Heading off

Kotsubo started to grab the rest of his gear for the mission that the Mizukage assigned him, beforehand however he already sent letters to both Nozomi and Yomi, which is rather straight to the point and told them to meet Kotsubo at the village gates by late afternoon to start heading out for the mission. He didn't take too long to prepare himself however as he's already in his full gear that he put on earlier when he traveled to the training area to meet with his genin squad, he just packed up any remaining tools he thought necessary for the mission and believes he's pretty much prepared. He did one final thing however before he would leave his house.

"Hey dad, do you still have that lighter?" Kotsubo yelled out in his house, he was asking since he knew his dad smokes. "Yeah, it should be on the kitchen bench." his dad yelled back, Kotsubo went into the kitchen and his dad was right, he grabbed the lighter and went outside. He made sure to go near a surface that was hard and away from any ignitable surfaces or objects. He crouched down on a stone-like floor and brought out the piece of paper that told Kotsubo the mission details, he opened it up to read it one last time, before wrapping it back up and holding the top left corner very loosely, with the lighter in Kotsubo's other hand he started to press down on it, lighting up a flame and putting it on the opposite corner of the paper that Kotsubo was holding it from, with it easily going up in flames, it took a bit of waiting but the paper got fully burned.

Kotsubo placed the lighter back on the kitchen bench back in the house, and went out again to head on his way to the village gates, which would take him a bit of a walk but he wasn't running late or anything. He's sure he would make it just on time, hoping that if he arrives both of his team members for the mission would already be there, or come just as soon as he arrives. He wants to get this mission started as soon as possible.

Letter Details:

Well, it appeared that for once the Mizukage did keep his word of providing Yomi with a mission, rather than just warming her up for no good reason at all with empty promises like before. When Hizashi; the Mizukage's personal attendant had managed to come by during her training session with the genin Nozomi, the man did stress on the fact that with Makahshi's absence another jounin would be taking his place and leading the mission.

In a way, it did annoy the chuunin that she yet again was passed over as a mission leader, but as Nozomi had said: it was better to just accept it as it was and give this new jounin a chance. Should this jounin pose a problem, there was nothing from stopping the two of them to dispose of him and simply chalk it up to his own incompetence.

After having woken up from a good night's sleep, the chuunin knew that the day of departure had finally arrived, yet she did not make any haste or waste any time either, to her, it was just a morning like any other. "Hmm, where did I put that cloak?" Rummaging through her closet, the young woman finally found what she was looking for to complete her outfit, which consisting out of an entire set of armor and gear she had made herself, was actually quite something to look at. Her boots and gloves, her armor and pants, all were in the same dull gray color, but they did show some signs of decent quality, making it obvious that the craftsmanship of her outfit was at the very least a bit higher than that of the regular stuff most people bought in the marketplace.

When she finally had her breakfast, the chuunin simply readied the two hip pouches she'd attach to her belt, one carrying her usual supply of kunai and shuriken, while the other had her senbon, medikit and a few explosive tags. The rebreather was simply strapped around her neck and the wristmounted senbonlauncher was firmly strapped onto her left wrist. With a double check of her outfit, the chuunin concluded that she was now completely ready for her little trip and ths the mission itself.

When she walked through the livingroom, the chuunin placed some insence in front of two pictures and lit the sticks, clapping her hands together with a slight bit of respect. "Now I'll show you why the two of you were weak, mother and father dear," After having made a silent nod with her head, Yomi slid open the doors to the courtyard and moved out, getting onto the street when she passed her home's outer gate. "I love the smell of success in the morning."

Arriving at the appropriate village gates she'd been asked to treat as the rendezvous point for the mission, the woman simply smiled, got a pack of cigarettes out of her coat and a flimsy little lighter and started smoking, just to pass the time until the rest would arrive.

gear:

Nozomi readied herself, pulling together the items she'd need for the trip. Thanks to the new armor that she had from Yomi, she didn't really need to pack many clothes for travelling, and had more room for the rest of her gear. She was already decked out in the entire set of Military Combat gear, and was in the process of equipping and arming up her wrist mounted senbon launcher. onto her left wrist. She didn't really use it all that often, but she figured having it and not needing it was better than needing it and not having it. Her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, the rest of her body was fully covered by the armor.

She had on her tanto, placed over her left shoulder, for a quick right handed draw and slash in case she needed to use it, but she doubted she would, as she was primarily a Taijutsu fighter. She opted not to take her Umbrella, as she didn't really feel like carrying it around, although the added senbon utility would be nice. She didn't really need it, and having allies would just make it less likely that she'd use it, as it had a wide spread.

Near her hips, on both sides, Nozomi had a holster with a single Kunai each in them, in case she needed a quick draw weapon in close range. Her three hip pouches lined her belt, filled with several different weapons and items. One of the pouches held the other 5 senbon, and her 10 Shuriken. A second pouch held only 4 kunai, each one with an explosive tag wrapped around the handle. She'd used up one of her kunai and explosive tags a few months ago on the snowman, and had actually forgotten to replace them. Her final pouch held an assortment of bombs, 2 Flash bombs, 2 Smoke bombs, and a Chili Pepper bomb. In her pocket, she could feel the military ration pills she had, down to 17 of the original 20, having used them in the same fight as the explosive tag and kunai.

She picked up her bag that she used for her extended stays at the Training Grounds, as she tended to keep it packed. The perks of always going to the training grounds, she guessed. It had in it a fresh change of clothes, a sleeping bag, a tent, and some food rations that kept well and didn't need to be heated or cooked. It also held her money, as she didn't keep it in a bank and preferred to keep it on her person, and she'd last had it during a training session, and just stuck it there.

Grabbing her Kirigakure headband on her way out of her room, Nozomi left her house, tying the band around her forehead, and headed off to the gates, ready and prepared for the mission. She could barely hide her excitement as she bounded down the streets.

As it would have it, she saw Yomi just as she was lighting up her cigarette, and waved enthusiastically. Nozomi really couldn't wait to get out of Kirigakure, she had been there her entire life, and wanted to see some of the rest of the world. This mission luckily gave her just such an opportunity.

It seems Kotsubo was a bit late as the other two had already reached the gates before him, not that he was complaining as he's ready to get this show on the road. If they were to see Kotsubo, they would simply see him in his usual uniform which is the Kirigakure flak jacket, his darker-grey long-sleeved shirt underneath, with the same color along with his pants and sandals and his baldric around his armor which is sheathing his sword on his back. He also had everything he needed with his holsters and hip pouch, though he wished he had more items to bring along, it's a bit too late for that now. He waved over to the two individuals, it looked like they knew each other from what he guessed.

When he got near them, he folded his arms and looked at them a bit, trying to figure out what's special about them. He guessed the black-haired woman with the cigarette is Halcyon Yomi, the chuunin and the blond-haired girl is Nozomi who is the promising genin. The few seconds of silence were broken by Kotsubo's voice, as he said "I'm assuming you've brought everything you need for the mission? wrapped up any business?" he assumed they knew the mission is a bit serious then the usual, and not simple like the other ranked jobs. Kotsubo would've received different details for his mission as he's the one leading it compared to the details of the mission these two got, so he'd keep it on a low profile until they started to ask questions about it, and only put them on a need-to-know basis.

"Stay on your guard as were traveling over the countries, we can take it a bit lax since the threat we'd mostly face are weak rogue ninja or bandits, and if you two are as strong as I hear then we won't have to take them too seriously... but once we reach the Land of Lightning, it'll be far more serious from that point. Understood?" he'd expect a response from both of them that agree with it, otherwise if they had any input he would hear them out, either way he started to leave the gates and assumed that Yomi and Nozomi will follow along.

The chuunin had just lit her cigarette when Nozomi had arrived, the girl looking ready to take on a whole horde of bandits with her entire outfit primed and ready to go. Not that Yomi looked any different though, with perhaps the exception of her headband's placing, which she had wrapped around her left arm. "I'm guessing you're at the very least as glad as me that the waiting time's over for this mission?" Yomi grinned ever so slightly, blowing the teal blue cigarette smoke out of her mouth. "At the very least we won't be having any issues with that former sensei of yours, Nozomi-chan."

And just as she had mentioned the genin's former sensei, the young woman noticed the arrival of the last of this mission's team; the teamleader himself: Hoshigaki Kotsubo. At first glance he didn't look like anything special, except for perhaps his clan's typical bloodline appearance traits of fishlike skin and beady eyes, not to mention the obvious gills. "Look who's finally managed to show up," The chuunin's grin vanished rather quickly, being exchanged for a someone stern and slightly arrogant expression, the woman's eyes almost glaring at Kotsubo with both curiosity and slight disdain. "Would we be standing here if we weren't ready, Kotsubo?"

She used no honorifics, even going so far as to simply call the jounin by his given name, clearly showing that she had yet to accept the man as her superior, even if this was Kirigakure; famed for its battle-hardened shinobi. "Wether it's in this country or the next, Nozomi and I will manage," It was an obvious scoff at what Yomi perceived as mandatory, if not feigned concern. Some jounin thinking he was superior just because his rank said so, though she wondered, how much blood did he have on his hands, how much experience did he really have? "So, the land of Lightning, I reckon that would be a nice change of pace."

Yomi blew out another stream of teal smoke through her lips and grabbed the cigarette, pulling it from between her lips and flicking it away towards the ground. Letting the tip of her tongue wet her lips a bit, she crossed arms and looked at the jounin while tilting her head to the side a bit. "Don't think we need anymore introductions here... just tell us what's expected from us and we'll be going."

As Kotsubo arrived, Nozomi put her right fist into her left palm, holding them both out in front of her and bowing. She didn't say anything to him, or particularly acknowledge his words, but nodded as Yomi spoke. "Ninja here, ninja there, I can take them all on, doesn't matter." she said shortly, in response to Yomi's comment, not to anyone in particular. In a way, she hoped they would run into some groups, she'd love to get some fighting on, it was something that she was particularly fond of.

If Kotsubo had read her file as provided by Nikuyo, he'd of course know that she was a bit of an unknown shinobi, but still extremely skilled in Taijutsu, using an application of ninjutsu in conjunction with it to increase her melee combatability. He would know she had feats against a small assault squad from 3 months prior that proved to be of little consequence to her, having taken on and challenged the leader as well as making quick work of one of his snowmen henchmen.

Then there was the little known fact that Nozomi was the 3 Tail Jinchuuriki. Not that she even knew that much. It was a closely guarded secret known to her father, the Mizukage, and a select few others, but Kotsubo would have been privvy to that information, in order to know the capabilities and potential issues with her. Of course, it would be bad if anything were to happen to Nozomi, but she was confident that she could easily protect herself if need be, and she'd been trained up her entire life to be able to do so against all but the strongest threats for that very reason.

Following as Kotsubo left, Nozomi walked close by to Yomi, trying to adopt a very nonchalant and carefree walk that hid her excitement for the mission, glad that Yomi had addressed her by name this time, rather than as "kid" or as "girl". The older kunoichi was warming up to her, and she felt she had to continue to act more like an adult than as a giddy teenager, high on excitement and endorphins.

He could feel that Yomi had something against Kotsubo and for what, he didn't know but decided to leave it unattended until he believes it'll become a problem with the mission. He replied to what she said, "You're right, I'm guessing we've all heard about each other one way or another, though I've heard you guys are good enough from the Mizukage, I have yet to see it, perhaps we'll test our strength against bandits should they come?" he was suggesting this because he wanted to get a better idea of who he's working with, he has no doubt the Chuunin would have some skill, but he wanted to particularly see what made Nozomi a promising genin.

Though introductions with names might not be needed, an explanation of each others skill might be needed and that's what Kotsubo would need in order to fully utilize this team to it's full extent, when the situation arises. "Since we know each others names, how about the abilities were capable of? I'm capable in Kenjutsu, Ninjutsu and I can use Water Release." Kotsubo isn't incapable of using Taijutsu but it just isn't one of his stronger fields and at one point, would need to properly refine himself in that aspect.

"I would've read your files but this mission was assigned to me at the last minute, so apologies for asking." Kotsubo didn't say anything else, and if they wanted to say or explain what their abilities were they have Kotsubo's full attention, or if they had anything else to say at all, otherwise he would start to focus on making their way to the Land of Lightning.

[Exit --> Land of Lightning]

The chuunin shrugged ever so slightly when the jounin who was supposed to be their teamleader on what was going to be a rather important mission according to Hizashi-san's missive, mentioned that he did not know just how strong or how good she or Nozomi truly were and that they'd most likely find out when they'd face some bandits or some rogue shinobi on their way to the land of Lightning. "If it's bandits we're facing, I'd suggest just letting Nozomi take them on," The young woman instantly attempted to wrap her arm around Nozomi's neck and scratch the kid's head playfully with her free hand, letting out a soft, almost un-Yomi-like chuckle. "This little nuissance of a genin can hold her own against the best of us, so in case of bandits roaming around, just let her have some fun."

Her eyes quickly snapped back towards Kotsubo when he revealed his strengths and capabilities, though she understood why he'd do so, she wondered what use it would be. If she revealed all her strengths and he ended up being a liability, it might've been best to hide at least something, even Nozomi didn't know the full scope of Yomi's abilities and skills, though she was by far the closest when it came to having a full knowledge on the chuunin's capacities. "Let's see...Water release, Taijutsu, ninjutsu and Ijutsu are my prefered fields of expertise and as you can see from Nozomi and my outfit...I also dabble in more...creative and productive outlets," Grinning a bit, her eyes turned towards the jounin's base flackjacket, nodding just a bit to make it obvious that though she didn't dissapprove of his chosen attire, she did expect a jounin to wore something more...qualitative and less basic. "Maybe if you'd let me someday...I might help you out in that department as well."

Letting out a sigh, the chuunin turned to the gates and started walking, stopping shy just a step in front of those gates and tilting her head a bit to the side. "Are we moving yet? Don't be a snail now, Nozomi."

[Exit->Land of Lightning]

Nozomi reverted to a playful grin as Yomi wrapped her arm around her head, and muffled by the arm, she spoke "Bandits are fun. Give them a right, give them a left, knock 'em dead!" Yomi was being uncharacteristically nice, Nozomi wouldn't have figured that she would have suggested just letting Nozomi have any bandits.

Pulling herself out from the head lock, Nozomi fixed her hair. Hearing the talents that both of them had, Nozomi frowned. She knew that Yomi had those skills, but Kotsubo's seemed underwhelming. It only further supported her thoughts that perhaps she and Yomi had skill beyond that of the average jounin already. "I'm only really good at Taijutsu. I've got skill in Ninjutsu and Fuuinjutsu as well, and I can use Suiton and Raiton as elements."

She was being conservative with her approximations of her abilities, but she really didn't want to toot her own horn and flaunt them with words. She wanted her skill level to be of some surprise, and if she claimed to be top tier, then he wouldn't be as surprised by her I'm the future.

(Exit --> Kumogakure)