To the town!

The town... proves slightly larger than anticipated, and shrouded in mist creeping off the ocean. It's difficult to determine the true size through the dense fog, but Neji reports a very high density of trained chakra users. He suggests that it is, in fact, Hidden Mist.

He is so, so done with this subplot. So done. Extra done. Can Inanna stop it with the nonsense.

Externally, Sugira just asks: "Does it seem like they've noticed us?" in a very tired voice.

"As travelers, yes. Potentially not as shinobi, there doesn't seem to be an alarm," Neji says. And then he has to deactivate his byakugan as they're close enough that it might be seen.

"And turning around would be suspicious at this point." He sighs.

They're stopped at the gate by a pair of identical guards. "Travelers," the one on the left says. "What is your business in Kirigakure?"

"Our boat got knocked off course, and we ran ashore. We were hoping to pay for passage on a ship heading back towards the peninsula." She sure sounds like a fisherman, her accent the sort of drawling, vaguely Fire, vaguely Water, vaguely Waves you get on the bit of the mainland that Water sometimes claims.

The two guards glance at each other, then step aside.

"Enter," says the one on the right. "Terumi Mei, Mizukage, welcomes you to her village."

"Thanks!" Also wow did they have a change of power, huh, that's notable - but she's definitely a fisherman who does not particularly care who's in charge and is solely interested in keeping her head down, gotta sell this, Naruto, somebody else can play spy later...

And in and head straight to the docks, aiming to cause exactly no trouble along the way? Please.

Their path is blocked by a man who has his arms crossed, grey hair, an eyepatch, and a stern expression.

"Hello! Is something the matter?" Naruto asks, still in her fisherman's accent.

"You four will come with me." This is not a question.

"Uh." She glances at Sasuke. (She's a decent liar, but doesn't know whether it'd at all help them to try to talk their way out of following.)

"Sure," he says, sounding mostly very tired.

(He's pretty sure, given his abilities, the time to break and run isn't 'while being stared at,' especially since he'd rather not have a fight here.)

The man leads them to Kiri's equivalent of the Hokage Tower, a long low building with a commanding view of the harbor. Inside, a woman with fire-red hair is waiting for them, tapping her manicured nails on the desk impatiently.

He steps in ahead of his team, as alert as he can be, sharingan active under his disguise.

(He really, really misses his long-range teleport.)

"What's this about?" he asks, calmly.

"What this is about, little chunin," the woman says, "is what Konoha has you doing here."

He tilts his head. "No one has us doing anything here. We were stranded nearby, and then couldn't cross the ocean on our own." He sure seems honest (she'd know if he lied, because he sucks at it, and in his experience lying pointlessly just annoys people).

"Aha!" She points dramatically at him. "And what were you doing to get stranded 'nearby'?"

"Got stuck somewhere else. Not in your territory. A giant turtle offered to help, but he apparently can't tell countries apart, and he wasn't inclined to stick around playing 'guess the shoreline.'" He's possibly being extremely sarcastic.

"Do you expect me to believe that?" She turns to look at the man with the eyepatch. "Does he expect us to believe that?" The man shrugs.

Given that that wasn't the weirdest thing that's happened to him this month, he's not sure why it's so unbelievable.

He shrugs, too.

Sounding both truthful and like someone exceptionally tired and done with this day's nonsense: "None of our business involves you, Mist, the Land of Water, or anything in your sphere of concern, except I suppose if you feel like escorting us to a boat to the mainland. We're not spies, or anything like that. I haven't actually lied at any point." (He's either the best liar in the world or the worst one, as far as they'll be able to tell.)

"Then why do you bring one of Mist's Seven Legendary Swords with you, hmm?"

Shrug. "Zabuza ran off with it. He died. As far as I'm aware, there's no international obligation to return the gear a missing-nin is carrying to their home village. If you think there should be, that sounds like something to negotiate."

"Or I could just take it, and throw you all in jail if you complain."