Chapter 62: II Chapter 18 – Tsukiko – Dawn

Staring at the slowly rising dawn Tsukiko waited for the two Anbu to arrive, she had named them Bird and Doggie, after their masks, they were now on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Waterfalls, a small country right between The Land of Earth which held Iwagakure and the Land of Fire with Konohagakure having a Shinobi Village called Takigakure. The Country itself was not very rich, a zone only found on Maps as a small Nation made up of mainly traders, a few bigger villages.

The most well known fact about the Land of Waterfalls was that there was excellent infrastructure, not surprising considering they were right smack in the middle between two major countries, two smaller ones and had a quite active harbor connection to the Land of Frost.

They were heading to a specific part of the country of Waterfalls, tough it was considered a rather lawless zone. A mountain range marking the beginning of the land of earth and grass, right at the junction point between the three countries. No one among them ever fully agreed which part there belonged to whom but for the sake of peace and considering the land was, well, not very profitable, a silent consensus to simply leave it be had been made between them.

"We will be making a stop here, after that we continue to towards Iwa, start to pay attention to your surroundings once you see the first mountains." She told them and took out a small Bento Box from the storage seal in her Kimono sleeve. Clapping her hands and muttering a "Bon Appétit." she digged in and looked at the two Anbu who were chewing their sandwiches with large eyes on her Bento.

"I have mother, she likes to cook, I am small, I need the nutrition", she told them and ignored them enjoying the delicate taste of her mothers homemade Bento blooming on her tongue with a provocative hmm.  

Still feeling the stares of her fellow Shinobi she looked at them and at her Bento at which they were staring as if they were starved. 

"Forget it, I don't like you.", she shot a mean stare at Doggie that still had a few handprints on his neck. "My breakfast Lunch box."

After a while, she even felt her hunger dissipate under the stares of her fellow travel comrades and closed the box before putting it back into her sleeve storage seal.

No way in hell she was going to let anyone eat her food, especially people she didn't like because the brass was of the opinion she may need them in a conversation.

They rested for about an hour until it was fully dawning, and the mist was rising from the damp autumn forest ground. Continuing in the direction of Iwa they kept up a steady tempo upwards. The higher their way led them upwards, nearing the Iwa border, the smaller and the fewer tress they encountered until up a certain point the trees were exchanged with large expanses of green meadows where a multitude of flowers bloomed, herbs scented the air and honey bees swirred around. 

She stopped a moment and bowed down to touch the delicate pink flower in front of her. "An Alp-Rose. Be careful of those beauties they can be deceiving, they are poisonous.", she told the two Anbu taking the Idyllic landscape into herself. She looked back down towards the forests that ware barely visible covered in the mist like clouds that looked like a moving sea up here. 

"Beautiful.", she muttered, the sun illuminating the surroundings into a beautiful soft orange.

Truly a beautiful place, I believe I start to understand why Emeraude chose this place over the Land of Sound, but since we already are in their territory they are observing us.

The soft meadows around them got less and less, and they had to slow down because the air thinned. Together with the coldness that got worse Tsukiko was very happy on being tightly wrapped in armor and her Kimono. 

"We are here." She muttered and stopped right at the start of Stony mountains. "Above the meadows, where the stone begins." 

"Who said that? Who the hell is even living up here?" One of the Anbu asked behind her. There was nothing but a seemingly endlessly continuing steep mountain above them.

"The letter. I told you, what is seen is deceiving, it looks like something, delicate, unimportant, but it isn't." 

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She grabbed into her sleeve pocket and took out a scroll. "Come closer, keep your hands on my shoulders." She said before placing it on the floor. 

Cutting her finger on her Tanto she placed it on the scroll. 

[Release.]

She whispered and poured every inch of Chakra into it, swaying a bit. The area started to Shift around them blurred moved and changed like a wrapped up mess until the mountain was gone. 

In front of them a plateau appeared and houses were piling on it. Waterfalls steaming down and giving it a bit of greenery. Streets made of stone, houses made of Stone, the people in the streets dressed warmly. They were of all ages and happily ignored the Shinobi acting like they weren't there. 

"Welcome to the Village of the Forgotten." Tsukiko said and walked forward. "Don't bother trying to speak with anyone, don't draw weapons, don't use Chakra and don't be insulted, we are not from here, they know that, and thus they ignore us, it is their way.." 

"How...?" The younger Anbu said looking around like a county pumpkin. 

"A sealing technique. Uzumaki handwork, from when the Family was still powerful. Many survivors sought refugee here, completing it, but before that the inhabitants commissioned large pieces of this massive sealing formation from Ushizo, the Land of Whirlpools." She explained. "You only find this place when you know where to search for it and when you are in possession of an entrance key. As a matter of fact, quite a few survivors, especially children, from the Shinobi Clans and civilians of Ushizo ended up here. The Forgotten once had an alliance with them, similar to Konoha, when the five Nations banded together to destroy the land of whirlpools the Forgotten tried to help, send as many Shinobi as they could, including their only Kage level Shinobi, they all died, but they did indeed manage to evacuate great parts of their population here." 

They were consequently ignored the by the people, who did not even try to avoid them. Walking towards the only taller building. 

"This place works similar to a Shinobi Village." She explained further to the Anbu. "The current Kage is the one with the carnivorous fishes, I happened to know him and the former one ... as well" She pointed to the only tree growing right in the middle of a plaza absentminded.

"I guess I should welcome you then" Someone said behind them. Tsukiko turned unhurried and looked into deep green glowing eyes. The man standing there was clad in a black coat and there was no headband, but simply an earring with a circle that had a small bird inside it. The unknown redhead and Aoki who stood behind Emeraude carried the same earrings. 

"Welcome to the Village of the Forgotten." Emeraude bowed elegantly. "Charles" 

"Emeraude, Aoki, greetings from Genevieve by the way, and I assume the one I had my correspondence with, Daiki Uzumaki. The red hair is a dead give away, you share it with Kushina. Please call me Tsukiko would you, Eme...no not right, Chloe." 

 

 

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