That sounds suitable. They will accept the invitation.

Cool.

Enormous compound also means workshops and unused empty spaces, and there's no visitors other than them and her great-uncle is away, so they can have the run of the place...

Plenty of room to prototype the speeder. Replicating the repulsors and the inertial dampers will be the main sealwork challenge, Occlus feels. Depending on the quality of local metalwork, the body might be entirely mundane. It only needs to support itself and the passengers.

Local metalworking is good quality, though most people prefer artisanal pieces for big works like this - and some materials take chakra or seal work much better than others.

...Is there a reason not to make it out of wood, speaking of?

In theory... no, wood should serve as well.

Excellent.

"The thing is - everything has chakra, so everything actively resists exogenous chakra being pushed through it. The extent of this varies, but it more or less varies with the base material's ability to respond to changes in its environment, with some carryover. So, a dead plant is easier to affect than a live plant, but harder than something that's never been living - unless you modify the plant as it grows to accept and channel exogenous chakra."

"And my great-uncle can grow plants very, very quickly, and he grew up with a seal master, so customly shaped wood that takes seals well is very easy for me to come by."

"A wood hull it is, then."

Grin. "Cool."

And that does actually alter some of their constraints with the seals, which Tobi starts explaining...

Occlus doesn't know much about sealing, but is still a decent sounding board. Some principles of design just don't change between fields.

It's hardly instant, of course, even with all three visitors, Tobi, her grandfather, and a Jakuan who's sufficiently bored over effective house arrest to act as their calculator working on this.

But they're able to get prototype designs by the time the approval for Tobi's guests comes back, and a more-or-less workable repulsorcraft by the time Tobi has to leave Konoha. (Though she's planning on riding along to monitor and control it - they haven't had the chance to test it over long distances yet.)

No time like the present. The Force can soften any untimely falls.

It'll be good experimental data! And she can probably repair things.

Better than walking, in any case.

Incredibly so. She'll have to see if she can tie these to Hiraishin anchors...

(And she only has to do in-flight repairs the once, and they don't fall out of the sky, so, a very successful test fight.)

Indeed.

They stop at the border of Kiri, of course, and then are asked to proceed on foot. (Luckily, Tobi had built the capacity to be sealed away into their craft; she vanishes it into a scroll.)

And then - "Some of my friends have come out to meet me," she tells the visitors, then confirms the three (Elaise, Chihiro, and Sayuri) are fine to have as escorts.

So - in past the border gate, to where her friends are waiting.

Occlus... senses something familiar...

Elaise isn't the natural sensor Tobirama is, but her sage training cues her to the oddity. Feels like... Elieyha, almost.

She grins as her friends come in sight, waving at them - especially Chihiro.

Sayuri waves back!

And we interrupt this very special reunion to bring you: 

Ani feels something familiar, too, and her reaction is not puzzled squinting.

(She doesn't look away from the - echo - of Palpatine - but does pull on her Force bond with her Mistress rather dramatically.)

That- that is her apprentice's face staring at her beneath the pinned-up hair. Young as the day Occlus plucked her off Korriban. To find her here-

But her Ani needs her, so Occlus takes all that and bundles it away.

"Ani," she says, gripping her tight around the shoulder and pressing in on her presence in the Force with her own comforting weight. "Be here. With me."

Occlus is good and strong and smart, and knows what she's doing. Always.

Ani obeys, like she always does, and the parts of her mind taking actions attune themselves entirely to her Mistress's will, while all the inconvenient panicking parts fold themselves away until her Mistress wants her to pull them out. 

"...Tobi. Explain?" 

She's - well, not eyeing anyone, her bandages are very firmly over her eyes currently - but her the way her attention focuses very much implies 'ready to deal with an attack.'