Who Took the Cookies out the Cookie Jar?

Poison!:

Stop the Poison!:

The clock struct 8pm around the time Guren had been wrapping up in his office. All that was stopping him from heading home was one last scrolled letter, tightly tied by a sangria red ribbon. It was the last thing dropped off onto Guren's desk, peculiarly in the center. Yawning, he stood up from his desk and outstretched his limbs. Bringing them back down, he'd reach out his right to grab ahold of the porcelain tea cup which sat upon his desk. He'd raise the cup to his lips and take a generous sip, finishing off the last bit in the cup. As the caffeine ridden tea reinvigorated Guren's motivation, his mind would momentarily experience an instance of deja vu. Almost as if he had been in this situation before. Not like physically standing in this office, but it could more appropriately be related to the feelings Guren had been having. The dedication to a village, the long hours spent working, the camaraderie, and so much more. It began to remind Guren of how he felt as a Chuunin of Kumogakure. With a puzzled expression Guren reluctantly pondered this thought, all the while reaching for the ribbon wrapped letter. Once with his reach, he'd shift his weight backwards and plop himself right back into his desk chair. 

Good, a distraction. When his attention met the unfamiliar signature on the crown of the rolled letter, his brow furrowed even further. Squinting his eyes to read the cursive, he deciphered the name "Itazura"...."Wh---Who?!" he exhaled as he leaned forward in his seat. Guren aint know nobody named Itazura. Maybe this letter wasn't for him? But that was unlikely as there weren't many whose Guren's mail would get mixed up with. Assuming that he indeed was the appropriate recipient, Guren proceeded to untie the ribbon and unravel the scroll. His eyes would instantly gravitate towards the signature at the foot of the letter which matched that on the ribbon's exterior. They would flicker back up towards his own name. Indeed, this was his mail. With a blink his gaze would shift down a line, reading the body contents of the letter. It was a formal request for his help against an entity named...Yoi. No clue who that b word is either. In any case, it was an opportunity to make some ryo. And after spending almost all of his a few days ago he needed a proposition like this. Still though, it was shady. Guren knew better than to trust anyone who uttered the words, "Trust me." Clearly if someone is telling you it's okay to trust them, it probably wasn't.

Nevertheless, Guren decided the reward could outweigh the risk. And so his hand would shuffle the papers in his hand so that the summoning scroll rolled up with the letter would be in front. Figuring he could make some money and simultaneously get away from the monotonous responsibilities of office work, Guren would firmly place the documents on the table. He'd raise his hand, and swiftly align his palm on the seal of the summoning scroll. And with that, he would vanish in place. Within mere moments, the Chinoike would find himself transported to a foreign land. He would be sitting upon a fountain in the middle of what appeared to be a vacant market square. With it being later in the evening, it made sense for everyone to be in their homes. Still though, something seemed eerie about the setting Guren sat within. And with ironic timing, a light gust of wind would blow by him. It would appear as a chakra source, clearly detected by base chakra sensory. Yet with its motion, it harmlessly blew the tails of Guren's kimono as well as his braids. But with this wind of chakra, carried a voice. An alluring, soft, and gentle one. Woman-like. Ethereal definitely. 

"Thank you for coming. There is no time to waste, so get to work. The evil Yoi, has a bakery. One where she makes evil...horrendous...cookies. Go there, and steal all the cookies...and the ingredients too! It seems trivial but it's important, and I cannot go myself..." the voice would say in a rushed and hushed tone. And right as it finished its speech, it would dissipate and fade away before Guren could even ask any questions. 

"Jeez...that's the welcoming committee? Alright I guess." he would say, while propping himself up from sitting on the fountain. He'd take a quick glance around to observe his surroundings, before looking straight up at the night sky. It was star filled, and the moon seemed so much larger and closer. Just where was this place? But this thought was quickly broken, as Guren noticed the sound of approaching footsteps. Seeing as he was an invited guest to this place, he kept his demeanor calm. Turning towards the direction of the approaching figure(s), he'd quickly give their appearances a scan over. "Sup. You lost too?" he'd ask the person, with his hands tucked into the pockets of his kimono.

WC = 838

Kita squinted suspiciously at the letter that was resting on his apartment countertop, seated upon a silver salver that the boy was convinced that neither he nor his parents have ever owned. Truth be told, the boy had already been suffering through a long day, having been running around all day performing whatever odd jobs that hadn't been assigned to the Genin of the village. Transporting important letters between various departments of the Kirigakure government at top speeds gets tiring for anyone. Why they didn't just invest in Space-Time aficionados to take care of it was beyond the young boy, though that was irrelevant for the time being.

Kita's pale hand drifted absentmindedly drifted down towards the hilt of the sword that hung by his left side, using his thumb to pop it out of the scabbard slightly if he needed to draw quickly. Normally Kita wouldn't be so cautious about a simple letter being sent to his apartment. He was no stranger to the concept in truth. He used to get letters delivered to this place addressed from the village, usually holding either missives detailing his next mission or payment for his last. Though recent events had the boy far more on edge than he had been in the past. He was jumpy after his trip to the village hidden in the stars, and recently it seemed as though other people had been entering his apartment without his knowledge. His mind flashed back to the Byakugan that he had found in a bloody pool within his fridge, and a shudder passed through his body. Was this a letter from the same people? Some other sick game he was forced to play in for their benefit? Kita's teeth gritted, and anger began to fill his mind. He didn't want to open that stupid letter. If he knew what was good for him he'd throw it in the garbage disposal, rip it to shreds, teach this freak that he wasn't some pawn in their plans. Though... Kita always was a curious person by nature.

With his free hand Kita plucked the letter from its location on the salver, taking note of the fancy red wax emblem used to seal it shut. With a deft movement Kita opened his mouth and quickly jammed the top of the letter into it, driving one of his canine teeth into the side and pulling, ripping the white outside envelope open. Kita's hand moved dexterously into the paper shell housing the letter to the boy, plucking the note from its covering and letting the husk fall to the ground. His eyes rapidly flicked back and forth across the page, his brow furrowing as he read through the letter. Who the hell was Yoi? And Itazura for that matter? Was he given the wrong letter? He couldn't have,the letter had his name on it. Maybe...Though Kita didn't see a summoning scroll. The boys eyes flickered once more around his apartment, his jaw tightening when he saw that nestled on the previously empty salver was a neatly tied, yellowed scroll.

"I guess it was for me after all."

Kita's scowl grew wider as he snatched the scroll from its position on the salver, picking it up and ripping off the ribbon that held it together. He wanted to use it, if only to know who the hell was bothering him, consequences be damned. It would just be a quick visit, wouldn't it? Short enough for Kita to get back and visit Bobo in the hospital before the next morning. Kita quickly unravelled the scroll and placed his hand in the center of the thing, transporting him to some unknown location in the blink of an eye. When his vision had settled, the boy realized that he was in some other strange village. It was early evening, where the sun had clearly just set, and the moon was still relatively low in the clear sky. The stars and moon shined brightly from above, illuminating this tiny little town. Snow covered the ground and rooftops, though it wasn't actively precipitating it seemed. As Kita looked around, he realized that he was in the middle of some kind of residential district, and most of the lights from the tiny houses he could see were flicked off. Was there nobody here?

It was at that moment that a chakra laden breeze made its way past Kita's ear, bringing with it the same message it had brought Guren. Cookies? How ridiculous. Frustrating as well. Kita was hoping that he would actually bear witness to the one who had asked for his assistance in this endeavor, though he reckoned they would show up by the end. Or at least he hoped. With a grumble Kita began walking forth from his place in the snow, trudging forward towards lord knows where as he tried to get his bearings. Crunching footsteps announced his arrival as he eventually came across what seemed to be a market district, and the first figure he had seen yet stood before an abandoned fountain.

"Hello?"

The figure turned towards him and asked if Kita was lost as well. The young boy gave a slight sigh. To the individual he was standing before, he looked to be a kid around 15 years of age, standing roughly 5'7 and possessing piercing gray eyes. Currently he was wearing standard Kirigakure uniform with a gray kimono worn over it instead of the traditional armor. Though he also looked abnormally pale, like he hadn't seen the sun in many years, or perhaps even more than that. It was clear from the sword by his hip and the Kirigakure hitai-ate on his belt that he was a shinobi.

"Unfortunately. Did you get a letter from a stranger as well?"

Word Count - 963

Clink, went the security lock as it secured the front doors of the tea shop, still owned by the missing Raleth. The time was now, all the guests were out, and so was Katsuragi. For the past few days, he was working quite a bit of long hours, keeping the place running while the owner was away. If it wasn’t for this raggedy restaurant, Katsuragi would have been outta here, gone, you would have never seen a ninja gone like Katsuragi. Where was Raleth? The million ryo question that had yet to be answered. No matter, with all that taken cared of, Katsuragi decided to head down to the entertainment district part of the village, to bar he actually took a liking too. Cheap drinks, girls on tap, and a shit load of vices that could really turn up a night upside down. Doubling checking everything, the doors, the lock and the rolled up scroll wrapped in a festive ribbon placed on the ground against the door, Katsuragi looked to the east and headed out in that direc- “HuuuuH? The fuck?”

Reaching for the scroll, he wondered where it could be from. He grabs it with authority, ready to make his way up to the administration building at a late hour or any other hour if this proved to be a utility bill. Even though he agreed to work a bit to live in the room provided by yours truly, Raleth, there was no way in hell he was gonna pay the power bill.

Upon opening it and reading the confines of the letter, it was a request for him to help out some stranger with setting up for something, something he cared not for. “Yeah, sure ill help, fuck outta here….”, he said. But as fate would have it, verbal agreements were ever so binding. Opening the second scroll out of curiosity, he finds himself beamed up from his current location, transported through space and time, lights vivid o all colors of the spectrum engulfed him. It was as if he was on the biggest acid trip of his life, no way was he gonna come down off this trip without any damage. Panicking, he arrives to the scene, free of any harm but at a lost of words as to what he was seeing. A bare courtyard, with a loan fountain. And to top it off, other people were here too. “The fuck…”, he gives a blank stare towards the backs of the other two individuals only to slowly hold up the scroll that was in his right hand, the one that got him here. He waves it slowly side to side, “Scroll, right?”, he said to get there attention. 

Katsuragi's attire consisted of a thin black polyester jacket, which underneath he wore a solid sleeveless navy blue shirt. His belt, designer's choice, had a MK emblem as a buckle. The pants he wore were a fresh pair of black stretch jeans. His boots on his feet also being solid black of a leather material with an emblem labeled "EU", it's made of metal stitched to the tongue of the boots. His hair, still vivid, was a solid dark purple. His hair would have went in contrast with his pale skin, however, his arms torso and hands bore a mural of mostly assorted prison tattoos; all black ink in color. He himself stood at a height of 6'2 feet with a thin frame. His tools and such were all assorted evenly along his attire, given no hint to their whereabouts yet allowed him easy access with a little bit of technique.

Naki was just waking up and was going about his daily routine of shower, breakfast, grab his gear, pay his respect to his family and go out to do a mission. The young man was just leaving his home when he noticed that he had mail in his box. He would tilt his head in confusion as he hasn't really gotten mail like this. It was a scroll with a weird bow on it and he was curious to why he had one. The young genin would read it as the name was visible to him.  "Who's Itazuza?" He asked himself as he opened the contents of the letter confused about it. He would start to walk around to the front of the building stopping just short from the gate as he tilted his head. The young ninja would tie his new white bandana around his face as he liked the look it gave him before going back to the letter.  "I wonder why they would want me? But hey if it means helping others I definitely wouldn't mind doing so."

The young man said as he walk forward without paying much attention he ended up walking into the back of Katsuragi as Naki rubbed his face a bit. Much like Katsuragi he was teleported kind of fast and wasn't exactly paying attention until he ran into them.  "Oh um sorry about that I should have been....." his voice would trail off as he noticed that he wasn't in suna anymore and it was trippy with this being his first time teleporting like this. His brown eyes would wonder around staring at the two people who he's never met before landing on a familiar face.  "N-ninsei? What's going on here?" Naki asked as he moved to the deputy kage not realizing that he never called him ninsei before it kinda sounded like through his confusion he combined sensei with something else not really sure what. He would stand by Guren a bit looking at the other two as Naki hasn't been out of the village yet

The young sand genin had his headband across his head and the white bandana around his face. He had on a flak jacket and two katanas on his back with his kunai on his left thigh and his shuriken on the right buttock. He would look over at everyone holding their letters as he was also holding his as he saw that someone else, who was talking to Guren before, was still there but Naki was kind of more focused on what was happening before him with the other two ninjas

WC: 445
. .

While the 5’7” man approached him, Guren’s own 5’11” stature would slightly tower over this man’s. His visual appearance would also make him seem younger than Guren, and having just turned 19 that would imply that this man was maybe in his mid-teens. Interestingly enough, the quick glance over that Guren did of the teen was quite telling. He was able to get an idea of his age, but his equipment was what really struck Guren’s interest. From the weapons, to the headbands, to the uniform: everything about this teen smelled Kirigakure. But unlike the other Sunagakure shinobi, Guren did not have any animosity towards Kirigakure. It was more of a matter of, “I’m from this village, you’re from that village so we can’t get along.” Still though, Guren’s maturity would not allow him to show this shinobi any disrespect or hostility, especially in a setting where neither village was even remotely present. Hopefully this shinobi was of a similar mentality. 

Sunagakure did not bear any distinctive uniforms, save for flak jackets and headbands. Guren only wore the latter around his neck, equipped with anbu relic pieces underneath his attire. He sported pinstriped, black and silver clothing overtop of said armor. With his kimono draped across his shoulders and arms. Although Guren’s informal look was untelling of his affiliation, the headband would give it away.

Hearing that this shinobi was also lost made Guren lightly drop his head, sigh initially, and then chuckle. This was all too reminiscent of what happened in Yugakure. Even more so when the shinobi inquired about Guren receiving a strange letter. “Mhm, I sure did.” Guren would confirm while lifting his head in a nodding motion. He’d take several steps towards the shinobi, and extend a closed fist outward to him as a sign of greeting. “Guren,” he began. “Of Sunagakure. By the looks of it, you hail from Kirigakure, no? I hope we can set the differences of our villages aside...”

Guren would leave his extended fist forward until the Kiri shinobi would decide to return the greeting, or dismiss the *pound* all together. His expression was serious, but not intense. His brow lowered, but his lips formed into a half smile. Nevertheless this moment would be short lived, as another would spawn into the courtyard no more than 10 meters from the two. He’d be waving a scroll, implying he too was transported to this place. Guren would offer him a beckoning wave, inviting him to join the two. “Seems the party is just kicking off huh? Hey...you’re the clerk from the tea shop aren’t you?” Guren would call out when the man would approach the two. And finally, a last set of footsteps would approach the trio. With a turn of his head, Guren saw it was none other than his pupil Naki. “Naki, you’re here too huh? Interesting…”

He’d pause for a moment for introductions to commence should the group choose to be friendly. And following this he would assess the situation at hand. “It seems we’ve all been brought here, likely by the same entity...Itazura. I do not know who he or she may be, but a voice came to me through the wind...It was likely them. And they requested me to infiltrate a bakery and commandeer its supply of...cookies, and ingredients” realizing how foolish he sounded, Guren laughed out loud. “Does anyone have a lead on where this bakery may be?”

WC = 572. TWC = 1410

It took the young shinobi a minute before he saw it, but once he did it was unmistakable. This man was clearly a shinobi of Sunagakure. Kita did his best to keep his face calm and collected, though his inexperience at hiding his true emotions likely betrayed the briefest flash of distrust. A Sunagakure shinobi then? Kita had been rather rusty with his politics lately, though he knew enough to know their respective villages weren't on the friendliest of terms. Was that who the boy was working for? A member of the sand village? No, that likely wasn't the case. If their employer had a village association, they would've simply employed from their own village, not taking soldiers from countries apart. Though Kita reckoned that whoever was employing them also wasn't particularly strong in the realm of long term planning. Inviting shinobi from rival villages typically doesn't end well from what Kita had heard.

The man gave a low sigh and a chuckle, before walking forward towards the young shinobi and extending a hand in greeting, a fist bump. Guren he called himself apparently. Kita held his face stone still, careful not to betray anymore emotion to the man before him. How should he handle this? There weren't any open hostilities between their respective lands... best to play friendly for now. Kita's face relaxed a bit and a small smile wormed its way across his youthful features, and Kita responded with a fist bump in kind.

"Nice to meet you Guren. I'm Kita of Kirigakure. I didn't come here to start a fight, don't worry. I'll be seeing this mission through to the end with you."

As Kita said those lines, two more shinobi appeared in rapid succession. Kita blinked slowly at them, not having noticed them even a few mere seconds before. The boy reckoned that they were probably teleported here as well, just the same as him.

"How many more are we expecting?"

Though it seemed that the stillness to follow was an answer. That was all Kita believed, at least for now. Guren addressed the two in a friendly manner, one of whom he called by name. 'Naki.' Kita was glad he'd chosen to take the diplomatic route this time.

"Pleasure to meet you two. I'm Kita of The Village Hidden in The Mist."

Guren assessed the situation quickly after, deducing that Itazura was the common factor that had brought them all here. Kita had to agree, though he still had no idea who this individual was. Guren brought up the voice he had heard as well, to which Kita nodded along with. The boy had heard it as well. Yet when Guren asked where the bakery was to be, something peculiar happened. As he uttered those words, a loud crunch emerged from the snow by the Sunagakure shinobi's feet. Kita's eyes quickly snapped towards the sound, and a hand rapidly reached around to grip the hilt of his sword. Yet what he saw was... non-threatening. It was a single red glowing footprint in the snow, roughly... fox-like in appearance. Another crunch, and another appeared some small distance ahead of that one. Another, another footprint, seemingly leading further and further away into the village. Kita turned to the others with a somewhat puzzled and concerned look upon his face as he raised an eyebrow up in a questioning manner, silently asking if they should follow.

"I believe that should answer that question..."

Word Count - 575

Total Word Count - 1538

Continuing his advancement towards the group, he finds himself surrounded by strangers, save one. Stylz, who he thought was just a random character back at the shop, happened to be shinobi. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the handband. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one without one. It was not his top priority to be very fucking careful of what he said around these figures of authority. He didn’t want to find himself back in cuff for in directly admitting something he did in the past. It sucked thought, he really wanted to get his hairstyle like Stylz. He gives no response to Stylz, shifting his gaze on elsewhere in disappointment.




As the group pondered on what to do next, together.  Katsuragi was scanning everyone’s headbands, while Guren was talking. This didn’t feel right at all, Katsuragi hasn’t been surrounded by this many shinobi since the first day he met Raleth, a jounin of the Sand. That little altercation turned into a shit show, it was how he ended up working at the teashop.


Suddenly, a noise that came from the ground, altered Katsuragi, he leers down only to see a footprint of some kind, leading to another, and too another. But to no success, this all proved soo uninteresting to Katsuragi.


‘Oh come on, are we really gonna run up in some bakery, and what…steal some cookies. Theses cookies better be good, cause if not, that whole place is coming down’, he nods his head side to side, stressing with his thoughts. Katsuragi had plans tonight, and they didn’t involve him running around with shinobi stealing cookies. He sighs before agreeing to participate in this little heist. “Alright, lets go get their shit, aint no way these cookie baking bitches are packin heat. Come ON!”, Katsuragi turns to the foot trail and starts moving.

"Um yeah I am though where is here exactly?" Naki asked confused as he looked around the area as he was still not sure about where they were exactly. The one thing that really was getting to him was that he only recognized one person and it was guren who he saw fist bump and the man introduced himself to everyone. Naki didn't know of the tension between the villages as he wasn't one in the know about this. The young genin would gently nod in acknowledgment of kita introduction of himself.  "I'm Naki of Sunagakure. It's uh nice to meet you but should we really just find a factory because, and no disrespect, a voice that you heard told us to?" Naki brought up as the young boy kind of had a look on confusion as everyone kind of just brushed him off. 


He'd notice katsugari kind of look away before he started to shake his head side to side. At this point Naki felt like he was the only thinking logically but he was still a bit nervous about the whole ordeal. When the sound came up with footsteps he would snap his head in it's direction only to see a fox and the prints it was leaving behind. Almost immediately the nerves dropped as his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as the artist in him emerged.  "Come back I wish to draw you." he said as he didn't have his art supplies and it made him softly groan before following behind everyone else. He would have to remember this image for later to draw as he was definitely excited to create it. 

WC 282 TWC 727

The introduction between himself and Kita was pleasant. Seemed like the Kirigakure shinobi too had a calm demeanor. That was important because judging by the situation they were in, they would certainly need each other’s help. As the two fists connected, a light yet audible *tap* was mad from the contact between both of their own sets of knuckles. Following this, Guren would retract his hand and bring it back down his side and proceed to call out towards the tea clerk. Interestingly enough, he didn’t get a response. None the matter. Should one choose to unnecessarily be rude, that was on them. Besides, Guren’s aim in this situation wasn’t to make friends. It was to get paid and have fun.

Naki would walk up, and inquire about where they were. Before Guren’s briefing of the mission, he’d respond to Naki’s question. “I’m not entirely sure where we are….”

As Guren delved into his spiel on their purpose here and where they needed to go, a crunch would interrupt his speech off in the nearby snow. He would calmly direct his attention towards the snow, where a red footprint would appear. And soon a trail of these footprints would be forming, somewhat leading the team into the village. Kita inferred that the trail could be leading to the bakery. And it didn’t take much more convincing than that for the tea clerk to boisterously declare the start of the mission and pursue the trail. 

“You’re probably right Kita. I guess we should go after the trail then? And…the clerk.”

Guren would tuck his hand into the pockets of his kimono, and at a moderate pace he’d begin walking towards the direction of the footprints. When Naki and Kita would join him, Guren would be hit by a late reaction. “It was a voice carried by the wind, Naki. This is a strange place...And by the way, what did you refer to me as? Ninsei? What is that?”

He’d continue his stride while anticipating the response of his pupil. The three continued onward with the clerk slightly in front of them, yet Guren remain surveying the situation attentively. He’d continuously sense the chakra in their immediate area, and search for any signs of an ambush; all the while monitoring the pathway of the footsteps. The overall atmosphere felt a bit tense: from the Sunagakure – Kirigakure interaction, the behavior of the clerk, and finally the setting the group were in. As the team had been following the trail in silence, Guren would break the ice rather abruptly. “So Kita, tell me. What is your honest opinion on the tension between our villages?”

He would listen in silence, refraining from interruption, hoping that Naki and clerk would do the same. He was quite curious on Kita’s perspective of it all. Being the deputy kage of Sunagakure, he only ever heard a Suna ninja’s perspective of it all. Guren thought it was valuable to consider the point of view a Kiri shinobi had.

Right after Kita gave his response, there would be a notable discovery in the mission. The trail would end no more than 5 meters from the entrance to a large, darkened bakery. At this time of night, no one was working and the bakery would appear closed up for the night. Before any in the group had an opportunity to comment on it, another breeze of wind would blow by carrying a voice identical to the one Kita and Guren both heard previously. 

“This is the wretched bakery. Go on, subtlety. As it may be an ambush. And do not forget, my children…steal the cookies and the ingredients…”


WC = 607. TWC = 2017

Naki responded back, asking if the boy really thought that they should go searching for a factory simply because they had heard as much from a voice in the wind. The Kirigakure gave a short, curt nod in response. The situation they were in was odd. Incredibly odd. Whoever had brought them here clearly had access to extensive resources, considering that they had managed to grab four summoning scrolls and managed to sneak their way into four shinobi's belongings with them being none the wiser. Furthermore, they were now present in some foreign land, far away from their homes and with no sense of bearings. Lastly, their employer clearly wasn't too keen on either meeting the group in person, or delivering detailed written instructions. That meant that it was up to the shinobi to search out what they were meant to do in hopes of both collecting payment and finding their way home. Seemed as though a voice in the wind was just as good a lead as any.

Shortly after the footprints appeared in the snow, the... tea shop clerk was the first to take after them, seemingly unconcerned with any threat that might be presented by the bakery they were to be heading to. Kita on the other hand... he was a bit less nonchalant.

"Hey! Be careful! I know that the mission sounds silly, but you shouldn't underestimate it. Chances are that it's more dangerous than it appears."

Kita's brow furrowed once more. Whatever mission they were brought here for wasn't likely to be a pointless one. No, otherwise their mysterious benefactor would have done it themselves. Clearly they had at least some resources they could use to get this done. They also likely wouldn't have hired... at least three shinobi and a tea shop clerk. No, either this was a dangerous mission that their employer couldn't complete on their own.. or it was a trap. It felt as though an icy finger ran down Kita's spine as he pondered the possibility, sending a shudder through his tiny body. He would just have to hope that wasn't the case.

As he began to follow along, the one called Naki called out to something, asking something to come back so he could draw it. Confusion drifted across Kita's face, and his gaze swept the snowy ground to see what he had meant. The boy blinked slowly as he realized what was leaving the footprints. Kita had no idea how he hadn't recognized it yet. Standing in the snow, was an arctic fox. It walked slowly, its steps leaving the red footprints they saw behind. So perfectly was the light reflected off of its fur, that it was practically invisible in the snow. A soft smile spread across Kita's face. Cute thing.

They walked in silence for a bit more, tension heavy in the air as they followed their fox guide. Any corner could house an enemy, determined to jump out and tear them to shreds, though their continued suspicion of the environment around them was rewarded with nothing but further silence. It really did feel like true isolation. Kita had brought his hands up towards his frozen face and gave a frosty exhale, trying to restore some small warmth to his frigid digits when Guren spoke, asking Kita what his opinion on the tension between their two villages was. Kita threw a sideways glance towards him, looking him in the eye as his shoulders came up in a shrug.

"I can't say I fully understand it if I'm honest. I don't agree with the things I've heard around there, but it's nothing I'd be want us to throw our neck out to address. I haven't met too many people from Sunagakure either, couldn't form an opinion on it. I've only met one man claiming to hail from that place, and he claimed to be part of it during an assault my village made in the past." Kita shrugged. The poor lad was embarrassingly uninformed on their politics and history, having never been taught about that destruction in the past. "Ah well. Taichi Uchiha seemed a decent enough fellow, but I wouldn't base my opinion of a whole village off of one person. Besides..." Kita's eyes narrowed a bit more, and something colder, meaner appeared inside. "There are other villages who should be our main concern."

Kita turned to focus on the tracks for a minute, his mind bringing him back through the events that had transpired during his time in Hoshigakure. He had been caged and beaten, on the Hogokage's orders no less, and he had come out worse for it. He know he shouldn't reminisce over it so much, it shouldn't bother him this badly, but it did. Seemed as though the anger from that experience was one of the only things driving him forward nowadays. Kita threw another sideways glance at the shinobi from Sunagakure, his eyes flicking rapidly between the two.

"How about you two? You hold a grudge against us?"

Kita would listen to their replies should they choose to give any, before their journey came to a halt. The fox stopped dead in its tracks, and stared straight ahead. Kita shifted his head to see what it was gazing at, and his eyes grew wide as he realized that it was staring at a massive gingerbread house. No, on second glance, not a gingerbread house. A factory, gussied up in festive decorations to look like a gingerbread house, from brown wall paint and frosted roofing and candy canes sticking from the ground out front, but it was unmistakably a factory. Smoke stacks rose high from within the factory, puffing black clouds into the sky and turning the air acrid. Kita began to cough slightly as the putrid air hit his lungs, short and soft exhales to get the stuff out of his body. Through the boy's coughing fit he pointed his finger towards the building for the rest of the group, specifically towards the front of the factory entrance.

"Look *cough*. There're *cough* two guards standing *cough* out front."

Indeed there were. Nobody too intimidating in appearance it seemed, mostly two people who seemed to be dressed in factory workware standing guard against any potential intruders. Looks like they assumed that someone was coming. Kita's gaze turned to the rest of the group, and his hand drifted down towards the sword adorning his side.

"Should *cough* we sneak in, or should we try brute force?"

Word Count - 1082

Total Word Count - 2620