Homeward Bound [Travel Rice to Fire Country]

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Looking back at the village that was still in the midst of a serious attempt to get roaring drunk a Konoha chuunin by the name of Hinamori Toshiro had to shake his head. To think that people could be so happy that someone would do what was just common sense surprised him. After he had been briefed on the mission he had expected to be met with resentment since the ninja of Hidden Sound had, for whatever reason, done nothing about the bandits. A view reinforced when, in reaction to being informed that the bandits were now leaderless and fighting among themselves, the village's headman had only nodded. When he had also asked it anyone in the area had lost valuables to the bandits the old man had simply arched an eyebrow as if to say "who hasn't" and showed little reaction when the Leaf-nin had unsealed the box of jewelry he had "liberated" from the bandit leader. When he had opened it though the old man had moved so fast that even to the ninja's trained eyes he seemed to teleport - wrapping the younger male in a bone-crushing hug while sobbing and saying "thank you thank you" over and over.

It had taken nearly an hour before he had been able to get the old man to calm down but when he had gotten it Toshiro had found himself wishing he HAD detonated those sheds as a distraction. Apparently the bandits were not content to just rob merchants and the locals but had also dabbled in grave-robbing with one of the victims of the later being the headman's late wife whose wedding band and engagement ring had been stolen. Rings that had been sitting on the top of the pile of stolen jewelry when he opened the box. With the help of the locals, Toshiro had been able to return all but a handful of pieces to their owners. He had also donated the bags of coins he had similarly "liberated" so that the locals could purchase supplies to replace what the bandits had stolen.

That generosity had ended up causing the locals to break out their best for the first real celebration they had had since the bandits claimed that old fort. A celebration that had been going well over 24-hours and showed no signs of stopping when Toshiro had begged off on the excuse that he needed to go back to Konoha before his superiors sent someone looking for him. With a travel pack full of supplies that the villagers had insisted he take with him, and a letter from the village headman that swore to send any future business his village had to Konoha, the chuunin had put his feet on to the road that would eventually lead him out of Rice Country and into Fire Country. Happy to be going home, Toshiro was even whistling (in his badly out-of-tune manner) a happy little tune. In little over a week since he left he would be back in Konoha if nothing went wrong.