, and running that quickly and cold, the chance of getting sick from it were pretty minimal.
The sun was starting to get high in the sky by the time he got to the gates. The trees thinned out and eventually disappeared, leaving Kiyoshi to wander through narrow passes of unclimbable sheer cliff faces. As he rounded a particularly sharp corner, he was struck by the imposing sight of the gates. It was enormous! Nothing could be that big! Kiyoshi was even a little miffed at the sheer pomposity of building something that big. Tiny specs moved in the towers and on the parapet, guards watching the approach of strangers.
Kiyoshi paused and dug through his bag for the packet of papers that the CPSS shinobi gave him to present to the Gate Guards. A temporary passport and the initial paperwork identifying him as an Academy initiate. Re-shouldering his bag, he approached the massive expanse of… where the hell did they even find that much steel?
”Hello!” He called once he was in the gate’s shadow. ”I’m Takahashi Kiyoshi – uh – a shinobi with the CPSS gave me orders to report here?!” Kiyoshi waved the packet of papers – which he then realized was completely ridiculous. At that distance, he might as well be waiving a pile of take-out menus. Completely at a loss of what to do next, Kiyoshi simply waited for someone to check his paperwork and let him in.
[MFT, WC: 1359]
