Welcome To The Jungle [Travel]

Age : 35 Posts : 1113

[Travelling to Bear Country]

Some vacation. Uriko had come to Getsugakure to lie low and enjoy a few days of quiet. Instead, she had been ambushed by thugs, accosted by a would-be assassin and been forced to let the latter survive the encounter. She seethed at the mere thought of the infuriating Nara tarnishing her infamous name. Pacing up and down her small, rented room, the kunoichi could not put the event from her mind. What a fool. She thought, chastising herself for such naivety. It had been the adult equivalent of a child playing with food, except Uriko had discovered only too late that her dinner would not go down so easily. It pained her - truly - to recall the moment she could have ended the contest, but had faltered and consequently been forced to flee. And it was doing the woman no good to be cooped up inside four blank walls. She needed to escape from this damned country, to put the village to a rudder and many leagues between them. "Grh!" Uriko grunted, slamming her palm into the wooden door and striding out into the hallway. She was already packed and had no fees to pay - the proprietor owed her far more than free accommodation could pay. But it would do for now. One or two heads turned and glanced as the kunoichi swept past them, before only the faint noise of her robes flitting from the premises remained.

One of the first skills the woman had learned when she embraced the criminal life was the ability to avoid people. And Getsugakure was teeming with them. Even for one as experienced as she, slipping through the crowds was no easy task. Tourists, businessmen and women, excited children... The kunoichi had to weave an intricate path through them all. If she had waited for nightfall, the walk would have been far more enjoyable. As it was, the situation only served to rile her more. In turn, this was poor news for anyone willing to hold her up at the docks. Eventually reaching the outskirts, where the human traffic thinned enough for a more calm journey, Uriko pulled at her hood and covered her somewhat distinctive features. The cloth that hung loosely where her left arm used to be would draw no attention to the casual eye. More keen observers might notice something amiss, but the half-hearted guardsmen of Getsugakure were not any cause for concern. Indeed, they barely batted an eyelid as the notorious kunoichi passed them by. Shuffling alongside a small group of traders and their wagon-bound cargo, Uriko broke away from her envoy as soon as she was far enough from the walls. Looking back at the gate and its lacklustre security, she rolled her eyes. Just another forgettable face, lost in crowd, huh?

The woman recalled her last excursion to the island and how unpleasant the voyage back the the mainland had been. The ocean swell and tumultuous winds had put paid to her hopes of a comfortable journey. This time however, the skies were far clearer and the breeze... She lifted her hand and felt the soft touch of the breeze against her hard skin. Perfect weather for sailing. Of course, actually controlling the damn thing would be a stretch too far for the one-armed lady. And so she had arrived at the simplest conclusion: pay the most discreet crew for safe passage. A woman of considerable repute (and not to mention thrifty with her earnings), Uriko had no shortage of funds. Choosing the best vessel presented more of a challenge. The female nukenin strolled casually onto the dockyard's cobbled stones. Ignoring the workers carrying crates, ignoring the briny smell of the sea spray and ignoring the creaking wood as it swayed on the tide, the kunoichi focused on the activites of the sailors themselves. Her eyes were as sharp as ever, and she soon saw a group of less savoury individuals gathered around what looked to be a small fishing boat. Finding a damp barrel amid sacks of grain, Uriko took a seat and watched from afar. In no hurry, she took some thirty minutes or so to confirm that these were men of her world. Or at least, they were more sympathetic to her cause.

Sure enough, their leader seemed happy to accommodate the female fugitive - for a price. Coins exchanged hands and Uriko gave her instructions. They were to drop her off at the southernmost point of Konoha, avoiding any ships en route that belonged to the great nations. From there the woman would skirt along the western borders of the Hi no Kuni, travelling north until Ame no Kuni. A country that had once been home to missing-nin such as herself, Rain would provide the shelter she needed to complete the last leg of her journey. Heading north once more, Uriko planned to make swift progress into Kuma no Kuni. The deep, forested - almost jungle-like - terrain here would provide welcome refrain from the sea air. With the treehouse complex serving as a temporary base of operations, the woman had a chance to regroup. It had been a long time since she'd visited this particular hideout, but what with the mercenaries and shinobi that had discovered her in Getsugakure, a safehouse was just what she needed right now. Besides, the woman reasoned, she was short a good deal of essential supplies, and criminal traders were always willing to sell.