The four of them stood outside the gates of Konoha seeing the sky turn blue with the rising sun. Nenshō laid back on the bench with Hinata his cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth unlit waiting for their client to arrive. Kumo and Ino waited with them deciding they'd take the first stage of the journey together; Ino's squad was attacked within the border so it was agreed it would be for everyone's benefits it they kept together for as long as possible.

A plump balding man arrived walking stick in hand his baby face smiling at them. "Hello I'm Tomi Koumuru I'm trusting you two to protect me."

Nenshō and Hinata nodded, "You can count on us we'll see you out of the country perfectly safe."

They started out on the road walking it relative silence keeping a slow pace for their elderly client who managed to keep a decent pace with them.

Hardly anyone spoke except for Ino and Hinata who exchanged pleasant amounts of small talk with each other occasionally making attempts to Nenshō and Kumo into the conversation with varying results sometimes managing to get an answer to some question, Nenshō was far more talkative than his comrade and was always willing to join in when asked too.
After a half a day of walking they reached their crossroads leading in opposite directions. "Guess we part ways here." Said Nenshō dropping his finished cigarette onto the muddy road and stamping it out.

"We should be back to Konoha within the week" said Hinata.

Ino nodded, "We can't say for sure when we'll be back" she said, "but if we're lucky it won't take much longer than two weeks."

Nenshō pulled another smoke form his pack and lit it, "Well we're wasting daylight standing around." he said turning down his stretch of road only to be stopped by Ino grabbing his wrist and stopping him her voice low.

"Listen" she said making sure only he could hear her, "I was in the squad that was attacked when we tried to escort his guy the first time. I already explained this to Hinata but don't let your guard down, especially with that Koumuru guy something's wrong with him and I don't believe his bounty is from some rival company."

Nenshō nodded taking note of how serious her face looked, "I'm assuming this is based off of woman's intuition?"

"You're not a true believer?" she asked folding her arms.

He smirked, "I trust you it's just this guy doesn't seem like the nefarious type to me."

Ino raised a single questioning eyebrow, "And you're familiar with nefarious people?" she asked.

Nenshō chuckled, "Maybe" he said, "but I've been wrong before so I'll take your suspicions to heart."

"Thanks" she said turning to walk with Kumo but he stopped her.

"But listen here" he warned, "That's my comrade you're going to be working with, I think you'd work with him better if you stopped trying to get a look at his face."

"Sorry" she said, "I can't help but be curious."

"Well lose the curiosity, because anything Kumo isn't willing to do in order to protect his secrets I won't hesitate to it do for him."

"Is that a threat?" she asked.

"It's a friendly warning" he said, "Kumo's risked a lot coming to Konoha and I'm not letting anyone ruin that for him."

"I'm not trying to ruin anything for him," she muttered.

"I know" he said, "And that's why I'm warning you to stop prying."

Ino felt the tiny droplets of moisture fall from the sky and land on her face. She looked up to see the dark clouds over head had begun to rain down on them. She zipped up her heavy jacket and pulled on the hood. After parting ways with Nenshō and Hinata they had managed to pick of their pace a little not needing to worry about an ageing merchants comfort. Although the conversation had taken a quiet turn, Kumo was about as quiet as the grave as usual. Though she had to admit he was the most cooperative teammate she'd had so far. He never complained or protested when she ordered a rest or for them to keep going always quietly taking her orders. They had decided to stop for the night and make camp; Kumo began setting up their tent while she tried to cook a halfway decent meal out of their rations. Kumo removed his jacket and placed it into the tent along with his scorpion puppet; he sat on a rock and tilted his head back to the pouring rain letting the drops run down his face.

"Do you like the rain?" she asked handing him a tin dish of cooked rice and veggies steaming it the cold rain. She was grateful she had managed to finish cooking the food before the rain. Kumo lightly nodded at her question before turning his face away from the sky and eating the food without complaint.

"Sorry if it's not to your liking I don't have much to work with once we find an inn or a town we can buy something more substantial." She explained helping herself to her own serving trying to down it all before it got cold and soaked.

"Your cooking's fine." He said finishing the last bit of rice on his plate.

"Thanks" she said returning to her meal. After they finished their meal they cleaned and packed up their mess kits burying the remains of their fire and retiring to their tent for the night. Kumo pulled a scroll from his jacket.

"What's that?" she asked looking over his shoulder at a map seeing a series of drawn markings and hand written notes.

"Map of the Land of Mountains… I've marked various landmarks I've used before including caves." He explained pointing at a triangle marking the caves.

"What about those swirls?" she asked pointing to one of many spirals on the map.

"Hot Springs" he said, "It's snowing this time of year in the county I'm guessing that these rebels are staying close to them it's a good source of warmth and the steam can be used as cover."

Ino nodded in agreement, "Did you spend a lot of time in the Land of Mountains?" He folded the map and put it back into his jacket pocket and moving to his sleeping pad and covering himself with his blanket.

"A little" he said staring at the ceiling of the tent, "I'm familiar with the wilderness of the area some of the hot springs in the area have inns we can stay at if we camp around during the blizzards we could attract unwanted attention."

"That's a good idea and who can argue staying at a hot spring." She said removing her wet jacket and preparing for bed. Ino lay back on her sleeping pad and listened to the sound of the rain hitting the tent. The noise would probably keep her up all night until she was forced to fall asleep by her own drowsiness. She turned her head and looked at Kumo unsure whether he was asleep or not, the only indications of life he gave was the rise and fall of his chest.

"Are you awake?" she asked him.

A few seconds of silence passed and just when she thought he was asleep he spoke up. "Yes" he said moving over to his side to look at her.

"Why do you like the rain?" she asked trying to see it she could get a conversation flowing.

He didn't answer at first seconds flowed by where he just looked at her or she assumed he was looking at her though the black lenses. She could feel his breath ticking her face.

"It was rare for it to rain during my childhood… its refreshing." He explained.

"So you didn't grow up in Konoha?" she asked, again he hesitated before answering.

"No… I wasn't born in Konoha" he admitted knowing it would do him little good to lie.

"I won't say anything" she promised looking into the dark lenses.

Kumo didn't say anything he just continued to lay there inches from her.

"Why did you leave?" she asked propping her head up on an elbow.

"I can't answer that." He said turning over to go to sleep.

"You can trust me" she said, "Listen I'm not used to my subordinates keeping secrets from me, I don't know you well enough to watch my back. My family's Jutsu leaves my body vulnerable meaning you're going to have to protect it if I ever use it… which I may have to in order to extract information. I don't know what you're afraid of but I'm not going to betray whatever secrets you may have."

Kumo didn't say a thing and pretended to be asleep.