As Jun was headed back home, she suddenly found herself feeling... watched. Then suddenly one of the Daimyo's Guards appeared before her, "Jun Watanabe." She said, her voice terse and cold, "Our lord summons you."<br/><br/>She offered a hand in the direction towards the main road, away from her family's residence...<br/><br/>When she arrived in the audience chambers of the Daimyo, her old mentor and a Guard that could have only been Tashi were already there. "Take off your mask." The Daimyo commanded to her old team mate... ironically, while keeping his own on. The older man was dressed for battle, in his kabuto and oni mask, cuirass and shin guards- all iron on black. He bore no weapons, but if the tales were true... he didn't need any. Some of the more rebellious villagers would whisper that his breath could cut your throat.<br/><br/>The Daimyo sat cross-legged, across his lap a gunbai. Altogether he gave the appearance of a war commander readying his troops for battle, "The Guards have already told me everything. You helped the boy bring him into the village?" He said to Jun before she had a chance to even kneel before him, "No matter. It was his prisoner and he let him escape."<br/><br/>"It doesn't matter." The Daimyo's eyes were wrinkled and harsh, "Sunagakure has gotten bold... and we need to call upon the old alliances."<br/><br/>"You will be my voice in Konoha." The man said, "You will bear my seal and you will negotiate on my behalf. There's only<em>one</em>thing they will demand in return."<br/><br/><hr/><br/>"They find him yet?" A middle-aged Tanigakure villager asked one of the guards, who only shook his head in reply. "You should probably go back inside..." The Chuunin said, and the village nodded and shuffled back towards his home. When he was sure that there was no one watching... out of his pocket came a small wooden bird, carved in segmented pieces. After scrawling onto a small scroll and attaching it to the bird puppet's leg, he wound it up and let it go.<br/><br/>No one in the village noticed a small wooden messenger bird heading east, in the direction of Sunagakure...<br/><br/><hr/><br/>On a riverbed out came a single hand, dragging onto the earth the rest of its body. Shirō Mengichii had floated downstream a little while, but he wasn't too far from the village. In the distance there was even the sound of them still searching... He crawled hand over hand towards some cliffs by the riverbed. His leg was stuffed into his shirt, the stump wrapped up in a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Suddenly, when the old man threw his arm out, he felt someone grab it... Looking up, he found himself in the presence of a familiar face.<br/><br/>"Friend." He said with a smile- his blue eye shut and his green eye barely open.