[center][b]~Saiyaka~[/b][/center]

Saiyaka couldn't help but smile at the young and apparently flustered Kazekage. She couldn't wait to get this journey started. 
Placing a bawled fist to her hip and leaning to the right she watched Yume a moment before an idea came to mind. 

"You could always just rebel like Konoha," Simple, catastrophic answer, but it was still an option. Yume was hardly without options. Saiyaka was still mulling over the Republic herself, but whether the Republic be good or bad, it was not a necessary entity. The Villages got along fine when they were separated, well...As fine as the occasional bloody war could be. However, if they were tyrants forcing the villages to work against their will for obscure purposes and towards a direction that was not beneficial for the village, such as a war, then it was counter productive. Surely, even Yume would know that she had a great deal more power, as a Kazekage, politically than anyone else in this village. The moment she became a subordinate to the Republic and put the Republic's interests over the village would be...The moment she'd most likely find a dagger in her back. Ruling over a ninja village meant being weary of revolt. It would only take a few gifted Sand ninja to come in here upon a moment of weakness for Yume and completely flip the entire village upside down. 

"I'm kidding of course," Saiyaka would playfully swat a hand, as if tossing the idea away as a simple joke. "No point in tying the Republic's tight panties into an even bigger knot," She'd say, chuckling as she turned on the heel of her shoe and started on her way towards the door. "To the Summons then," She'd add. If Yume pressed Saiyaka's words regarding the dangerous choice of leaving the union Saiyaka would simply shoo the conversation and stress that she'd been joking and not to seriously consider something so stupid. It would be hard to figure out which side of that argument Saiyaka was on from her words. She was certainly fickle and often times aloof. It was an understatement to say she is serious when she wants to be, but even when she wasn't serious...Was she serious? Had she said that to truly get Yume to realize that there was something off about this Republic that Yume wasn't seeing?

Maybe.

[center][b]~Kii~[/b][/center]

There were a lot of shops in Konoha. Kii spent a bit of money on some roasted chicken. It was sweet, like honey, but had a strange earthy taste to it. Kii wasn't a huge fan of the food, but he scarfed it down as if he hadn't eaten in years. He also bought some new clothes. He picked up some capri pants, black in color, and a fresher looking white sleeveless shirt and some knuckle gloves. It was a lot warmer here in the Leaf Village than it was in Iwagakure. Despite buying so much he still had plenty of money left. Things were a little cheaper here in Konoha, at least when it came to the public forum. People seemed to be in wondrous moods too. They chattered and laughed and traded with their neighbor closer than Kii saw some family members interact. 

This really was a nice place. 
Kii wasn't really seeing anything out of the ordinary or anything worth [i]spying[/i] on here. Everyone seemed pretty normal. In fact, everyone seemed a lot freer and happier than they were in Iwagakure. Seeing this place really put his own village into a different perspective. Kii couldn't imagine a nice place like this wanting to go to war with the entire Republic. Still...Looks could be deceiving and Kii wasn't naive enough to believe that just because they looked like this that they weren't all trained murderers. He had to keep his guard up, be attentive, and really look hard for clues. 

[i]"Did you hear? There are a bunch of ninja fighting in the training field. I hear it's getting pretty intense,"[/i] One pedestrian said. Kii had heard something along those lines before from another person. Maybe he'd go an investigate there, but the training fields was probably a poor place for good information. Maybe, instead, he'd take a stroll by the Hokage manor then double back towards the training field to see if he could at least see who the participants were. Truly though, Kii wasn't that interesting in a sparring match between ninja. It wasn't what he was here for.