For the tenth time since leaving his apartment, Vox made a quick check of his equipment. As before, everything was in place. He knew that, but old habits were hard to break. That, and six years among the shinobi had taught him it was better to be safe than sorry. There were a lot of sneaky bastards running around.

Stepping out of the gates, Vox ran over the mission parameters in his mind. As usual he hadn't brought the orders with him, but he was used to memorizing his objectives. A simple mission, really. Their agents had found a trade hub that was funding a lot of organized crime in Kemuri. Take that out, and suddenly the mobs would find their supply lines cut and their money running out. At the very least, it should weaken them a bit. He liked missions like this. Not many shades of gray, just some unequivocal bad guys and good deeds. It would be a relief from the politics he'd been swamped with since his promotion.

[Enter from Kemuri]

If there was one thing Vox hated about this place, it was travel. Back home, a distance like this would have been a couple hours. As it was, he was going to be on the road all day. He was making good time, but his ETA was still well past midnight when he stopped for lunch. In a hurry, James quickly scarfed down the sandwich he had packed before setting off through the trees again. This was at least more efficient than taking the roads, but still it was going to take a while.

He glanced up at the sky as he leapt through the forest, hoping the good weather would hold. Clouds might be nice once he arrived to give him more cover to hide in, but until then any inclement weather would only slow him down, and that was the last thing he needed. He was already starting to worry about how the village was doing without him, he didn't need the delays.

Well after dark, Vox strolled into the town marked for his mission. The last few miles had been slow going, he'd had to stick to the roads and act normal. Keeping a low profile could be annoying, but it paid off in the end. And his lack of chakra certainly didn't hurt either. He was a well-kept secret. The target would be on the lookout for shinobi, but wouldn't consider a spirit null like him a threat until it was too late. Smiling, he went to scout out the area.

[Exit to Land Between Lands]