The sound of small waves rolling onto the shoreline was always a comforting thing to hear and bear witness to. A ship docked itself at the port on the mainland and amongst the workers and the goods that they were carrying there was a young man in a navy blue kimono with green flowers as part of its design. It was a beautiful, albeit, modest piece of attire. With elegant and refined facial features this teenager could easily pass himself off as a noble, which he did, he totally lied to the captain about his lineage, so that he would be left alone.
"Hey young man, where did you say you were headed off to?"
That was the captain of the ship he was just on. Maybe due to his lies the captain wanted to get on his good side in case of a future transaction. Understandable but the teen figured that he might as well continue with the deception. It worked out for him so far so he might as well stick with it just in case, although thankfully he was able to convince the captain to not refer to him as a Young Lord.
" Oh yes Captain it must have slipped my mind but I was headed for the Leaf Village. I have important business to deal with there. Paperwork and such I'm sure you'll understand given your position."
The Captain, a gruff, older gentleman with a thick beard and weathered eyes nodded in understanding as paperwork was something that all people with some degree of power over others had to deal with in some fashion.
" The Leaf Village. Oh I see. Okay well there are merchants who go there frequently. I'm sure you can find a ride there, I mean an escort to take you there, sir."
"Oh that's rather sensible. Thank you for the information Captain. Here is the money I owe you. When I make my trip back home I hope I can join you on your vessel once more. Oh and you don't need to call me Sir. I may be a noble that doesn't change the fact that I'm really no different than you, just trying to get by. Just call me Masamune from now on. Until next time Captain."
Masamune reached into the backpack that he carried on his back, as his kimono had no pockets, and placed double than what was needed to pay for his fare and walked away from the Captain before he could raise any kind of protest about the amount of money that was given. He was a swift walker, Masamune, and thankfully there were so many people and goods moving around this port that it was easy for him to slip away unnoticed. As the Captain stated there were merchants regularly coming and going either to or from the Leaf Village and with the money he had on him it was easy for Masamune to buy his way onto a departing merchants caravan so that he could make his way over there. Given his attire and his looks it was easy to convince these men and women that he was a noble, he certainly looked the part. These men and women were easily over a decade older than him but some of these women still peeked at him during the ride over there, noting that his dark hair and the way it was styled, it being short with some of it being parted to partially cover his right eye and leaving his left eye exposed, was nice to look at. His dark eyes most likely only added to the eye candy. Masamune was very aware of the kind of attention his appearance would draw but thankfully it didn't last long as the merchants had a schedule to keep. Their goods wouldn't sell themselves after all.
The trip was rather uneventful and thankfully due to the items that he brought along with himself, like rations and other traveling essentials, he didn't starve. Eventually the staring did stop, to which he was thankful for but this caravan was now in front of the Leaf Village gates and is customary the merchants and the security they brought along were given the standard body search. Masamune was the last one in line and given his real reason for being here he couldn't just allow himself to be searched so when it was his turn to get searched he denied their request for him to get close.
" Hey look, it won't take too long. Less than five minutes and you can be on your way."
His traveling companions had already gone ahead, thankfully he took as long as he did. Up until now Masamune had been speaking in a tone that he thought was normal for nobles, a haughty and arrogant one. It was not how he naturally spoke but he couldn't just disclose anything about himself to the wrong people. Thankfully since these were Leaf Ninja they were the right people for him to disclose just enough for him to do his job. Closing the distance between himself and the man who was trying to ease him into the search he stopped right in front of him and jostled his arm slightly in order to produce a scroll that he handed to the man.
" Once you read the contents I hope you'll take the appropriate action."
Skimming over the contents of the scroll with some degree of suspicion, it was natural after all, the ninja seemed surprised and made the motion for his partner to take the scroll and report it to the right person. Until that was finished Masamune simply leaned against a nearby tree and took a moment to enjoy the breeze, it was going to be Fall soon so he ought to enjoy the nice weather here on the mainland. It wasn't too long after when he was allowed entry into the village and told to head directly to the Hokage, in order to confirm with her that the scroll was in fact legitimate. It was of course, but given the relatively recent events that have occurred here it makes sense that they would want to double check for the sake of safety. Masamune made his way to the office of the Hokage, a woman judging by the last face on the right on the mountain. There were people, Shinobi, around. Some of them wore some pretty unique outfits but he could get to know these unique people later. Or maybe never at all if things go south for him.
This was no time for negativity. Arriving at the building and heading into the right room, he asked for directions and he was given them. It wasn't as large as he was expecting it to be. There was a woman waiting for him outside what he presumed to be the office of the Lady Hokage.
"Hello Masamune. My name is Shizune, I work for Lady Tsunade. She is currently in her office and is free to see you."
The office was nice and almost cozy compared to the one he was accustomed to being inside of and across from him was the Lady Hokage, the Legendary Sannin Tsunade. She looked wonderful for a woman of her age, a little too good but he wasn't here to check her out. He couldn't deny beauty when he sees it, but he can ignore it while he's working.
"So what is a Mist Ninja doing in the Leaf Village? Certainly it can't be just to visit?"
Was this a test? Or maybe she wanted him to state it himself? Either way he had to ensure that he succeeded in his mission otherwise he'd get yelled at by his own Kage and he'd rather not deal with that if he could help it. If admitting his mission to her face-to-face was required then so be it.
"I had assumed that the scroll I sent ahead of myself would have been read but no matter, I can tell you myself. Good afternoon Lady Hokage. My name is Masamune Honemi of the Hidden Mist Village and I have been given the mission by my Mizukage to travel here as a diplomat and provide my services to you and your village with the desire by my village to strengthen our ties of camaraderie."
That was more or less what was written on the scroll he passed along, though the language used was much more flowery and full of terminology that he couldn't be bothered to repeat word for word. He got the point across and that's what mattered.
"Considering your village has the moniker of The Bloody Mist I find such a notion hard to believe. I hope you can understand our reluctance to trust your words alone, what with all of the horrible stories that abound on how your village and it's ninja conduct themselves."
That was a provocation and he knew that but he could tell from her tone that it wasn't full of malice. It was simply a statement of fact and of reasonable caution. It still stung him to hear that but he had to just deal with that quietly to ensure his mission went well.
"Yes you are correct about our unfortunate nickname and some of those rumors you have heard about our village are more often than not true but given how we have a new Mizukage, our fifth one to be exact, she is trying to turn the village around and to give us all a fresh start, hence why I am here. Considering how close you are to us, I have been sent as a gesture of friendship, a way to show that we are serious about changing our image, so you can think of me as a metaphorical olive branch. Other than my services as a ninja, I am authorized to propose a series of offers regarding more direct trade between our villages by establishing proper maritime trade routes instead of the current situation of everything going through a middle man. I am my Lady Mizukage's mouthpiece, her representative, while I am here under your employ, so I hope you accept this gesture. If you do accept then I ask that you treat me no different than you would any other Leaf Ninja under your command."
He bowed deeply in the hopes that it would increase the chances of Tsunade agreeing to this proposition. Masamune had his own personal reasons to ensure that this mission succeeded that had nothing to do with his village but he couldn't afford to lessen his chances of success so he didn't dare look anywhere other than the floor. Were they taken aback? Were they offended? Were they surprised and thinking about the pros and cons? He had no way of knowing and needed to know!
After a long silence, that was probably as long as a few seconds to a minute but to Masamune it might have been hours, he finally got a response.
"That's quite generous of her if she's willing to offer all of that to show that she wants our villages to be friends, or at least on good relations with each other then how could I not accept."
If Masamune was more like his former teammates back home then he would have jumped for joy but instead he simply stood up straight and due to his reserved nature he just had a small smile on his face. His mission was technically a success, everything after this would be a sort of mini vacation at best or a lighter workload at worst. Overall he was very content right now.
" Let's see...it says here along with the scroll you sent, I had to ensure that you were being genuine, it says that there is a personal file about you. I've gone over it and it's impressive. You've completed close to 100 missions most of them being B-Rank and C-Rank missions with nothing higher and with a minimal number of D-Rank missions with your Team. I won't ask questions but you're capable and experienced, that much is clear with how little information I'm provided by your file, your rank of Chunin and at such a young age."
Oh now she was just trying to butter him up surely. He simply stood there with that same smile on his face with a curt nod at her words regarding his file, redacted as it were in certain places. After putting away the scroll Tsunade scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Masamune which he gladly took. It looked like directions.
"Use this building as the point of reference. The directions I wrote down will direct you to a place that you can stay at. It's relatively cheap but the first payment regarding rent is free, think of it as a gesture of good faith. Until I send word that I require your presence for missions you're free to enjoy your stay here."
There was an unspoken threat in that. He had to be on his best behavior or risk ruining all of this. Well that wouldn't be too difficult to do. Following her directions he found an apartment complex and the room that would be his during his stay here. The landlady told him what the rules were as he was getting settled in but otherwise he didn't have a lot of things to unpack. His food, rations really, canteen, bingo book, his novels, a blanket his mother made for him, a mess kit, and some rope. It's a good thing his backpack was so spacious because he enjoyed lugging things around. He also had a large scroll with the rest of his belongings like clothes, first aid kit, tools for writing and sketching, a small pouch for his shurikens, his custom made Kama, and finally a bedroll with the items needed to set up a two-person tent. Oh and his glasses. They weren't needed for him to see, he just liked wearing them.
"I need to get out of this kimono. I can't risk getting this dirty otherwise mom is gonna yell at me."
This kimono he was wearing was pretty but it was also a gift and he couldn't afford to just wear it like it was a t-shirt. Changing out of it, after getting settled into his new place and showering, he put on his black changshan, it had dragons and flowers on it, some black pants, and some shoes. Fixing his hair in front of the bathroom mirror he decided that he looked good enough to head out and get to know the place. Stepping out of his apartment and locking it behind him he began to descend the stairs of the two story building.
His real mission had just commenced.
Author's Note: Wow it's been so long since I've been on here. Life got in the way I guess. I have other stories on here from years ago but I don't think I'll be continuing them anytime soon, if at all. I hope that whatever few people read my stories will read this new one. I might have trouble trying to characterize everyone but I can only hope that you'll enjoy reading this story anyway since I do plan on updating this story since it's loosely based on a D&D campaign I did with some buddies of mine. Hopefully you'll enjoy Masamune and his viewpoint on others.