Maki nodded, carrying Tashi back down to the ground level and bending over to pick it up. As she handed it back to her still half disrobed student, she turned to one of the kunoichi, "Grab everything. We're continuing our mission."<br/><br/>...<br/><br/>...<br/><br/>...<br/><br/>Leaving Kyuutakimura behind as the sun dawned over the western mountains, the ninja team made their way at a brisk pace along a path to the fortress. As she carried the lone male of their group on her back, Maki explained her findings. Her intelligence, combined with some of Tashi's, gave them a pretty good idea of where to go. The road had been pretty rough at points, and a few times they had eschew it altogether. Maki remained largely silent about the encounter with the Suna ninja, she apparently didn't want to talk about it...<br/><br/>An hour or so into their extended hike, the shinobi crossed over the crest of the mountain. Planting her sandal on a rock, Maki silently gazed out at the sight before them. From this vantage point, they could see both the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers. On one side, verdant forests and rivers- as far as the eye could see- a sprawling maze of tributaries under the clouds. And on the other, a vast desert that stretched to the horizon, flat and empty. Under an empty blue sky, winds blew over the dunes and kicked up dust.<br/><br/>"Seventeen years ago." The kunoichi mused, "The Great War Between All Nations ended. Back then, the hidden villages were still very secret. There were only rumors, myths, nobody knew where they were located... It all began when the Hidden Leaf was at war with Kumogakure."<br/><br/>"They were beaten, and their Second Hokage killed during the retreat. Iwagakure seized upon this advantage and declared war against Konoha, cutting the newly declared Third Hokage and his army off from the safety of the Land of Fire." She continued, the topic seemingly irrelevant, "At the time, Tanigakure was fighting on equal terms with Sunagakure, who were embroiled in other conflicts. Our very own Kawa Daimyo struck a deal with Konoha..."<br/><br/>"Thanks to Tanigakure's intelligence, the Third Hokage and his army miraculously broke through the enemy lines and returned to Konoha, against all odds. Iwagakure was attacked by Kumo, now allied with their former enemy Konoha. They, in turn, declared a cease-fire with Suna, who now directed their efforts onto little Tanigakure and its' newfound ally."<br/><br/>She sighed, "But Konoha was still very weak from the invasion, and Tanigakure had nearly been destroyed by the forces of Suna. In the end, a peace treaty was signed. A twenty year armistice, wherein the Valley and the Leaf provide the Sand with annual payments in food and gold, the bounty of these rich lands."<br/><br/>Turning back to the team, Maki explained, "It's been seventeen years, and it won't be long before that treaty will expire..." The view from the mountain into the two lands alluded to her point, "The Hidden Sand can barely sustain itself out there in the desert, even with the reparations...<strong>That</strong>is why things are so tense right now."<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">Exposition, exposition! Zzzzzzzzz...<br/><br/>The time-skip will probably largely negate the following, but;<br/>Jun gets 1,275 XP for surviving Kaori and smashing her puppet. (CR 4)<br/>Tashi gets 1,800 XP for haxing Kotone (CR 5). :P<br/>Lilly gets 1,800 XP for a relatively low-threat tussle with Kinsuke (CR 7*½)<br/>Maki would get 1,650 for no threat tussle with Keiji (CR 13*¼), although she didn't get any information out of him so I suppose she technically 'failed' and wouldn't get XP by raw. For everyone else, the goals were to basically survive and/or collect information. Some exceeded that. &gt;.&lt;<br/><br/>Lilly and Jun gain their constitution modifiers in chakra from the short rest, but I think I'll scrap the last encounter of the pre-time skip since it was mostly going to be lame things like skill checks and dealing with traps. :P<br/></div></div>