From the Ashes

Konoha Crush:Prelude

Mei Terumi walked down the cleared miles of forest and vegetation,coming upon the great seal-plastered walls that made up the Main Gate.

The redhead and her two bodyguards were greeted by the eternal Chunins and a squad of ANBU at the gates,some of which could be seen sat atop the tall structure lazily gazing at the newest high-profile visitors...

"Good afternoon,L-Lady Mizukage, we are glad to see you arrive safe and sound. I hope the travel was not tiring." Clearly,her beauty hadn't gone anywhere in the years of warfare and death the double bloodline-wielder had known.

She nodded with a sultry smile."Thank you, it was fine" Mei thanked the ogling guards as the duo trodded up to the gates of the Leaf, followed by a blue haired man,who sported an eye-patch...

"I hope the Hokage is not busy?" She hummed calmly,looking around the beginnings of the vibrant village as they waited.

The man trailing behind the busty redheaded Mizukage formed a massive sweatdrop at the indifference,which had begun to run down his head.

'As if you would care if he was busy or not.'

The gatekeepers, unaware of the antics of the Uzumaki before them, simply shook their heads and gestured towards the village with a small bow. "Of course not, he has been expecting you,actually." And that was a true statement.

Hiruzen had received the letter two days ago,and had approved the request once he'd mulled it over with his resident Mist-migrant.Barely.

Mei strolled through the gates into the village at a leisurely, pointed out the tower by a passing team of ANBU from the shadows whilst Ao shadowed her instinctually,veiled pale eye active to check for any possible attacks.They weren't allied with Konoha in any sense,so being in the heart of the village was a stressful thing to the elite jönin.

To that point only a handful were aware that the Mizukage was making an unofficial visit to the village at all, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.Especially judging from the amount of carriages and other people of status that had arrived and were waiting to be screened and allowed in before them.

"Ao, why don't you go ahead and meet with the Hokage?" The confused look on his face prompted Mei to sigh and look around the immediate vicinity for any "masked" onlookers. "I wish to see my clan first.With my own eyes.."

"Lady Mizukage,i believe you should see the Sandaime first.Such an action could be taken as a sign of disrespect so—

The woman closed the distance between them in a second,smiling a bit too hard for his liking.

"Shut up,or I'll kill you."

Needless to say, the scarred man had no further qualms about any matter at all as he continued towards the Hokage Tower alone...

And that is when the Mizukage realized, she had no idea where said clan could even be.The village was damned huge!

She vanished in a cloud of mist shortly thereafter,following the path of Ao.

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Hiruzen had been standing behind his chair in the Hokage's office,straightening the forearm guards of his black battle suit complete with the armored headpiece that was never too far from him,its timeless gleam quickly veiled by the large cloths of the Hokage's white robes,licked by red flames and vertical kanji that represented the Third Fire Shadow in all his glory.

The man had taken a long moment to gaze over his village,conflicted in mind as he was unable to shake the deep-rooted anxiety that had plagued him the moment he'd learned of his wayward student's newest ambitions almost two months ago.