Home sweet home [travel Rice to Fire]

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

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Watching the sun set on the horizon, one Hinamori Toshiro had to admit that it hadn't been a particularly bad week in total. Seven days ago he had left Konoha tasked with arranging the death of a would-be "bandit king" - a death that would look like an accident. All in the hopes that his growing following would break apart in the ensuring infighting until the local lords and militia in Rice Country could handle the situation. Something in which he had done even better than expected - not only had the "bandit kings" death denied the rabble leadership but he had recovered some of the stolen goods and returned them to their owners. An act that had not only accelerated the bandit's descent into internal fighting but gained a likely future customer for Konoha who sat in a growing rivals backyard. Unexpected gains that would be worth far more than whatever the village had paid in the form of information on a potential rival, enemy, or ally that shared a common border with Fire Country.

Now he was just an hour or so from the gates of Konohagakure no Sato proper, having stopped for a brief rest and to enjoy what was a truly spectacular sunset. An act he rarely got to do under normal circumstances given that the hours just before sunset and after sunrise were usually devote to "ninja duties" that didn't lend themselves to simply enjoying something. Seeing the sky turn into shades of red and purple in a display to make a painter weep with envy was worth every bit of the lost sleep in Toshiro's opinion. Sadly though such a display can't last forever and when the sky went from a final purple to dark blue as the first stars came out the chuunin gave one last look upwards before turning his attention back to more mundane tasks. Picking up his travel pack, the half-filled canvas and leather arrangement was shouldered once more with ease born from experience. A cursory check of the clearing saying nothing was being left behind, the Leaf-nin set off towards the gates that would be his final "obstacle" before delivering his verbal report to his Hokage.

It would be in another hour that Toshiro would arrive outside the gates to again face his cousin and his partner who had once more drawn gate duty. There would be a few jokes, the usual checking of documents, and a "get your rear to the Hokage then tell your mother she can stop worrying" before things would again be back to normal - or at least as "normal" as they could be for someone whose "job" could range from cleaning trash to assassinating dangerous individuals.