First Contact

The land of Winds was not exactly the most hospitable climate for most humanoids. Keibatsu Akihiko had plenty of time to reflect on this as he moved through it. He reflected on a wide variety of things, the heat, the gritty wind, and the inclined terrain among them. His reflections ranged further afield, too-- to his meeting with Wrath and the accompanying hope for a new purpose; to Sunagakure itself, not so far away that a day's travel wouldn't bring it within range; to the shinobi he was going to meet, one who he knew nothing about except a code name-- Pride.

It would be interesting to see who Wrath had chosen for that spot. Evidently he'd been even higher on the cannibalistic youth's priority list than Akihiko himself. Or maybe he'd just been approached sooner so as not to wound his Pride. Sloth smiled swiftly at that thought and continued scanning the surrounding terrain. Of course no high-ranked Missing-nin would give a precise location where he could be found, but couldn't he have just used a signal or something? One more thing to discuss, if he ever turned up.

Pride was strolling the land known politically, as the Land of Wind. Pride didnt see political borders, feeling no restraints on himself, so he just saw it as another place the was open to him. He was told by the myterious figure known only as 'Wrath', after their fateful encounter one night, that his only assignment was to go to the Land of Wind, Southeast of the village, and meet another one of their members. He wasnt told the codename of his client, or anything about him or her, but only that he would be sent to Pride's location. There would be the possibilty that more members would be there, but no more then 3 would ever be allowed to meet together in order to 'keep secrecy and the organization alive', as Wrath put it. Better be worth it... he sighed in his head. He kept on wandering, making sure to keep within a few minutes away from a secluded underground cave he found nearby.

He was about ready to turn back for the day, when something caught his eye. He saw a single shadow walking out on the horizon. He kept walking towards to the figure, til he could figure out who it was. He called out to the figure, noticing that it wasnt a Sunagakure shinobi, so it was most likely his client. 'Hey! You there!' he called to the shinobi from afar. He waved his hand in a motion signaling the shinobi to come closer, and close the 30 meter difference. So youre the new guy, eh? Not bad...

Sloth was debating a breath in some place out of the wind when he heard a voice-- 'Hey! You there!'. He turned to look at the speaker, who was gestaculating on a rise perhaps 30 meters away. The newcomer looked to be even younger than their bloodthirsty leader, albeit not by much. In another life, Akihiko might've speculated about what that said concerning the future of the Hidden Villages. Times being what they were, he didn't-- Sloth already knew what was coming.

He turned and moved over at a normal walking pace, absently wondering how one went about determining the identity of someone you'd never met when there was a village full of shinobi with Henge less than thirty miles away. "Greetings." His voice, in a normal speaking tone, carried clearly on the air to its intended subject. There were so many unappreciated uses for Fuuton techniques.

As he drew closer, Sloth noticed more details about the newcomer. His headband was thoroughly defaced; evidently the village marking had been deliberately removed. Other details began coming into focus, body language, that sort of thing. Odds were this was definitely what Pride looked like. Aki considered the idea that the person was some other missing-nin, but decided against it-- which of those would draw attention to himself like that? So it was either Pride or someone who wanted to be taken for Pride. The original thirty meters had shrunk to about thirty feet by this time.