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(1034 vs 400 Stealth Check)

Saikoro yawned loudly as he pulled the vehicle to a stop , "Find yourself a nice hotel, rent us a room with two beds, all the accessories and a nice view of the ocean. I have some things to do and I'll be back later." The man said, tossing a bundle of ryo that would suffice for Koji to do as he was told and buy whatever else he may need. Without further delay, Saikoro stepped out of the vehicle and flickered out of sight...

(730 vs 100 to Remove Strain Rank 1) - Forgot to Roll

Sai yawned softly, a pleasant smile playing across his lips as he stretched out over the roof and continued to watch the setting sun. Slowly he let his fingers run over his arms and chest, the tips gently kneading into his muscles to work out what exhaustion that had built up in it. Even though it was simple accommodations, so simply that it could barely be considered an accommodation but in the mind of a shinobi, Sai was none the happier then if he was in the big hotel with the gigantic rooms and beautiful view that he had sent Koji to.

But the sun was setting and time was running out.. He couldn't spend all that much longer just chilling on the roof top as though he had no cares in the world because at the moment he had a long list of things to do and a limited amount of time to do it in. And the first on the list was to find himself the Kubikiribōchō...

6 out of 7 Chance

With a single, wrinkled hand that shook in complete terror of what was happening, the old man pointed to a large trunk that laid in the back of the room. Swiftly and with a ghostly grace, Sai's form slipped into the back of the room and opened the trunk... and there at the bottom of the trunk, hidden by a tremendous amount of junk and useless parcels laid the most beautiful sword Sai had laid eyes on... there laid the on and only Kubikiribōchō.

With a zest that he could hardly hide, Sai pulled the blade free of the trunk and with a single swing brought the blade just centimeters of the old man's face, portions his beard falling to the table below. "You never saw me or this blade... A word of this and I promise there is not a place in the world you can hide from my fury." The man said, his frame instantly flickering out of existence after to leave his words to hang with an intimidating impression.

Sitting nearly fully immersed in a basin full of bath salts and nearly scalding hot water, Koji appeared to be relaxing much like he had been ever since the strange shinobi rescued him and appeared to have killed another shinobi within a matter of seconds. While everything was still a blur to him, Koji decided it would be best to simply go along with what was happening at this very moment in his life and stress about the smaller details once he and his "savior" could actually sit down and discuss what has been going on. Still being part of the Hidden Mist also complicated things, with his allegiance still belonging to Mist even though they had almost no hand in rescuing him. With a heavy sigh Koji slipped down into the bath water, leaving just the top of his black and purple hair protruding from the water which was now nearly straight due to the heat and the weight of the water weighing it down. Staying submerged for nearly a moment bubble began to arise before Koji sprang up from the depths of the tub shaking his hair from side to side as he caught his breath.

Feeling around the edge of the basin he located a pair of towels, the first of which was smaller and he threw over his shoulder. The second he used to cover himself once he stood up from his bath. Now moving out of it, Koji found himself back in the suite that was to be be shared between the two men, set up with two bedrooms each with its own sets of of amenities so that they may live separately and not bother the other one. "Ugh so where is this guy... he sure does seem to be secretive and very short." Koji said to himself as his bulky frame walked about main area of the suite in his bath towel, making his way to the small kitchen and procured a can of beer as there was nothing better to do at the moment other than wait for his friend to come back. "Hell I don't even know his name yet, I'll have to ask him that once he gets here." Koji said to himself as he walked with his beer over to a chair situated by the window overlooking the ocean and sat down, cracking the beer open and simply relaxed.

Being more than slightly startled, Koji almost choked on his beer as Saikoro suddenly appeared on the balcony of their suite, dressed much differently than he was before and much more equipped than he was earlier. "You know you don't cease to surprise me." Koji said as he got up from his chair and walked over to the glass sliding door which lead to the balcony, and unlatched the door so that Saikoro could enter. "Well it's nice to meet you, well formally for the first time." Koji said now walking back into the suite. "Oh and before I forget, where the hell did you get that!" Koji said almost yelling in surprise that one of the nations lost treasures was simply strapped to Saikoro's back like it was his all along.

But not waiting on his response, Koji decided to go and become decent, heading to his side of the suite and entering his room to the left. Once inside Koji grabbed his yellow wave print shirt and slipped it over his stocky frame, and then followed this with his black slightly form fitting pants, quickly adding his double belts to it, one of which bore the symbol for his village. Following these Koji threw on his boots which came half way up his shin, covering the bottom of his pant legs with the boots material. Now stepping back out into the main room Koji waited for Saikoro to step in and make himself comfortable.

"Yea yea, I get it." Koji said with a light sigh, now turning and walking back to the fridge looking for something that would fit the description of what Saikoro wanted, "Well all that we have in this place is beer and water, so I hope beer is sweet enough for you." Koji said now pulling out one of the coldest cans from the back recesses of the fridge. Then reaching into the pantry, Koji procured a glass which he sat down upon the counter and proceeded to empty the contents of the can into it. Grabbing a second can for himself Koji walked the glass over to Saikoro and sat it down before him, and then turned to another chair within the room and sat down, cracking open his own can and taking a long deep gulp from it before he started to question his new master once more.

"Well what I was saying earlier was where did you find that thing?" Koji said questioningly as the sword that was now within his possession had indeed been one of the seven which belonged to the seven swordsman of the mist, and was probably the one with the most blood soaked history. With this obvious question out of the way Koji now had the floor to ask a few more detailed questions which were much more serious, well to him at least. "Also why exactly did you save me back there? I thought mist would just give up on looking for me and leave me to my fate or kill me upon locating me out of assuming that I abandoned the village while looking for the jinchuruki twins who nearly leveled the village." Koji stated, now leaving the floor open for Saikoro.

"Well fair enough, I thought there would be a more exciting story behind finding such an evil blade, but everything can't be that exciting." Koji said adjusting his position in the chair until he was comfortable, now sitting cross legged in the chair while he kept his gaze upon Saikoro. The man seemed to be giving him nothing but truthful answers, and so far he had yet to give him any reason to not trust him, but even so it would still be wise for Koji to still stay cautious around the man until he could confirm the mans details.

Upon learning of his teammates fate, Koji could only help but release a short sigh, although he had only known him for a short time. "So not only was I grouped with a traitor, he went and got himself killed already? I can't say that I'm glad to have gotten captured, but if I were to stay with him I probably would have met a similar fate." Koji said, taking another swig of his beer, realizing that he was almost finished with it. "Oh well, but it does seem that the village actually did care, they just lost track of me. So I guess it would be appropiate for us to return there so that I can check in and figure out what is to happen and get me off of the MIA listing." Koji said with a slight grin playing across his face. Somehow the fact that part of the group of shinobi he was to be deployed with was now dead or missing did nothing to his mentality, but then again Koji never made it a priority of his to make a large group of friends within the village.

It had been three days since the preparations for the departure had been commenced. A horse-drawn carriage had been called up and loaded with the trio's belongings stood on the road leading out of the village. Notwen, Musamaru, and Rose stood facing the majority of the villager, who had come to bid the party farewell. At the head of the multitude was Ichijiku, whose green habit fluttered gently in the calm wind.
"I hope you three have a good time on your travels." he said while walking up to each of them and grasping their hands. Notwen felt something cold on the palm of his hand, and when he looked was surprised to see his key pendant. The only thing that was different about it was the thin, yet durable chain that looped through the hole at the base of the key. The dark-skinned blonde looked at the wrinkled man in surprise. Ichijiku seemed to hide a smile as he went back to the front of the mass of villagers. "Now go and enjoy yourselves to the fullest."
The three travelers entered the carriage and once the door was shut, began their trip to the unknown. Behind them the farewell shouts could be heard for about three minutes into the ride. Notwen looked out of his window into the canopy of the forest. The emerald-dusted foliage glittered brightly in the morning sunlight. Songbirds could be heard singing in the area and be seen flying from branch to branch. After about a half hour of traveling, the leaves on the trees began to get duller to the point that they no longer sparkled in the sunlight.
"Looks like we're out of Jouryoku Forest." said Musamaru, who had looked up from the puzzle in the book he had been scribbling in. "This is the first time i'm leaving Jouryoku, so it's kinda exciting." A smile spread across the young guide's face as the wind that came through the open window tussled his blue hair. There was something about the visuals that caused Notwen's cheeks to flush. He quickly turned to look out of the window to prevent any of his traveling companions from seeing the blush.
What's up with me lately? thought the dark-skinned blonde with a sigh. When he opened his eyes again, the crippled Uchiha saw that the carriage was now travelling down a slight slope. There seemed to be a dip in the forest because Notwen could see over the trees ahead of him, and he was surprised that in the distance he could see water. Lots of it.
"Oh, the ocean!" said Rose, gazing in the same direction. "We are almost to our first destination." The dark-skinned blonde turned to face her.
"If we are going to the ocean for a vacation i can only think of two possible things, but i'll keep them to myself for now to see which of my hunches is right." The trio continued looking at the changing scenery around them. As they got closer to the ocean the trees became more spaced out, and the dark brown soil gave way to damp sand that was a little darker than the sands in Wind Country's desert. The air also became more moist and the smell of salt became more pronounced. Notwen spotted large white birds with black-tipped wings and webbed feet flying low over the treetops. These, Rose explained, were called sea gulls. Also as the carriage neared the water, more and more travel vehicles flooded the road from side trails coming from other parts of Fire Country.

The carriage came to a stop in front of a large complex of buildings built in front of the water line. The trio dismounted and began to unload their bags and two wooden containers with the driver's help. After Rose paid the man, the party proceeded to enter the main building of the complex. Notwen had never seen such well-structured interior in a building. The vaulted ceiling was supported by several marble pillars. There were also several lines of people that stretched from the entrance to each window at the other end of the room, behind which stood female tellers in matching green-and-white uniforms. It took about fifteen minutes to reach the teller for the line they were on, but when they finally arrived at it Notwen and Musamaru engaged in a short conversation while Rose answered the teller's inquiries and gave her three white tickets. The teller took the tickets and ripped them by a perforated line, giving the black-haired woman back the longer pieces of each ticket.
"Enjoy your trip." said the teller. "And may you choose to travel with us in the future. Please proceed to the exit on your left."