It was mid-day. The sky was clear. The occasional cloud moving slowly in the gentle, warm breeze over the Giant Bamboo Forest.

Kiyoshi stopped, balancing himself effortlessly on a giant bamboo stick as he glanced over the forest. He rested his staff on his on his right shoulder, placing his left hand on his hip as he took a moment to scan the area. He let out a soft groan, his expression becoming that of disappointment as his stomache began to growl. "Not an animal in sight..." Letting out a sigh, he jumped down off the top of the bamboo, landing gently onto the dirt ground below. "Honestly, whoever heard of a forest of any kind that animals couldn't be found easily in?" Then again, it was a bamboo forest, though it still didn't make much sense to him.

He rubbed his head with his left hand out of fustration as he tried to think of where else he could go. "The mushroom forest maybe?" He thought aloud, but then remembered how many of the mushrooms that grew there were actually inedable. "I'd rather not have food poisoning again." He exhaled another sigh, then crossed his arms and closed his left eye. This wasn't unusual for him to be talking to himself like this. Actually, he found it rare to find anyone this far away from the village that wasn't traveling.

After a moment, he sat down, setting down his staff next to him before flopping onto his back, hearing the crunch of the few, dead leaves that were spread throughout the forest. He placed his hands behind his head, crossing his right leg over the other as he looked up at the sky. Somehow, his thoughts began to wander from his hunger. A small part of him wanted to stay in this beautiful land, but a larger part of him wanted to leave this place. Wanted to leave his boring, daily routine. He never really went out on missions, so he never had a reason to leave before. Maybe he should take on a few outskirt missions. "Or maybe I should just up and leave," he mumbled under his breath as he closed his left eye again. This thought had been bugging him more and more lately, but he couldn't seem to make up his mind on the subject.

Zane was lost trying to find his way to the Hidden Grass village. The Great Bamboo forest was tricky, everywhere you looked, everything looked that same. Zane had split from the main road and had diverged from the path he had to take. He took a deep breath and sighed. He then sat down and took out a bottle of water from his backup. As he sat down he closed his eyes and drank the bottle of water. He opened them to see a ninja with orange hair. Zane thought "Hmm, I guess I could ask him for directions".

Kiyoshi sat up and rubbed his head, having to adjust his headband back into place after a moment. He began to remember his hunger, which only annoyed him. He figured he might as well just go buy something. The lazy side to him starting to show as he thought about it. He reached over, picking up his staff as he stood up. He began to brush the dirt off of him and turn around when he noticed Zane sitting not too far from where he was.

It wasn't unusual to see a traveler to two passing through the bamboo forest, so he didn't think too much on it. He flashed a friendly smile with a small wave. "Hey, buddy! You lost?" He asked as he began to approach Zane.

"To be honest, yes I am, I'm looking for the Hidden Grass Village, I planned on meeting someone but I'm lost in this neverending bamboo forest." Zane replied to Kiyoshi. He could hear his voice clearly, the bamboo forest was a very quiet and subtle place. He thought he would be able to see a Panda on his face, but he didn't find any, mostly hares, which he killed for food.

Kiyoshi laughed a little to Zane's response. "Yeah, it is pretty easy to get lost around here. Everything looks the same no matter where you go." He nodded his head off to the right to tell him he needed to head that way. "I'm heading back there now. I'll be happy to show you the way so you don't get lost again," He said teasingly. He took a moment to examine the boy before he placed his hands behind his head as he turned and began walking. "So, you came all this way just to meet with a friend? You're pretty far from home," he stated, refering to his Zane's headband. He didn't think too much on it however.

"Hmm, let's just say it was important." Neru replied with a small grin, followed by a chuckle. "He wanted to contact me on an important matter, something I can't share with you for obvious reasons." Neru said with a smirk. He followed Kiyoshi back to the main path towards the village and soon they were at the gates of the village.

'Obvious reasons?' Kiyoshi glanced at the boy with a curious look. "Whatever," he said with a shrug. Though he was curious, he decided not to push for any information just yet. He continued to walk in silence for the time being, contemplating if he should even be taking Zane to the village in the first place.

They exited the Bamboo Forest after a while of walking and came to the a grassy meadow. In the distance, you could see Kusagakure, the kage's tower in the center of the village and obvious at first glance. He began walking towards the main gates. The village itself had a detection barrier that served to alert the village of any intruders that slip into the village without coming through the main gates. In the even that the barrier is breached, a siren echoes through the village to alert its inhabitants.

In the event that the main barrier is disabled, auxiliary barriers are raised around key locations such as the hospital and the kage tower. Breaking through these barriers requires a significant amount of force; however, Kusagakure shinobi can freely pass through them. Each shinobi has a seal placed on the inside of their wrist that allows them to pass through. This seal is changed periodically to ensure security and disappears from the village ninja upon death. [A little random trivia about the village lol]

Kiyoshi looked at Zane as they neared the entrance to the village. "So whose this friend of yours anyways?"

"Hmm, I met him a few months ago, you could say we know eachother well." Neru replied while entering the village with Kiyoshi. Neru had to be inspected but gave a written approval by the village elders of his arrival, thus the guards did not check him. He walked inside the village with Kiyoshi leading him. "Thanks for your help, I'll be going now." Zane patted Kiyoshi's shoulder and walked past him.

"Must be nice." Kiyoshi smiled at the boy. He nodded and gave a small wave as Zane thanked him. "Anytime. Good luck finding your friend." He watched as the boy walked to meet up with his friend. He crossed his arms and thought for a moment. 'I still want to know what they are meeting up for.' He debated for a moment if he should follow Zane or not. He smirked and headed down a nearby alley.

Zane walked past into the crowd and soon was out of sight, though this would seem tough against a Lotus clan member. He soon found the black mist that was hidden on the alleyway to his right. Zane didn't find him by sight, but by sensing an evil aura around that area. For some reason, only he could sense it. It seemed like it was on a frequency only for him. He slowly turned around and walked towards the dark alleyway making sure no one is to see him.
"Yo, I heard your message and here I am, what is it that you need?"
The black mist shaped out a hand and Neru closed his eyes forcefully, a second later when he opened them he was at the hideout of the New Akatsuki.

Kiyoshi had been tailing him, but when he finally caught up to Zane, the boy had vanished. He stood there in the alley, completely confused as to where he could have dissapeared to. He rubbed the side of his head with a small sigh. "I don't understand how I could've lost him."

Kairi had decided to go out and get some excercise after sitting at her desk all day. She stopped on a nearby rooftop and stretched her arms above her head. She dropped her arms to her side and scanned the area. When she looked down, she noticed one of her ninja's standing in the alley with a confused expression. She jumped down behind him, landing softly and placing her hands on her hips as she caught what he said. "Lost who?"

Kiyoshi quickly turned around and stumbled back a few steps, startled by the voice behind him. He was surprised to see the Kage standing there. "Er...nobody." He nervously laughed as he avoided eye contact with Kairi, using his index finger to scratch his cheek. "Anyways, I think I'm late for something!" He announced and turned to leave.

Kairi gave him a peculiar look when he started acting funny. She shook her head and reached out, grabbing Kiyoshi by the scarf to prevent him from leaving. With one swift motion, she yanked him back and turned him around, pulling him nose-to-nose with her. "You're not hiding anything, are you?"

Zane was transported back to the Hidden Grass, he was in the same dark alley as he was before. He turned around to make sure it was the same alley and it was. Zane poked his head out of the valley and noticed the area was less crowded and spotted a woman holding Kiyo by his scarf. She didn't wear a headband be he saw her clothes which resembled that of the Onajikage. Zane opened the parchement to find what was written. It said that the current kage was the host of the One tailed beast. "I'm supposed to take her down?" Zane thought. He further read what was written to find she was an Uzumaki, one of the near-extinct clans. "Hmm, I guess I'll have to wait for this Shouhei in order to capture her." He walked out of the alley and turned around, opposite to the two. It was easy to spot Zane.

Kiyoshi was startled as he was yanked back and forced to turn around. "N-no," he said as he waved his hands in front of him. He felt slightly intimidated by this woman, mainly because of her attitude. He glanced over when he felt someone watching them and noticed it was Zane. He gave a nervous wave to the boy and managed to take a step back from the Onajikage, but was still stuck in her grip for the time being.

Kairi stared into the boy's eye to see if he was telling the truth or not, though it seemed obvious from how nervous he was. Her eyes followed him as he glanced off in another direction. She examined the boy from head-to-toe that was standing nearby. She let Kiyoshi go and crossed her arms as she turned to face Zane. "Need something? It's rude to stare at people when they're talking kid."

Zane just turned around ignoring the Kage's comment and walked towards the crowd, where they were all heading. He quickly mixed in with the crowd, and started to perform handseals. She won't be able to spot me now. Zane as he was performing his handseals turned around to see if anybody had noticed. No one had, he smiled.

Kiyoshi breathed a small sigh of relief when he was let go. He watched as Zane left, then looked at the Kage. "You sure know how to charm the men, huh?" He grumbled.

"What a rude child," Kairi stated as she watched the boy walk away from her sight into the crowd. She immediately narrowed her eyes at Kiyoshi. "What was that?" She turned and reached over, grabbing his shirt. "Why don't you repeat that for me. I don't think I heard you right," she requested with an evil little smirk.

Neru was informed quickly by Nagasaki to stop performing his handseals, the ring comunication worked like a buzzer, it stopped him from performing his handseals and sent an image of the Hideout inside Zane's brain. He stopped moving and could see Nagasaki in his true form. "So that's how you look like hmm. What is it?" Zane asked.

"Do not fight the Kage, wait for Shouhei to assist you. Those are my master's orders."

Zane nodded and was quickly back to reality. He turned around and saw Kiyoshi and the Kage still chatting, with the kage, who seemed to have grabbed Kiyo's..err..skirt. Zane thought to appear less suspicious he ran upto the two and slapped the kage's hand off of Kiyo. He bent the light around the ring to make it appear invisble, it was impossible to see it.

"Yo lady, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Zane asked with a grin.

"N-n-nothing!" Kiyoshi said, trying to hide his nervous tone. 'She's actually kind of scary...' He laughed a little to try and lighten the mood when she asked him to repeat what he said. Before he could come up with a different answer to try and redeem himself, her saw her hand being slapped away, causing him to stumble back a few steps. He looked at Zane with a surprised yet confused expression. He was grateful for the help, but he wasn't sure how the Onajikage would react to the sudden interruption.

"Nothing my ass." Kairi was the type to not let someone get away with anything if she was mad at them. Her attention immediately turned to Zane when he smacked her hand away from her hold onto Kiyoshi's shirt. "And who do you think you are you little brat?" She was already tired of this kid and she had only just met him.

Zane sneered as slapped Kairi's breasts as if he was playing with bongos. While he did he said "Tatatatatatataah!" and jumped back grabbied Kiyo with him onto the rooftop. He then yelled "I'm sorry but Kiyo told me to do this!" Neru shouted and started to run on top of the roof as he grabbed Kiyo by his arm.

Kiyoshi blushed slightly with a shocked expression as Zane began playing with Kairi's breasts. He didn't expect to get dragged along onto the rooftop. His expression turned to one of a slight fear when Zane blamed him for the incident. "Are you trying to get me killed!?" He asked as he followed close behind the boy, mainly to avoid getting his ass kicked.