Oh, Look. It's Back. (Requesting Entry)

[Kairyuu]

The snow stopped falling finally, leaving the mountain passes only slightly annoying instead of inconvenient for the Seer. In truth he had no intention of entering the village when he headed this way, instead wanting only to pass a message along to Shin and then get out before they decided his backside was a tempting target for their jutsu. He could not ignore the feeling that something was going on past those gates that he needed to take care of, however. In times past the walker of the planes of the dead had followed those hunches of his that stemmed from the other realm, and always they paid off. The years taught him well to follow his instincts and right now they were screaming and demanding that he enter the village and, at the very least, remove one person from their high throne in order to take it for himself. Alas, twas not the Raikage nor even his sennin who were the target this time.

Wearing his heavy black robes, those with the gold trim, Hoshikata made his way up the mountain passes in the crisp and biting air of night. He was no sneak thief this time, coming to scale the walls when none could stop him; he made himself quite visible as his staff put out a pure white light from the crystal globe sitting atop it. The blue tip would tip-tap on the stone under his feet as he made his way to those gates that so long ago he stole out over in the middle of the night much like this one. Golden eyes rise, hourglass pupils taking in the underwhelming entrance to the less than impressive city of Kumogakure. A sigh parts his lips before he calls out to the gates above him.

”Anyone on duty? It's rather cold and late and I would like a warm meal in my belly.” There was no ostentatious display of himself this time, no calling out his name for all to see. Instead he would play the game safely, for if he wanted to make this little quest work he would need to be quieter than he usually was indeed.

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu himself was not at the gates that day. Why would he be? He was the Sennin, and there were guards specifically for patrolling the gates. Still, on some occasions there were situations that your standard guard just couldn't, or shouldn't handle. One of those occasions was occurring today, as an interesting visitor approached the gates. This was one Hoshikata, the man who had come into the village to speak to the Raikage speaking of peace and then absconded from the village with a shinobi from Kumogakure in the dark of night. At the very least, that was how it had looked. When the man approached the gates, an ANBU made to approach him and ask for his passport. However, once he had a moment to observe the visitor's face, his tune changed.

"Hold there. If you want entrance, you'll need to speak to someone with higher clearance than I," the ANBU said, asking Hoshikata to wait. Whether he would or not was up to him, but to gain entrance he would need to wait. The message of Hoshikata's appearance at the gates was sent to Ayumu, whom in turn decided to go ahead and come and see what this was about for himself. If he was willing to come to the gates after what he had done, there was bound to be a pretty good reason. Ayumu was interested to see what it was. There were routes from the Sileo that reached the gates pretty quickly, so it was only a few minutes before Ayumu was able to reach the gates to greet their guest. He appeared at the top of the gates and then jumped down landing a few feet from Hoshikata.

"I am the ANBU Sennin of Kumogakure. We met last time you were here, I'm sure you can guess which one I was. What are you doing here?" Ayumu asked, simply wishing to get to the bottom of Hoshikata's sudden appearance. While he hadn't been labeled kill-on-sight or anything of that nature, Ayumu was less than enthusiastic about the idea of letting him enter the village again without a damn good reason.

 

[Kairyuu]

Well, so far so good was one thing that did not go through his head. Hoshikata knew he would be a person of interest for the guardians of the village, he had no idea he would be quite so well known to them though. As the man says to wait and runs off, he lets go of the staff and leans on it, the thing somehow remaining straight as a wall as he waited. It wouldn't take all that long before he saw a familiar soul approaching him, the same as he passed a few days ago on his way out of this same area to go out into the countryside. It wasn't Shin, but it was apparently someone of some power within the village. Either a captain or a sennin, then. If he was as wanted as he thought, it would be the latter, which meant this was likely the same man who sat in on his discussion with Shin months ago. It also meant they wouldn't be fooled by simple ruses.

Ayumu spoke the words to confirm his suspicions of who he faced, then rather bluntly asked him why he was here. Hoshikata pushes off the staff with a chuckle and lets his eyes take in the man, both in the physical realm as well as the spiritual. He ranked high on the food chain, then. This was both expected and problematic. He didn't want them watching his every move like a hawk, nor did he doubt they would do so. Best to answer the question, however, and then go from there. He reaches into his robes with one hand as he speaks, groping around for something.

”Mostly I came to inform Hayata Shin that I have spoken to Souske, the Kazekage-Steward of Sunagakure, and convinced him to attend your leader's Kage Summit. I also came because I've spent the past few months thinking over what happened when I was forced out, and decided that if your leader had anything to do with it he would have sent more competent people to shuffle me off the coil.” As his words finish he pulls out the object, a Kumogakure headband, and tosses it to Ayumu.

”That belongs to one of the two who decided to usher me out and attack me in the mountains. I figured you might want it back. I don't know where the other is because he fled upon realizing my group was stronger than they thought.” His hands fall to his side, one linking through kinetic power to the staff incase he needed it after this little tidbit. ”I came to give the news once, but after thinking about things, came to the conclusion that Shin would perhaps like to hear from my own mouth instead of having the words twisted by another.”

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Once Ayumu was done addressing Hoshikata, the man reached into his robes, speaking in return to Ayumu. Of course, a natural thought was that he might be reaching for a weapon, but it didn't really matter. If he was, Ayumu would react accordingly, there would be little benefit to attacking a second earlier. Fortunately, he only had words for the Sennin or more accurately for the Raikage. His words were a mixture of surprising and interesting, not at all what Ayumu might have expected from the man. Apparently he had done some of the legwork for the Raikage going to Sand and getting the Kazekage-Steward to agree to come to the Kage Summit that Shin was hoping to gather. Furthermore, he was implying that he was forced out of their village, likely putting forth Zaku as the culprit.

The object in Hoshikata's hand was revealed to be a Kumogakurian headband which he tossed to Ayumu. The Sennin caught it, taking a moment to verify the symbol before placing it in his belt pouch. Hoshikata continued, attributing the headband to one of the two rogue shinobi that had left the village with him. Whether this was true or a twist manufactured by Hoshikata to place reasonable doubt as to his guilt, Ayumu could not say for absolute certainty. On the one hand, it was easy to see Hoshikata making up a story. On the other hand, what did Hoshikata stand to gain by having the two shinobi leave with him if he intended to remain on good terms with Kumogakure? Regardless of such, the fact that he had brought the Kazekage-Steward's cooperation to the table made him useful. Perhaps useful enough to overlook what had happened, or at least to pretend they believed his story?

"I can't say for certain that he'll wish to speak to you, but I'm sure he'll want to know what you had to say about the Kazekage-Steward. We'll see," he said before reaching to his earpiece and pressing the button to speak. "Connect me to the Raikage," he spoke into the mic clipped to his collar. Of course, it would take a moment for the connection to be made, but it would be known it was the Sennin making the call so it would be faster. The operator would come back to his ear to inform him that he was being connected. "Raikage-sama. You recall Isaki Hoshikata? He wishes to speak to you. Says he's gotten the Kazekage-Steward to agree to attend a Kage Summit. What do you want to do? Should I bring him to you? Would you prefer to see him here?" he spoke through the radio waves to the village's leader. It was ultimately up to him.

The response was quick and decisive, and thus it was decided what Ayumu would do. "He'll see you at the same place we met last time. Follow me, don't stray," Ayumu said, although the last part was probably obvious. He hoped Hoshikata wouldn't try to cause trouble, as Ayumu was certainly in no mood for it. With that said, he turned to walk into the village as another ANBU fell in line behind Hoshikata to keep watch on him. The gates opened a crack for them to enter and so they made their way into the village, headed to the Torre Celeste.

[Topic Left - Hoshikata permitted to go to Torre Celeste topic]

 

[Kairyuu]

He says little as Ayumu calls in the fact of his arrival, those golden eyes simply staring into the man's very soul as he waits on word to come back. He had little doubt Shin would agree to a meeting, after all the man was in his own bastion of power and surrounded by people who would bring down any who sought to harm their leader. Beyond that, however, was the impossibly tempting bait of Souske's agreeing to come to the Summit that would be held once all the great nations were in agreement to come. Hoshikata would not keep up the illusion of Shin being in control of that much longer, however. The destination was set in his talks in Sunagakure, and Moon would be the location in which this grand meeting took place.

As Ayumu listens to the response, Hoshikata calls the staff to hand and begins to walk even before the other brings up the acceptance of his entry. As the other told him not to stray, he was met with a simple snort of derision that he would do so when he came here for the very purpose of meeting the man this ANBU was taking him to. As his staff taps on the ground, he follows Ayumu into the village, smiling under the hood of his robes.

(topic left, village entered)