Envelope Three: To Claw Country!(Travel Mission)

[Someone]

Raikou blinked as he exited the ship, the brightness of day dazed him for a moment. It was so clear, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Things were going according to plan so far, he had arrived the dock safely and needed to run to the bear country before he was attacked... who knew who would be after the scroll he possessed... He looked both ways before running from the port he had arrived at. He didn't have a lot of time before the letters needed to be delivered to their respective leaders.

Raikou frowned as he ran through the streets with the letters tucked in his ninja tool pouch. Aya was laying on his shoulder and the Crying Longsword hung at his side horizontally. He had to turn the long blade so it was pointing behind him rather than to his left in order to get through the crowd. It was still too early to try to sniff out if people were following, so he kept as low a profile as he could while maintaining a good speed through the town.

After a little while of running, the crowds thinned and he could see a figure running out of the city ahead of him. A smile came to his lips as he waited for it to disappear from sight. The young boy then took off, letting the sword shift to point to his left. Now, all he had to do was make sure he reached the Bear Country safely... Heh... perhaps this was easier said than done...

[Someone]

Eyes followed Raikou as he passed by, unawares of the danger that lay waiting for him. There had been no set 'route' the messenger would take, so they had waited in the one place he had to go through. The port itself. The boy had been marked as their target by the Hidden Mist headband he wore on his head. The man smiled, his own headband gleaming in the light of the sun. It bore the insignia of the River Country's ninja.

"Time to move out... remember... our mission is the envelopes the boy has, anything else you do to him is extra... call it 'pleasure' if you will." The man's baritone voice rasped out in a whisper. The two others that were with him nodded and stood up. The three ninja took off after the unsuspecting boy.

The Kage sends a child? What could he be up to? the ninja thought to himself as he ran after the boy.

[Someone]

Raikou suddenly stopped in his tracks. A trio had suddenly took off after his clone... they had made no attempts to conceal their movement and looked anxious to catch up with him. Raikou sighed, he had been expecting competition, but this was a little much... three against one? he'd have to take a detour if he was to complete this mission... and get away from those grown ups... Well, the bear country was the closest of his destinations, he'd go there first... however, the three ninja might try to cut him off if they realized that they were following a clone...

Raikou pushed off the ground, following the three ninja as they followed his clone. He'd have to pick them off one by one if he was ever going to get these guys off his back for good... or, he could bypass them and hope they get lost... Raikou liked the second option better and decided to help his clone a little before going on ahead of the threesome. He followed the group a little while, getting closer and closer to the Bear Country as they went, suddenly the group stopped. His clone had finally picked up on them Raikou guessed.

Now what?

Raikou stopped in his tracks suddenly, the wind that was blowing from behind him had allowed him to pick up the scent of three unwanted guests... and one Raikou! The clone suddenly took off in the wrong direction, making it obvious it knew there were people following it.

[Someone]

The man's eyes widened as the boy took off... and in the wrong direction no less! It was as though it were trying to lure them away from the main course so someone else could pass by unnoticed... The man frowned. Or, it could be that the boy lost his head and was now running around frantic because he knew they were following him...

It's just a kid... what the heck could he know? probably lost his head and needs someone to take the envelopes away from him before he hurts himself... The man thought and bolted forward.

"You two wait here, I'm going to take care of the kid all by myself."

He quickly caught up with the boy and shunshined in front of him.

"Boo." The man smiled, drawing a kunai and pointing it at the boy's throat. The small boy jumped back, a scared expression on his face.

"Wh-who are you?" The boy asked. The man walked forwards, closing the distance created with the jump.

"I'm your worst nightmare!" The man watched as the boy bent over a little as he began to charge him. "heh, patheti-" The man started but was cut off as a sudden explosion of twirling air caught him in the gut. The boy had suddenly jumped and spun around in circles! The man recognized it as the Inuzuka's 'Peircing Fang' technique. A basic Taijutsu that used the momentum of the spin to repel air quickly and use it as a weapon.

Crash!

The man was thrown back into a tree, breaking the bark and disorienting him for a moment. The hit itself wasn't all that bad, but the contact that was made was solid.

Perhaps this boy isn't that bad after all... The man thought to himself grimly as he shook his head and sneered at the kid. "Is that all you've got? Here! Let me show you how a real ninja fights!" With that, the man made a long string of handseals. Suddenly, the man seemed to disappear in a flurry of sakura petals. The man smiled. No one had seen this genjutsu of his and survived! The man ran forward, twirling his kunai on a finger and then grasping it.

"Got you!" The man yelled triumphantly as he slashed at the boy's neck. But just before contact, the boy ducked and sent a punch flying towards his jaw. It made contact and lifted him up into the air, but... something was off... The Peircing fang... Escaping his Genjutsu... and now this punch... This was a Water Clone! No wonder none of the physical attacks were hurting and why his Genjutsu didn't have any effect on it! His eyes widened as he saw the boy running towards him. Another Peircing Fang?

"Fang Ferocious Fang!" The clone yelled and took off. No sooner had the boy took off than the man felt as though a cement brick had hit him in the stomach at 50 miles an hour! The man's eyes widened as the contact buried into his stomach, twisting him round and round. Suddenly, the man flew off from the clone and twisting through the air, slammed through a tree.

"D...Damn... that... kid... uhhh...." The man whispered as he lost conisousness, nothing left of the clone but a puddle of water.

[Someone]

Raikou saw the man follow his clone. The other two waited for the man's return for a moment, but as soon as they heard a gigantic crash, they looked at each other for a moment and took off in the direction of the hit. Raikou took his opertunity to take off in the direction of the Bear Country.

One down... Raikou thought to himself as he disappeared through the trees. That had been a short fight, however, it would have remained a short fight either way... if the man had hit the clone, it would have dispirsed into water, if his clone had hit the man... well... we already know the outcome of that!

Raikou ran the rest of the way to the Bear Country without much more trouble, the two ninja that had been with the man didn't show themselves if they were following him. Aya let out a whimper of discontentment more than once.

"I know you wanted to be part of it too, but right now, our mission is to get these letters to the countries, not fighting ninja that want to stop us..." Raikou wondered how the fight would have turned out if HE had been the one fighting. He would have been caught in the jutsu, and could he have gotten out of it? Raikou wasn't sure if he could have...

[Exit to Bear Country]

[Leonov]

Moved

[Someone]

Raikou sighed.

That girl had been so strange...

He bounced from tree to tree swiftly, the road quickly passing by under him. It was a long way to the Bird Country and he needed to get there quickly... he still had a mission to complete. Raikou passed many people on this well-known road between the two countries. Many a person looked up to look at him, however, none rose a hand to try to stop him like those three ninja had done on his way to the first country.

All the better for me I suppose...

Aya ran at Raikou's heels, keeping up with the quickly moving ninja. The dog had been bored beyond her wit's end, yet she still kept herself from complaining... barely... After hours of uneventful traveling, they finally reached the Land of Birds.

This will be 2 of 3... more than half way done now! Raikou thought to himself excitedly. He was in shape, however, even this was hard on the ten year old, his muscles and chakra not yet fully developed. Would things get easier from here on in? The boy could only hope so as he met with the Bird Country's Leader.

[Elgar]

Moved to Bird

[Someone]

Now, there was only one more country left to go to before returning to the Hidden Mist Village. Raikou sighed. This was such an... interesting job... a whole lot more interesting than just going across the street to mail the letters in the mail box. Aya growled. She had been disturbed when she had seen the swim suited ladies all over the Kage... but then, what was she going to expect from a man? They were all weak against girls. Raikou and Aya traveled from the Land of Birds to the Land of Claw. Nothing really happened besides the bouncing between trees and a slight change of scenery...

"looks like those ninja won't be bothering us anymore!" Raikou said out loud to himself, Aya barked in agreement as they made their way to their last destination.

[hotaru]

Ca caw! Ca caw!

Moved

[Someone]

my heero! XD (kk, really bad joke )

Raikou and his escorts ran through the forest, taking the shortest route to the Port as possible. His escorts were a boy, around 11 years old and a girl around 9. Raikou knew not to judge a book by its cover, however, they both looked out of sorts. They seemed to be in awe as they passed through the trees. Either they were in awe of Aya and Raikou, or they were in awe of what lay outside their village... either way, Raikou wasn't exactly sure he felt safe with them as his... 'body guards'.

It was almost night time when they reached the port, the last boat to the Land of Water was about to leave and Raikou barely made it back in time. What a day... Raikou thought to himself as he boarded the boat. I wonder what the letters said... Raikou went through various possiblities and finally settled on the Mizukage announcing that the Hidden Mist Village was back in business and ready to accept missions from the outside countries again. At least... that's what made the most sense... Either that, or it was about the recent change in Kages...

Whatever it was, Raikou was going to find out soon enough as soon as he arrived back in the Hidden Mist Village...

[Travel to the Water Country!!!]

[hotaru]

To Water