Moving Out [Travel]

Age : 29 Posts : 3145

The cohort had been assembled and amid its buzzing and bustling, the sounds drowning out everything around it, at the centre was a single golden-haired man, clad in a scarlet scaled-armour from neck to toe, grinning at that very moment, his emerald eyes looking forward, tracing the furthest extents of his vision’s range; his golden locks were swept backwards, his hand tracing careless patterns through his fringe. To the north lay alien lands, lands he had travelled through as his younger self. He was older now – nearly thirty. The thought didn’t scare him; the passing of years was natural – he felt as young and raw as he had ever been. Yet others noticed the years in him, the apparent-wisdom present in his eyes. He was becoming increasingly conservative, increasingly traditional and increasingly paranoid. It’s what adults did. He was becoming guarded and cautious – perhaps all Kages should be such. Yet somehow, this felt so in tune with his usual personality, that Shingen never attributed it to his age. He had always been like that. Maybe this was a good thing then – a change of pace.

The men and women around him were his escort, his ‘mobile court’. They were clerks and servants mostly, though Jounin and Chuunin populated the group just as much as the civilians did. This was an unusual gathering of personage – a testament and showing of the diversity of Kumogakure. Many clan representatives found themselves present, counting Shingen himself who represented both the Uchiha and the Takeda interests. Among his retinue were veterans, young prodigies and intellectuals; cooks, cleaners, muscle, maids and butlers. The group had people who mattered and people who wished to matter; those who sought greatness and recognition from their leader, or those the leader had wished to keep close for fear of their greatness outshining his own once he was gone. Anyone who was a threat was there, Shingen keeping them closer than he kept his friends; though his friends and allies were there too. The Takeda had sent twenty-skilled swordsmen to guard his life – a gift he found amusing, having avoided these bodyguards for much of this morning. There was something infinitely amusing in the notion of infuriating the very men that were sent to guard you; then again, he was the effective Clan Head and a busy man at that. He didn’t expect them to follow him at his pace – very few could.

The group was like a moving rainbow, each man and woman sporting spontaneously varying colours. The clans had their own representative shades and Shingen’s ‘servants’ were adorned with the golden-tones akin to his hair, and the red-shades of his clans. Some were especially creative, if only for the sole purpose of standing out. Others on the hand, were grey and dull, staying away from Shingen’s ever-present, ever-prying eyes. Who would backstab him in this retinue? Who could he stab first? Politics were such a dangerous game.

“We’re moving out” a youthful voice silenced all the exotic noises of the two-hundred-man group. It was him, Shingen, shouting... or was he? His voice had the awesome quality of sounding, at all times, like a sincere, dominating whisper.

And as he said, so he did, taking the first step ahead of everyone, his scarlet guard moving like a shadow to cover every single angle other than the very front of him, where only his feet could first step and not another's. And so the golden dragon of the North moved, heading to Konohagakure where interesting things were happening. Certainly with his coming, these events were about to intensify tenfold.

Great things were on the horizon. The hawks would fly all day to announce this journey. People would flock. All would know that the Raikage would oversee the two great upcoming Konohian events; a wedding and an election. It was the perfect time to pay the village a glorious visit.

MADE BY MINNIE OF BACK TO NEVERLAND

OOC: Any Kumo members wanting to travel to Konoha with me better post here asap ^^

Age : 32 Posts : 750

The day was a glorious one, one that had been filled with excitement, along with some slight nervousness. Naomi was about to embark on a journey to the Land of Fire, or more specifically, Konoha(Village hidden in the leaves). She wasn’t aware of all the people who would be taking part in this trip to Konoha, but she did know that the Raikage was leading the way. This was the thing that made this trip as exciting as it was, simply because he was a very handsome man and Naomi, well, she may have a slight crush on him. Why though? She never spent any time with him one-on-one, so there’s no particular reason she should have the feelings that she does. The young chunin didn’t care and had started to look around at the audience that had gathered for this event. It wasn’t just shinobi; all kinds of civilians, clan “leaders” or representatives, along with some of the higher ranking ninja in the village, also the swordsmen that seemed to be the guard of the man himself, Mr. Raikage.

”God, I really wouldn’t mind if the Raikage hit on me at this very moment, holy hell.”

The thought had made the teenage girl chuckle a bit and after the fact, she looked around to make sure nobody had paid her any attention. She knew that the age difference may throw some people off, but she didn’t really care. It wouldn’t be any of their business anyhow and since it was the kage of the village, people probably wouldn’t say much. As she noticed that people hadn’t been looking at her while she chuckled aloud, she moved through the pack of people to edge to the front-lines, making sure she could leave on time, not wanting to make a punctual error. Soon after she made her way to the front of the crowd, he began to speak, although it wouldn't be very many words.

”We’re moving out,” was all that had been stated and immediately he began to head out; his “scarlet guard” mimicking his every move, covering every angle, and making it almost impossible to reach the man to talk with him. Naomi would give it a try though as she made her way out from the outskirts of the crowd and pushed upward, just behind this so called guard that walked beside and behind the Raikage. She decided to try and squeeze inside of the moving guard and was denied so quick she didn’t have a chance. Her arms crossed her midsection and then her right hand rose up to her chin, giving off the thought that she was pondering a way to get past these damn people.

”Maybe I can just walk in front on all of them, of course not directly in front of Raikage but in front and to the right some. I’ll give it a go and see if he notices me at all. I don’t even know why I tried to squeeze in between them, they aren’t surrounding him. I am a freaking idiot.” She grinned and frowned all in one motion as she put her plan in to action. With her feet moving faster than everyone else’s, she quickly moved ahead of the guard and positioned herself just a couple of paces in front of the guard directly on the Raikage’s right. He would have no choice but to notice the young chunin who was desperately trying to get the man’s attention. With her long black hair flowing that ended at the middle of her back, she slightly turned her head to the left to gaze at the man and then calmly looked back in front of her, as to be aware of the area.

Naomi hadn’t even really thought about the events that they were about to see, she had been so fixated on the Raikage. A slight breeze had found the area the group were in and ruffled the top of her outfit, which consisted of a white kimono with long sleeves that was tied by a black sash that had a purple flowery design, which held her katana too. Thoughts of the actual reason for going on this journey had begun to surface and made her feel, indifferent… at best. Naomi absolutely loved weddings but she didn’t know the people who were getting married and then there was also the election of the Hokage. It was quite odd that they were even going to these events but she didn’t have time to think about that; they were and that is all that really mattered.

Posts : 1729

Legend

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It had been an... interesting day, to say the least. The Raikage had announced his intentions to travel to Konoha and celebrate the wedding of one of their prized ninja; some S-rank or another, Gouka could not for the life of him recall the details; overall, a political publicity stunt. Greet the neighbors, shake hands, make with the nice and smile nice and wide for the camera, then wait and see who blinked first before setting upon them like a rabid pack of wolves. Typical politics. Gouka kept his hands clean of such things. Fiercely hypocritical of a paid assassin, but it is what it is. Whatever the case, when the Raikage had made his announcement, there had been a ruckus in KYOBU HQ to scramble a detail for the honorable Raikage. Somehow, the rookie had landed a slot.

Not that Gouka was precisely a rookie anymore, not one that many beyond the captains would call to his face. He'd made his kills, he'd butchered his share of targets. He had little left to prove to anyone, and at that, very few people left to prove anything to. Takeshi Gouka's life of late had been one big tango with disaster, and he found himself falling into the Jestre persona with more and more frequency and less and less breaks. He rarely removed the mask these days except to clean off the blood. For whatever it was worth, he would be a member of the expedition, and while the Raikage's clan had provided their own escort; flashy things that couldn't outpace a genin, Gouka had noticed with distaste; it was still the duty of the KYOBU to protect the Raikage. He was one of the only two authorities in the village that they answered to.

Not that Gouka was particularly loyal to the Raikage; certainly he was loyal to the village, and would certainly obey his commands... But as far as Gouka was concerned, the golden-haired sop was a figure-head. The village had passed through the hands of no less than four of them since Gouka had begun his ninja career. Even now, he'd yet to speak to any single one of them, and this was the closest he'd ever yet come to one. Just another man wearing the title. Nevertheless, Gouka would do his duty. Nevertheless.

The various body-guards of the Takeda clan jostled for position behind the leader of Kumogakure's military might, but all of them wisely gave the black cloaked, masked KYOBU a respectably wide berth. There was no point in concealing his presence, and even there, would be no place to, in the massive envoy. Some fair-skinned, kimono-sporting woman darted her way through the crowd to place herself nearer to the Raikage, but after a moment of tension, Gouka paid her no mind. He would be able to clearly detect a surge of an offensive jutsu, and besides which, the Raikage could as well; even from here, Gouka could detect that familiar flavor of chakra, that sensation of an open eye in the darkness that was staring back, that marked a fellow sensor nin. The Raikage would not be caught unawares. Besides which, one look at the woman's face told even someone inexpert at reading expressions she was besotted with the golden-hair man. Gouka didn't get it.

The order was given out, and as with so many others, Gouka began to follow the golden-haired man; for better or worse.

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Posts : 1729

(OOC: Soooo I'm going to presume no one else is hopping in, and given the context of our posts, consider is a mono-post travel. Onwards to eval then.)