The Road to Kumo

Mizuki had gotten used to packing his bags in a hurry over the past few months.

In twenty minutes, Mizuki was able to efficiently pack everything he needed into the storage scroll which he held in a unique holster at the back of his hips.

As most of the people who he knew were all out on their own missions, Mizuki ate his large portion of pork miso ramen at Ichiraku in solitude, enjoying this meal for what might be the last time.

Finally, after finishing a whole three bowls of ramen, Mizuki doubled back to his apartment and looked over the information he knew from his previous life one last time.

Making sure that nothing too important was about to happen before departing.

Soon, the two hours passed, and Mizuki found himself standing before Konoha's main gates, ready to undertake his mission.

. . . . .

When Mizuki arrived at the gate, Guy was already there waiting, performing pushups and sit-ups, screaming as he did so, in classic Guy fashion.

Guy: "349...350...351"

Mizuki: "Hey Guy!"

Guy: "Mizuki! My most youthful rival!"

Mizuki: "How long you been waiting here?"

Guy: "Only for a few minutes, now we just have to wait for our leader"

As if the universe was answering their calls, Mizuki and Guy both heard the sound of a dog barking and their leader's voice.

Neko: "God damn, cutting things to the wire. Sorry about that! Still on time though."

Guy: "Speak of the Devil"

Mizuki: "Anyways, now that all three of us are here, can we get going now?"

Neko: "Yup."

Guy: "Excellent! Then let our most youthful journey begin!"

. . . . .

Kumogakure was much further away from Konoha geographically than Kumo, making their actual journey much longer. [1]

Whilst Konoha is in the center of the continent, Kumo was to the far Northeast, forcing the group to travel through two smaller nations just to reach the Land of Lightning.

Unfortunately for them though, they could not take the sea route as they hoped too, as they could not risk being seen by Kiri in their territory, making the war harder on themselves.

Still, the alternative journey was by no means pleasant, as the group had to stealthily move across two neutral nations, which although was a common tactic employed by all five great nations, was still heavily frowned upon in general.

The journey itself went on without obstacles, with everything going according to plan.

Although the journey was smooth, that does not by any means translate into it being fast. Far from it.

As the group posed as merchants, they were forced to move at a slower pace to keep up the facade, not to mention scouting out each and every town which they entered.

Doing so in order to gather intelligence about potential battlefields and trade routes, and laying a couple of paper bombs in strategic locations. as "insurance" in case things ever turned south.

. . . . .

"All of your documents are in order. Welcome to the Land of Lightning."

"Many Thanks"

After having all of their documents returned, and being sent on their way, the group of three merchants waited until the guards were out of earshot before conversing among themselves.

Mizuki: "Thank God"

Neko: "I thought we would never make it"

Guy: "We must always believe in our most youthful abilities leader!"

Neko: "You know Mizuki, I didn't believe you at first, but your right! You do get used to it after a while!"

It had already been three weeks since the group departed from Konoha, and yet they were only now truly entering the land of lightning.

All around, there were obvious signs of the war taking its toll.

There were carts full of kunai and chests full of explosive tags being rushed across the streets to be shipped towards Kumo.

There were shops devoted to taking wartime contracts, making caltrops instead of horseshoes and shuriken instead of farm tools.

Everywhere one looked, signs of war could be seen.

And yet, this was not their final destination.

This was merely the start of the journey.

The group of three shinobi all read through the scroll one last time, courtesy of a messenger hawk, not two days prior.

After making sure that it's contents were committed to heart, Mizuki infused the paper with fire chakra, causing the scroll to burn to ash, taking its contents with it.

In the end, the village still needed to decide more time to gather major targets for the team to sabotage, so in the interim, they were to masquerade as bandits and cause as much damage as possible without arousing the attention of Kumo-nin.

As for their merchant personas?

It would be easy enough to claim they were captured by those very bandits which they impersonated.

And so, the group spent a week in the city, doing their best to secure a contract for some kind of ninja tool to use as cover for when they advanced to Kumo.

During this time, the group made money to buy the contract in a variety of ways, using shadow clones and transformations in order to create an alibi before gambling at the local gambling hall.

Trying to bluff an actual shinobi?

Good luck.

Does the guy you keep on losing against almost seem as if he can read your cards?

He can.

His summon is right behind you.

Regardless, time passed, and soon, the group of "merchants" were on their way, a cart full of chests of shuriken accompanying them.

After sending a message to Konoha ensuring their progress with the mission, and the information they had been able to gather since arriving in town, the night before, the group had done everything they needed to.

Neko: "I always wondered what it would be like to be a bandit"

Guy: "This is not very youthful. Nonetheless, I will complete this mission for our village, to allow the springtime of youth to fully bloom!"

Mizuki: "Hehe Yeah."

Mizuki: "We'll be like Robin Hood. Except for the fact that I'm not giving up shit."

And so, with a new goal in mind, the group continued to march down the road, looking for a place where there could reasonably be "bandits"