Matsuyo Terumi's Story

It has been a few months since Emeli left her village, and not on the best terms. She sent a messenger bird from a small outpost back into Sunagakure, giving apologies to both her parents and the village elders. Sending the message to her parents was to set their mind at ease. Sending the message to the elders, however, was just to hopefully reassure her ability to return to Suna eventually. Sure, they swore they'd let her in, but it doesn't hurt to be sure when it came to people in positions of power.

She looked around, analyzing her surroundings. "Hm... should be in the Land of Waves... maybe even close to Kirigakure. Staying in a major village for a night or two wouldn't hurt, really..." Emeli toyed with that idea for a while in her head, considering the pros versus the cons.

"You know it's not even likely they'll let you in the village, kid." She sighed. Shukaku always had to put in his input on things, expressing them inside her head in his shrill, manic voice.

"Shukaku, you can't keep being negative like that. It doesn't hurt to try," she said to the tanuki inside her head. Before Shukaku could respond, however, Emeli heard a loud crash of water, coming from the nearby forest. "What the hell was that?"

"Go check it out, Em. Dooooo ittttt~," Shukaku responded in an almost sing-song voice. Emeli sighed and went toward the source of the sound. While walking toward it, Emeli noticed large gouges in the ground. She kept going, following the trails the gouges left. Walking up to one, she hopped in and out of it to test the depth.

"Goes to about my thighs. That can't be too great..." she said to herself, sighing. "Well, let's see this." Stepping further toward the source of the noise, Emeli saw a group of people in the distance. Observing more closely, she noticed a majority of the group were what seemed to be exhausted Kirigakure Jounin. The more interesting group, however, was the four look-a-likes on the right. "Clones?" she thought to herself. There was another individual near the four look-a-likes, but she couldn't tell much about him or her due to their hood. "Here goes nothing..." she murmured under her breath.

Stepping out of the trees, she cleared her throat slightly. "Um... hello?" Once she said that, all of the look-a-likes turned and looked at her at the exact time. She tried to ignore that slightly. "So... what's going on with the sounds and terrain? Is something attacking?"

Matsuyo had gotten up early in the morning so that he could train with his Jounin. He took a look in a reflection pool to see his face. The scars of his chakra are seen on his face from his fight two years ago. He grabbed his Oni mask and put it on and set out of his office. He felt that him helping his Jounin train was the best way to keep them entertained and use to fighting and working together. His guards were god knows where at this point but he knew Tetsu was near him. He took his time getting to the out skirts of Kirigakure. Matsuyo noticed his Jounin waiting for him as he approached them.

"Glad to see you could all make it." he said as he got close. The Jounin bowed to him and he returned the bow. "So you all know the drill. One single cut and we are done." He then started with the hand symbol Tiger and said "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." and then jumped in the air once he landed three other clones of him landed. The fights lasted for an okay about of time and then he started to use his Water Dragon Jutsu and began throwing them at his Jounin. Pieces of the Earth began to get gauged out. He knocked over a few trees making some really loud noises.

When Matsuyo was about to say that they were done for the day but before her could come out of hiding a girl had come out of the trees and said "Um... hello?" she had then asked "So... what's going on with the sounds and terrain? Is something attacking?" Matsuyo then came out from a tree near the girl. "I am helping them train. Nothing is attacking. Those gauges you see would be because of me." The water clones fell into water as he started to talk. "If I am ask what brings you here to my Village?" He asked the girl.

"He claims to have caused these, and he calls Kirigakure his village? This is either the strangest Mizukage or a very pretentious ninja," Emeli thought to herself. "Well, you see, I'm just a wandering ninja, have been for a few months. I knew the Kirigakure was somewhere near this area, so I thought that I could possibly rest there for a day or two. Along my way, I heard a massive crash, saw the land gouged out, and followed it here," she explained. Honesty is the best policy.

"So, you say you're... training here? Those ninja look like their dead on their feet. If I might ask, what sort of training exhausts a person to such a severe extent?" Emeli questioned the man, looking at him. "And furthermore, who would that hooded figure be? He or she is the only one I couldn't get a read of before approaching you."

"Being risky, kid," Emeli heard the Shukaku say in her head. "That there's a Kage if I've ever seen one, and you're questioning him? Good luck."

Tetsu had spent all night sleeping on the roof of the Mizukage building that sat in the center of Kirigakure. If anyone had caught him sleeping on the job, anything but Lord Matsuyo's orders would be able to save him from painful execution. Not that he felt it was such a bad thing to begin with. If anyone so much as set foot in the Mizukage building without permission, a dozen different groups would have their head before the Mizukage Guard could even bat an eye. And even if someone got to Lord Matsuyo, they wouldn't survive long. The idea of fighting in closed conditions made a shiver go down Tetsu's spine. As the leader of Kirigakure began moving around for his daily work, Tensu was always somewhere nearby, keeping one on him at all times.

Tetsu admired the Mizukage in many aspects. Not many of the other kage would go out and train with their jonin head on. Of course, maybe he just wanted to see if the village's fat needed trimming. Not even a jonin can meet the high standards of some hidden villages. Whatever the case, the day went on without any major problems. Tetsu excused himself from the session so he could work ( he got a lot of practice resting his eyes in a nearby tree ) when a sound came from right next to his head. The ring of a bell. Tetsu's eyes snapped open. Someone had tripped one of the phantom alarms he'd set up along the perimeter. He was about to go out into the forest and hunt down whoever tripped it when he saw somebody approaching the Mizukage in the distance. Even from this far he could tell it was a local and wouldn't you know it, she was standing between few water filled gouges left by Lord Matsuyo's jutsu. A devilish grin crossed Tensu's face as he put one hand up his sleeve. "Well, well, making me work. Shame on you, stranger. I just hope..." He pulled out four tiny cloth figures with crude, comical faces drawn on them. "... they can make this interesting."

The second Matsuyo said, "If I may ask, what brings you here to my village?", four hooded figures emerged from the tiny pools of water surrounding the intruder, surrounding the girl and all keeping the senbon they wielding in their right hands aimed at her throat, ready to stab if they made a move as they all smiled like madmen. "Well, aren't you an interesting once," chimed the one in the back as he gripped his senbon tighter. The one to her right chuckled and said, "Little early in the day to be catching spies as bad as you." The one in front of her brought up his free hand and tapped the forehead protector she wore around her neck. "Sunagakure is slipping up from the looks it," he stated before the one to the left turned his head towards Matsuyo and asked, "Should we kill her now, sir?"

"We train here a lot but we repair the landscape quite often." He said. The "puppets" as he called them rose up out of small pools of water after he had asked what she was doing in his village. He smiled under his mask. 'Tetsu what remarkable timing you have with our guests.' He thought. Matsuyo chuckled under his mask but it could be heard. "She has done nothing to threaten us so she is fine by me." He turned his head and looked at all of the puppets. "If she does anything to threaten us or the Village then yes." He said to Tetsu.

Matsuyo looked at the girl. "I am the Mizukage of this Village. Its nice to meet you." He said Matsuyo held up his hands in the Bird seal and said "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu." And a smiled slid across his unseen face as a Water Dragon emerged out of the small creek from behind the two and charged at the Jounin.

"Scatter!" one of them yelled as they all jumped to get out of the way of the Dragon as it ripped another chunk out of the earth. He turned his head to see the Jounin breathing heavily as one of them sat on the ground from the dodge. He turned and looked at him. "We train again tonight!" he yelled. "Until you of you can cut me once we will train twice a day." He turned back to look at Tetsu. "Now please we shall show our guest around town. Will that make you feel better? I have to talk to the villagers to see what needs improved anyways." Matsuyo then started to walk towards the village "You may all rest for the day. Back here after dinner." he said to the Jounin

Emeli smiled upon hearing the Mizukage's words, thanking him as he started to walk away. "I met the Mizukage. Huh. He's an interesting fellow, that's for sure," she thought to herself. She sighed, however, realizing that the hooded figures, which she assumed where being controlled by the person the Mizukage referred to as Tetsu, were still very close to her.

"I understand your caution, but you really should gauge your opponent before doing something so forward. If my intentions were spying, I would not have been caught. If my intentions were assassination, your Mizukage would have been dead before you saw me. And, finally, if I wanted to assault the village, I'd tap into the power of the Shukaku before showing up," she said, a slight mocking tone to her voice. "Your protection of your Mizukage is admirable, and I commend you for this. However, you should figure out a person's intentions before attacking them. Especially..." Emeli clenched her fist slightly, feeling the Shukaku's blood lust starting to increase. "Especially when your opponent is one who outclasses you so greatly, as I do."

She nodded and smiled at Tetsu. Despite his hostility initially, he seemed like a nice person. The Shukaku's rage quieted a bit, and Emeli felt comfortable in speaking again. "Of course I understand. I hold no ill will towards you for your actions, they were perfectly within reason. I apologize for my unwarranted hostility, Shukaku doesn't like threats, and when he gets agitated, some of his hostility rubs off on me," she said, her voice back to its calm and quiet volume. She examined the man, and couldn't help but giggle when he made an idiotic grin. "I appreciate the hospitality, but you received no word from Sunagakure for a reason. I've been spending the past month or so of my time wandering the lands. I knew your village was around this area, so I thought I might see if I could rest and relax here for a day or two."

She looked at the sleeve the dolls receded into. "Interesting jutsu, by the way. I knew something was off about them, but I wouldn't have guessed something like that. I haven't seen anything like that before." Emeli turned, walking toward the Mizukage. "Now, I believe your Mizukage said something about a village tour? We mustn't keep him waiting now, hm?" she said, smiling back at Tetsu.

"Well damn," she heard Shukaku say in her head. "I wanted to see some action. You should train with this Mizukage some time, though. That would be a fight to see." Emeli smirked at the idea.

"Maybe, Shukaku. Maybe."

Tetsu picked apart every word and phrase the girl had said in his said as he just smiled and nodded for a second. Despite all the threats from a moment ago, she seemed genuine in her trust and calmness. It was a little creepy how she mentioned the demon by name so casually. Another chill ran down his spine as he thought of exactly what was contained inside this girl, no matter how innocent she looked or acted. It was the last bit she said that really got Tetsu's attention. She'd had no contact with the Hidden Sand for that long? And she seemed so confident that nobody would strike her down on the spot even as a foreign shinobi entering another great nation's hidden village. Was there something he didn't know? The Mizukage is a kind man to his allies but to offer a total stranger from another village, otherwise the jinchuriki from the Sand, not only politely but with open arms into the village without a second though? Perhaps the Hidden Mist would soon have a second tailed beast under their command...

Tetsu pulled this information apart and sorted it in out in his head before the girl said anything else. Theory or not, it's always better to be the more informed shinobi no matter what the situation in. After she complimented, or at the very least commented, on his golems, she brought up the tour that Lord Matsuyo had offered. Tetsu pulled his arms down to his sides and dug his hands into his short's pockets as he walked past the girl and towards the Mizukage, lifting his right hand and motioning her to follow for a brief instant. "If you are given some kind of tour, there'll have to be a quick sweep of the city's more delicate sections before you're allowed within our limits. While you may not act like a spy, we still have to be cautious. And of course I'm sure you'll have no problem with a handful of our sensory experts making sure you don't have anything illegal or particularly dangerous on your person."

"Scan away," she said to Tetsu. "I'm confident that you'll find nothing of an illegal nature on my persona. Well... I believe you won't, at least. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what exactly Kirigakure considers illegal, or more over, dangerous, especially when dealing with a jinchuuriki. The only weapons on me are my staff, my hanabo, some shuriken, and some simple explosive tags. Now, if you don't mind me asking... What you prefer me call you?" she asked, directing the question to both Tetsu and the Mizukage. "I value honorifics very highly when dealing with a stranger, but I'm completely unsure what to use when dealing with a Kage and his guard member," Emeli said, being bluntly honest. She knew she was coming off as a bit naive, but it's not really a bad thing to have a potential opponent underestimate her. She had no plans to start a full out battle with the Mizukage and his guard, doing such an action would potentially start a war between Kirigakure and Sunagakure. Of course the villages were capable of allying under a single flag all those years ago in the Fourth Shinobi World War, but now? You'd swear they'd have never know the word friendship.

"That reminds me..." she thought to herself. "Excuse me, um, Mizukage-sama? Have you heard anything about any organization seeking out jinchuuriki like myself?" she asked him. She had heard tales of the Akatsuki from years ago, a group that sought out the jinchuuriki to remove their biju from them forcibly. And when she had caught wind that they might be back in her travels, she felt uneasy, but had set it away in her mind. Thinking of that war, though, brought it back, along with all the fears and nightmares she's had about them extracting Shukaku from her.

"As for now until I can trust you, you may just call me Mizukage." The walk to the village was a fairly long one he never wanted a child to run across them while training and get hurt. After a minute or so she asked "Excuse me, um, Mizukage-sama? Have you heard anything about any organization seeking out jinchuuriki like myself?" He was quiet for a moment thinking of the stories that his grandfather and mother had told him when he was a kid about how great-grandmother had heard and maybe dealt with these people. The story always changed but he got the jist of it every time. "Yes, I have but stories from a long time ago." he turned his head to look back at them. "But who is to say they are not real?" he asked the girl. He lifted up his mask very briefly to wipe the sweat off of his face. With how he lifted it had shown some of his chakra scars. The mask may have been open for a brief moment but that was all it took. He turn and continued to walk to the village they would be there in about five minutes. "Anything else you wish to ask?" he directed that to the both of them.

"But, who is to say they are not real?"

Those words rang in her head for a bit. She looked up at the Mizukage after he said that, and noticed him lift his mask up to wipe off his forehead. While he did this, Emeli noticed some strange scars along his face. They seemed to have a bluish tinge to them, and they seemed to trace along the chakra pathways in the left side of his head, with a distinct scar on his lip. There were wavy lines emanating from the lines on his face, as if they were waves of water across his face.

"Uh... if you don't mind me asking... Mizukage-sama, what are those scars on your face? They look very unique, and, um..." she trailed off in the middle of her sentence, worried that she was going to offend the Mizukage. The last thing she needed was the wrath of a Kage. That's bad enough for anyone, even a jinchuuriki such as herself. She looked down and sighed. "I... really shouldn't speak my mind, sorry for being so forward..."

Matsuyo stopped and looked at her. You could tell that he was inspecting her. It took him a little while to even say anything. "It was the price I had to pay to become the Mizukage." He turned and began to walk again. "I nearly died of a massive chakra loss I was lucky enough to have a few soldier pills on me which gave me enough energy to get back to town." They had finally arrive at his village. He smiled under his mask. "I guess its a story for another time past fights don't mean a lot to me." He began the tour of the village. The first place he went to was the market square. He walked around the place for a while talking to random people asking how business was and if there was something that was bothering them. Every now and again a random man would appear and he would say something and the man would write something down and disappear. He did care for his people he was hoping that Tetsu was telling her about the place but just in case he stopped outside of meat vendor. "As you can see the market place is always busy but I like it here."

Tetsu followed a few steps behind the Mizukage, hands in his shorts pockets as they entered the village. As they entered, he pulled one of his hands from his pocket and waved idly off to the side. "First thing you can see is that we have walls. They're important. They show where the city limits are. They also keep white haired crazy women from walking in without permission." He pulled his head back and laughed as he faced forward, leaving his hasty explanation at that. This continued as they went into the village as Tetsu gave the briefest of explanations. "That's a lake. It has water." "This is a section of our civilian residences. People live here." As they approached the market, he yawned, eyes droopy as he obviously had very little interest in such a boring task as being a tour guide. "Market district. Food, drink, materials. Ya..." Tetsu snapped his heads towards Matusyo and asked, "Lord Matsuyo, can't you get someone else to do this? A civilian could do this better than me and we're going part of the village. Can't I just... go do a mission or -something-?" he asked, his eyes half open as he whined like a child.

Emeli was looking all over the village while the Mizukage and Tetsu led her around the village, pointing out... well, fairly obvious things. Pointing out the city walls, a lake, and what's in a market? And his descriptions. "They also keep white haired crazy women from walking in without permission." Please. Emeli could get into the village if she really wanted to, even without permission. She also felt offended that he felt the need to point out that a lake has water in it. What, does he think that Sunagakure is a barren waste of nothingness? She scoffed and turned around, examining the market when Tetsu started begging like a kid for a mission from the Mizukage. How can she take Kirigakure seriously if this is the caliber that the Mizukage's guards are kept at? He might be better off just protecting himself, if his story he told her held to be true.

With that thought, she analyzed what the Mizukage said. Not that there was much to analyze, really. He was very brief, only mentioning that whatever he did to become the Mizukage led him to nearly die. "That could mean anything, really," Emeli thought, partly to herself, and partly to Shukaku.

"Sure it can, kid. None of it good, neither," the tanuki responded. Emeli smirked slightly.

"Something wrong there, Shu? Worried about a little water?" she giggled mentally, knowing she was pressing the demon's buttons. Not only did he hate her pet name she gave him, he was always sore when it came to the subject of him being made of sand.

"Aw, shut it. See if you can find a place to rest, I'm exhausted," Shukaku said in response. Emeli just giggled again, this time outloud. Despite how manic the demon was, he loved to rest just as much as he did kill. Emeli then turned around, waiting for the Mizukage and Tetsu to finish before asking one of them where she could sleep.

Matsuyo let out a sigh hearing his guard start to complain. He stopped and turned around to face the two. "We are doing this so we can keep an eye on our friend." He looked at Emeli "No offense. You have one option now." he held up his hand letting out his index finger. "One. This is the optional one. You can go fill out that paper work from you last mission." He then put up another. "Two. This one has no way out of it. You will train with me and the other Jounin they could use your help." He looked back at Emeli and cocked his head. "You are welcome to join us. It seems that they need the help." He then scratched his neck trying to think of something to do. "What is there to do in town." he turned "Come to think of it I have not had free time in a long time. I'm going to take the day off." He then started to walk towards some building. "Maybe a movie." He then turned to the other two. "What do you guys want to do until the training?"

Tetsu sighed irritably as the Mizukage gave him his 'options'. One worse than what he was doing now the the second being just barely better. 'Leave it to Lord Matsuyo to give me a barracuda when I asked for a fish. Can't believe he's still going on about that mission report too...' "I'll have it on your desk as soon as I can, sir," he he said brightly as he gave Matsuyo a thumbs up. Lying through his teeth, of course. When the Mizukage stated he was taking a day off, Tetsu could only blink at him in surprise. This day was becoming stranger and stranger. He reached up and reached inside his hood, scratching the top of his head, a bead of sweat dripping off his brow. "Lord Matusyo, a theater is an extremely difficult place to keep you safe in... but perhaps if you want go grab some tickets, I can finish the tour for our guest! After all, we've barely touched most of the open village." Tetsu bowed his head, letting the hood hide his eyes as he looked over Emeli. 'And maybe we can see just what you can do, sand girl.'

Tsubame landed next to the group, speaking up as she dropped her Wind Walk jutsu.
"OR, she can drop by her village sometime soon, maybe pay a visit to some people who miss her?" She said cheerily, completely forgetting she was a Sand ninja in a different village, unannounced, at that. "How've you been, Emeli?"

Emeli jumped when the girl landed right next to her. "Wha.... Tsubame-sama?" Emeli looked around, surprised. "I didn't see you walk up, how did you... Oh, right. The sky. Silly me, how could I forget your capabilities," Emeli said. She sighed, relaxing a bit. "So, Tsubame-sama, tell me what brings the Sage of Song to Kirigakure? Surely you didn't travel all this way for just me?" Emeli asked her.

"The bird is here? Lovely. And what're going to do about her? I don't mind clipping her wings," said Shukaku, with slight malice in his voice. Emeli sighed.

"Shukaku, be nice. We're strong, but even I don't believe that we could easily defeat a sage. So be nice, at least enough to where she won't want to kill us," Emeli said, chiding him. She looked to Tsubame, then to the Mizukage. "Well, Tsubame-sama... I was being shown around the village by these two... one of who, might I add, is the Mizukage," Emeli said, slightly embarrassed for Tsubame's sudden appearance in the village. She hoped that this wouldn't cause tensions between the two, she didn't want to be the cause of a political conflict.

Matsuyo somehow felt that this sage was going to annoy him. She dropped into his village unannounced not even going by the gate. He let out an audible sigh, and increased his chakra level to actually be visible. The chakra was light blue in color and fell off of him like mist. His aura became unsettling to most ninja of lower rank. He was not trying to intimidate the sage he just wanted the villagers to get out of the way. The villagers seeing the chakra and then the aura he was letting off they scattered as fast as they could. leaving the four standing there. He cleared his throat. "Why did the bird come into the Dragons den unannounced?" he asked as he turned to look at the sage.

Tsubame smiled as she stared at the Mizukage trying to put on a show.
"Because she was sent by an even bigger dragon to act as the smaller dragon's assistant and to go on missions for said smaller dragon so that she can learn more about the cultures of other villages. And stop posturing, you'd only waste chakra trying to hit me and do more damage to your own village." She spoke with perfect evenness, not only unshaken by his chakramist, but actually mocking the very thought of the two fighting. However, she kept herself from going into Sage mode to prevent the Mizukage from knowing anything more than what he saw. She did, however, take one of her specially designed shuriken and send it spinning in the air in front of her, the shuriken's edge whistling a little tune as it spun around her as it was held aloft by the wind, showing where she had gotten her moniker "The Sage of Song" from. Her wires, kunai, and other weapons save the feather blades on her wrists all had this ability as well, letting her weapons sing a funeral dirge for her opponents. But this was regardless, as she didn't plan to use any of her weapons on this man, and if he should try to fight her, the one shuriken she had out would be enough.