A meeting of fire and iron

[Kaitos10]

After hearing from a iron country samurai Haruka start heading to iron country she left konoha early then traveled through the fire country. Occasionally stopping along the way to rest and perform her dances for an audience. She enjoyed looking at the scenery as she moved through fire country and how it changed as she got closer to pebble country. When she finally arrived at the border of pebble country she checked in with border patrol. After everything was set up and they made sure her documents all checked out she moved on bowing to them then waving as she left.

As she traveled through pebble country it seemed pretty similar to Kumogakure with its mountainous regions. But she did enjoy comparing her experiences traveling through pebble to her experiences visiting the lightning empire. But as she traveled through pebble same as in fire country she visited places she could dance and perform for others. It was a nice opportunity to try and grow in experience as a performer as well as seeing how other cultures enjoyed music and other performances.

She would then keep going eventually getting close to reaching Iron country and would start to get cold so she would change into more warm clothes that she packed. After that she would move on and soon reach iron country and just like at the border of pebble she would check in with border patrol and makes sure everything is ok before she moves on to the place she was supposed to meet the iron country samurai Mitsuhide. She had to admit she much prefered the land of fires temperatures to Iron country’s freezing cold terrain. It was incredibly unpleasant even with winter clothes on but she knew she couldn’t just avoid places because she didn’t like the climate there.

[HotelBravo]

If there were such a thing as a Will of Iron, it would be Mitsuhide. He was a mid-20’s man standing five feet and 10 inches tall with noble facial features. His long hair was tied into a top knot. He wore a gray colored chest armor that lined its collar with black fur. In the center of the chest was a circle painted in gold with the word “Courage” written there in. At his side he was armed with the Infamous Katana that the Samurai had come to be known for. There certainly weren’t as many Samurai who had his disposition, and when it came to Shinobi Iron Country had a lot to be wary of, especially when allowing admittance to a Shinobi into their city.

Mitsuhide awaited the Diplomat from the Village Hidden in the Leaves outside of Sanrou, a city that was built into the Three Wolves Mountain. The cold didn’t seem to bother the Samurai despite his breath turning to frost in the air. The border patrol had radio-ed in earlier to report that the Diplomat was on her way. Who he saw was a four foot tall little girl. By the Kami she was young. She might have been close in age to the Taishou of Iron Country. Shinobi were certainly ruthless in their training, starting from infants practically. He wasn’t pleased to see how young she was, but he had nothing but respect for a young woman to become a full fledged Shinobi. She was wearing clothing for the cold as she approached.

Mitsuhide gave a courteous bow to the young woman who looked to be ten years his junior. ”Welcome to Iron Country, I hope your journey wasn’t too hard on you? This way please - it is warmer inside the mountain.” He gestured at the gates of Sanrou which seemed to be an opening into the mountain itself. Mitsuhide gave a brief salute to the guards at the gate who let them pass inward. ”You are Izumi Haruka-san? Would you care for something to eat or a place to rest?” Just past the gates was a small gatehouse that Mitsuhide stepped inside and returned with a steaming cup of tea to help warm the young diplomat up. ”It gets warmer the deeper we go, but this should help you relieve some of the chill from your bones.”

He paused a moment to consider what the Genin had to say before he would lead any further.

[Kaitos10]

Haruka would walk over waving happily to Mitsuhide and approach him she would then listen to him for a bit before saying. “Yes I’m Izumi Haruka nice to meet you, I assume your Mitsuhide? I would definitely like to go some place warmer as soon as possible please, a place to rest as well as something to eat also would indeed be nice.” She would then eagerly follow him to the nice warm area as she graciously took the cup of tea from him and started to sip it. Once she had warmed up a bit she said “my journey was nice and relaxing I had fun along the way and got to see a few interesting places along the way. This is my first time outside my home or allied nation. The only places I been previously were fire country and lightning empire.”

She sipped some more as they walked and she got warmer saying “during my travels got to see at least a lot of pebble country which was nice.” She then kept walking until they were deep inside and she was warm enough to take off her clothes. Showing off her arms and legs based on her muscles she was most likely stronger then Mitsuhide.

She would then ask curiously “so where am I staying and when can we eat?” She was hoping to eat as soon as possible. So when he offered her something to eat she was hoping to take him up on that offer, hoping to get a nice big meal in since she hasn’t had one in awhile. She hopped when he was offering food it wasn’t only a little but if Iron country was low on food she didn’t want to take advantage of them by eating a lot of there supplies. So she waited to see what was offered

[HotelBravo]

Mitsuhide noticed that when she pulled off her heavy clothing, the clothing was bigger than it had looked while she was wearing it. Mitsuhide had heard of this technique before. Transformation jutsu. It was going to be hard to judge but perhaps she wasn’t a tiny genin like he had assumed. Even in this diminutive form she boasted broad muscles, and Mitsuhide could only wonder how much strength could she truly be hiding. He had been prepared to not underestimate a Shinobi, the Taisho was young much as this girl was, and yet here he was - escorting what he assumed was a genin into the heart of the Samurai when in reality she must be under a disguise and was something other than what she appeared.

Despite this realization, Mitsuhide also was aware that such deception was just in the nature of Shinobi. He thought it must be sad never truly having real connections with other people - for a life as deceitful of their’s how could one trust anything?

”Your journey sounds quite pleasant.” Mitsuhide commented on her journey through the other countries. ”You’ll be staying at an Inn that is along the main road here. The expenses are being covered by the Samurai for your visit, and speaking of that here we are.” As they had been speaking Mitsuhide had lead her to a nice Inn, certainly one that would make an impression.

”This place has many amenities - spacious rooms, a hot spring - delicious food and comfortable clothes. Shall we get you checked in?” Mitsuhide stepped inside of the inn to the reception area.

”Mitsuhide-san is that our guest?” the older woman at the counter inclined her head with a warm smile as she looked at Haruka. Mitsuhide gave a curt bow to the older woman. ”You are truly as charming and keen eyed as ever Oba-san. Yes, this is our guest, Haurka. Can you please bring food up to her room right away? She is tired from her journey.”

The Oba-san placed a key on the counter which Mitsuhide in turn handed to Haruka. ”I will show you to your quarters.” The Inn was Eastern in style, and had a feel befitting of Rustic Samurai. There was an area for them to remove their shoes and place them into lockers and switch into inside sandals that they would use to move around the rest of the building. In case she wasn’t familiar Mitsuhide showed her how to use the lockers and put on the sandals.

”I think you will enjoy the meal that Oba-san has been cooking. Its Mountain fair - but it is truly food that will warm the soul.” He smiled conspiratorially, obviously having dined her on more than one occasion.

[Kaitos10]

Haruka would look on surprised at how they were treating her. So good she wondered if they treated all guests this well. If she was the paranoid type like a skitter step user she would think something is up and would suspect them of devious motives. But instead she decided to just accept there kindness, when they arrived at the inn and she was told that all expenses were paid she looked on shocked and said “really!? Sweet! That’s really nice of you!” She then jumped up and down excitedly. This was getting good she thought she could finally have a nice big meal, she could very rarely eat her fill sadly because of her vast appetite.

She then listened in some more and would hear all about the nice things the inn has. She was getting really excited, as she listed to all the things she would be getting for free basically. When he offered to check her in she would excitedly say “yes please!” She would then wait eagerly as Mitsuhide interacted with the inn’s owner.

Eagerly jumping up and down until she hears food is being brought to the room causing her to eagerly ask. “what are the portions like and how much dishes are there?! I feel like I could eat a whole ox maybe 2?” She then eagerly awaits his response, she then waits to see if the portions from the meal are big enough.

Once she was sure she would have enough to eat she would ask “so which way to my room?” At first she thought the sooner she got to her room the sooner she could eat. Because she was about to rush to her room but then she realized it would take time to cook anyway, so she would have to wait no matter what so she figured she would ask “also is there a place I could train or exercise while I wait for the food to be cooked?” She would then start to do easy warm up exercises while she waited causing her leg weights to show

[HotelBravo]

”We eat what we can get, hardy root plants that can survive the cold - Bison, Chicken and pork and pretty standard fair, although it is still important to be conservative with with meat to ensure it lasts. ” Mitsuhide explained. ”I’m not sure about portion sizes, we generally don’t eat a whole ox or even t wo but if that is how hungry you are I will make sure that you don’t go hungry for long.” Mitsuhide nodded to her as he guided her to the room. ”this here will be your room.” It was a fair suite with a common room, a bedroom, and restroom. The bath was communal however and could be found at the end of the hall.

”Training? Well yes there certainly is a place you can train - although you shouldn’t go too fair because your meal will be brought up shortly. We do have a practice ground though, but it is a bit of a walk. Are you familiar with the water walking technique? We do have a hot spring here and this place does not have a large amount of guests. Perhaps you could use the spring itself as a place to train.” Mitsuhide would be surprised if the girl didn’t know the water walking technique. It was considered a very basic technique to the Shinobi after all. He caught site of the leg weights that she was wearing, and nodded appreciatively at the effort. She had climbed all the way up to the country wearing those. That was certainly impressive.

He led the way to the spring which was not too far away. As he had said there weren’tt others guests here currently/ Mitsuhide knew this place received little outsider traffic and most people in Iron already had their own homes. This place was primarily used for diplomatic missions such as this was. Although, he couldn’t help but be curious about what the girl’s purpose here was, but regardless of the reason he knew that he was going to extend to her the hospitality of the Samurai.

The spring had a dressing rooms and he invited Haruka to use one, as he himself did. He removed his gear and clothes and changed into a plain white kimono that he wouldn’t mind getting wet, and stepped back out. He was barefoot as she stepped out on to the water of the spring - the chakra in his body allowing him to walk across its steaming surface as though it was stone. He could feel the heat of the water on the soles of his feat and the steam wafted from the surface and tickled the smooth skin of his face.

”I’m certainly not a shinobi, but it would be my pleasure to be your training partner.” he gave a brief bow. ”I do hope you’ll forgive my inadequacies.”

[Kaitos10]

Haruka would nod when he mentioned the various things they had then would say, “that’s interesting to know makes sense I’m definitely fine with all that was mostly just curious.” She would then smile brightly saying “thanks I appreciate it! If necessary I can always try to help go hunting with you later to make up for the loss of food. I wouldn’t want you guys to go hungry also after all.” She would then wait and listen to the rest of what he said after he lead her to her room. It seemed fairly standard the real surprise came from her later question about the training ground.

At the question she would say “yes I know it, though i don’t see how training at a hot springs would help do you have a idea in mind?” She would then follow him to the hot springs, on the way he would mention the food and she would say “how long do you think it will take to prepare it all? So that can time the training and be back in time for it?” She didn’t want to miss her meal but she also couldn’t stand just waiting around doing nothing.

When she got to the hotsprings she looked around casually it seemed odd there was no one here, was it just not busy at this time of the day? Or was there something else going on at the moment? For now she shrugged it off and went into the dressing room also coming out in a black kimono, she chose it to keep her warm plus she was worried about what would happen if the white one got wet. When she stepped outside she could feel how hot the ground was causing her to yelp in surprise when she first touched it then said “sorry about that I’m surprised the ground is so hot is it usually this much?”

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(Everything from this point above is turned in at a mod)