The puppet eyed Hitomi as she spoke, and then resumed her wary gaze upon the man. Of course it was all just for show. Her true eyes were elsewhere, and a false one above them possessed her true vision. "Hah." The jounin replied, "It's fine. I apologize for the inconvenience but... well, you understand how it is."<br/><br/>Hitomi had been in the Land of Rivers long enough to know how tense things were, her vigorous reappraisal of current events always kept her in the know. A few years ago, there was a scuffle between Suna and Tani genin that left one badly burned. Later, a Rivers noble was kidnapped by Suna and most recently Tanigakure had some sort of infiltrator wreaking havoc in the village itself.<br/><br/>"Trouble?" The puppet asked. He nodded, looking towards Hitomi, "If this has affected your business or caused you any hardship, then you may file a petition to the Daimyo for compensation... at a later time."<br/><br/>"We'll go around, then." The puppet said, turning to the mercenary, "If it pleases you."<br/><br/>The pair made their way downstream a bit, not yet reuniting with the puppeteer herself when they found a spot that they could cross without expending too much chakra. For a lesser ninja, it would have been trouble to cross. The Land of Rivers lived up to its name, the forested land full of everything from small streams to rivers miles wide. Knowing this, Hitomi's mind for tactics sufficed to explain the Daimyo's actions- by manipulating the terrain in such a way, any invading force would have difficulty bringing in supplies to its front line troops. Experienced ninja could easily bypass almost any obstacle, but they would not be able to fight for long on empty stomachs. Starvation drained a ninja's chakra like nothing else, something Hitomi thankfully only rarely experienced with her line of work.<br/><br/>When they crossed, the puppet who had been making idle small talk with her suddenly stopped. Her head sank and with a puff of smoke- the beautiful woman departed and became a wooden object once more- waxen 'skin' and what was apparently horse-hair instead of her beautiful tresses. Chiyo appeared, as if from nowhere, and landed right in front of the puppet. She soon after drew it into a scroll and turned to Hitomi. A sneaky one, this woman... always hidden out of sight. Or in plain sight, as it were.<br/><br/>"Aimi doesn't like water..." She mused, softly laughing to herself, "This should slow her down if she's on the move."<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Hitomi spends a point of Chakra on Tadayou.</div></div>