Starring:
Rockpath (emitter), Oshiro, Rise, Noab, Kajiru, Zori, Ryouji
Date: July 10, 2015
Summary:
Konoha and Kumo go after some poachers that have been trying to get rare animals, including summons!
"Bear Hunt - False Tracks"
Land of Fire/Lightning Border
Word on the street? There are some poachers going around and taking animals. Rare animals. Fierce animals. New animals. The troupe has been traveling, and some are curious. Perhaps Konoha has a vested interest in this, too. Not too long ago, a bear was found searching for someone missing in the Land of Fire. These poachers might know something about it, especially if they're seeking out rare beasts.
Konoha isn't the only one curious on these poachers, though. Kumo is also concerned. Ryouji was busy, as was Michiko, but both were angry to hear that those from their summoning contract (or anticipated one) were being targeted as well. As such, Shinobi from their end were sent as well. Neither parties likely knew of the other, but they both have the same goal in mind: find these Poachers and figure out what they're up to.
Oshiro had only been back for a few weeks, and soon found himself leading missions with his recently acquired 'Jounin' title. The Saito Clan Heir had trained and acted by himself that it's awkward for the barely eighteen year old shinobi. It was his duty though, and even if he didn't really know how to lead a group of ninja, he kept a stoic expression about his face as he leads the party forward through a thick grouping of trees. As they jumped from branch to branch, he would occasionally say things like, "No mercy for poachers.." and, "When I get my hands on them.."
Despite his awkward leadership, the young man seems quite sure of himself and his team, and really.. that's all that matters in his mind. If there were specific plans for the mission, he had not totally revealed them yet.
Rise did not know when it started or even the why seeing as how most animals typically feared or hated being around her. Nevertheless, the woman possessed a fondness for them, and was more than happy to be included in taking care of the poachers alongside Oshiro. She knew little of the Saito personally, but trusted the clan well enough to at least give the Jounin a chance to prove himself as a leader over anticipating trouble. Plus, he was, sort of…
'Enough' She scowled inwardly, and silently thanked her luck that Oshiro was in no position to catch her blushing. But after that little mistake, Rise made a point of staying quiet and maintaining a certain amount of distance from the Saito.
"o/~ I don't know but heard somewhere, someone's up to stealin' bears! Must be whoever's in charge, likes their teddies really large! o/~" Noab 'treats' the Konoha contingent to his gruff marching tune as they move along. He's got no personal interest in this business, although he does regard summon animals as people, so he he takes it as seriously as any other mission to deal with criminals of the kidnapper variety. It's just, he's been on enough missions dealing with murderers and scum that he'd go bonkers if he was emotionally invested in it every time. :P "o/~ Sound off! Beat the scrubs! Sound off! Save the cubs! o/~"
Walking along behind Noab, Kajiru watches him as he marches along and then she blinks, "You are funny!" She declares and snickers as they move along shaking her head and then nodding, "Thought I would think we'd wanna be quieter." She nods and then scratches her head, "I'd think so anyway." She then shrugs and continues along with Noab, sort of marching in step with him a little bit as she looks up at the sky, frowning, "A bad day for this."
Zori had heard about the mission, packing his backpack full of supplies like bottle water and the like. He walks out his room out the door heading over to Hige's whereabouts. Hige hands him his wires as he gives the young Genin boy a nod. Zori smirks walking away from Hige "Ill give these back to you when im done with this mission. Zori had to get his wires from Hige, cause Zori is under probation and must check in and out his weapon. Walking over to the mission meet up point he notices Noab mustve been in charge. Noab was singing a marching tune and was moving along with Kajiru. Zori just follows behind him and Kajiru. He walks at his own pace not marching and definately not singing the tune. His hands in his pockets as he glares at Kajiru who was in front of him. What is Zori thinking about Kajiru?
After several hours of traveling north, Oshiro comes to an abrupt stop. Glancing over towards his team-mates the six foot shinobi begins to speak with quite a unique accent, for a Saito, "We have two options. One, we can continue on north towards the rumored locations.. or if we travel just a little east towards the border, we could question some villagers. If the poachers are from that village though, it may tip them off in the field." He pauses, looking towards Rise, "I am not opposed to questioning, but at the same time, we may give our positions away." Leaning against a trunk of a tree, Oshiro kneels and pulls out an old leather map. "We aren't very far, but we would be about two hours off course."
Oshiro coughs, "I meant west.." He isn't the brightest Saito either/
After a few hours of traveling, Rise is all but ready to drop at any moment. She ignored the complaints and phantom pains as best she could, but this mission was the first real test of Shuuren's work. Ultimately, the genin is able to keep up without too much trouble, and even stop without so much as a word of warning. During the brief moment Oshiro spoke, the petite shinobi tried to recover quickly. She isn't entirely sucessful, to say the least.
"I…" She sighs and folds her arms across just beneath her chest. "Let's hit the village. I don't like leave'n those guys to do what they want, but unless their something up north that'll make a lot of noise or give'm trouble, we could wind up searching for hours without coming up with much of anything." She says dryly.
Noab snorts. "We aren't in enemy territory quite yet. There'll be plenty of time when we only want to communicate by silent signals, best get your fill of human voices now. Even if it's mine." :P Noab steps up the pace a bit. "Speaking of time, marches usually go a little slower with a half-lame old war-horse like me along, so let's take what speed we can get. We're not going to catch up with those bogeys unless we keep moving!" So saying, Noab foregoes any notion of intel-gathering on side-roads. :P "Keep up, maggot!" Noab barks over his shoulder at Zori.
Moving along, Kajiru looks back at Zori and sticks her tongue out at him. She then nods to Noab, "I see." She nods and then moves along a little faster if he picks up the pace. She then nods at his words, "I suppose, I guess we can be a little loud now. Just doesn't seem normal." She is after all, not even remotely used to Noab. Then he calls back to Zori and she nods and looks back at Zori, "That's right, Maggot!" She snickers and looks forward, rushing along.
Zori just gazes at Noab. Great i been teamed up with an bunch of losers. Why is he looking at me like that. When Noab and Kajiru calls him a maggot, Zori grins. "I take it you both hadnt looked in the mirror lately." Zori snickers. Crossing his arms over his chest as he walks behind the other two spacing himself from the wierdos a bit. He stares at them both with a michevious grin.
This might be a long trip for the Kumo team. They have to travel a good two hours to a small village to the west. Naturally, if they pick up the pace, they can reach it much faster. It just depends on what they decide. The village is on the border, though, and it seems to be a quaint little thing that relies on water mills to keep things going. They've also got a smith and a baker for some nice local products.
Kajiru and Noab would get to travel far and at a good pace, too. For some reason, Zori ends up lagging behind, so he'll have to catch up later. In the time it takes for Kumo to get to the village, Noab and Kajiru would be able to find some evidence of a cart carrying something pretty heavy. Multiple carts, actually, seem to have passed through, which may or may not come as a surprise. After all, the north is a harsh place. Not many merchants like traveling that way.
Noting Rise's fatigue, Oshiro nods, "Just a bit further, and we can rest." For the first time, he appears concerned that he might be pushing the limits. After a quick rest, Oshiro changes directions west towards the village.
After two hours of steadily pushing towards the border, Oshiro enters the village modestly, making sure to spend money as he went along asking about the poachers. Food, water, everything they had lacked on the way had been taken care of along the way, as he made sure to question.. just about everyone. In times where his social skills weren't up to par, he'd nudge the older shinobi towards them to do the talking. Investigation was not his strong suit, but he wasn't oblivious to the ways.
"If you need to split up to cover some ground, meet me back here.." He points to the bakery.
It may not have been full on pity, but it is enough to elicit a twinge of something. Anger, perhaps. She couldn't really be certain, nor did she try to overanalyze the feeling. If it was her old friend, then she knew it would be best not to give it attention no matter how much it begged.
Without complaint or even a word more, Rise follows after Oshiro until the village stood before them. Admittedly, she spends perhaps more time than necessary soaking in trying to soak in everything from a distance, forcing her to play catch up in the begining. Even with Oshiro proving to be a little nervous at times, Rise was more than happy to leave him to do most of the talking. Her strong suit laid in observation, surprisingly enough. Oh, and breaking things. Breaking all the things. Only grudgingly did she step up when nudged, and very bluntly asked about the location of anything akin to butcher shops in the village. Those things and the more atypical merchants that sometimes found their way so far up north. No matter what answer she recieved from folks, the girl tried to keep as much as a sharp eye for liars as she did for anything more.
"Mmn… Think you can really handle being on your own for awhile, sir?" She teases lightly.
Well, this looks promising. Or worth investigating, anyway. Noab peers at the wheel tracks and the footprints dispersed amongst them. "Looks like about ten of 'em," he estimates. "Could be a regular merchant convoy, but it could be our bogeys too. Here's where we actually do have to start watching our voices." Noab trudges on following the cart tracks.
Sniffing about as she looks over the cart, she blinks and Kajiru tilts her head, "These are the poachers." She nods and sniffs about, "Lots of animals right here." She points at the cart, "Animals that wouldn't hang out together." She shakes her head, "And a bear." She nods her head and looks in the direction that Noab is preparing to move, "Birds, dogs, foxes…bears…" She shakes her head, "They wouldn't all be here for fun." She growls softly, "Quiet then…" She nods, "…ok."
Kumonoue no yama, the home of the hawks. Ryouji is sipping tea, hatchling sitting for a sleeping newborn hawk. The location is a monastery high up on the peak of Kumonoue. Sections of the wall are missing, allowing the giant hawks access to their nests. Ryouji is covered in molting feathers and a few dark smudges. It's best you don't know what they are. A hawk flies into the hole and says, "Reizei Ryouji. I have a message from Kenmeina Sora, the lord Roc wants you to intercept a group of ninja who are moving against some of the poachers and exotic animal hunters you came across in Kirigakure. The scroll has the location where the group should be now. I will take you there." Ryouji's eyes grow a bit wide at the revelation and he looks over at the hatchling. The hawk speaks up as another hawk, a female, glides and lands inside the hole next to the nest. She speaks, "I will watch your hatchling for you, Ryouji-kun, it's best you go now and catch up with the group." Ryouji nods and sets the tea down. He pets the head of the hatchling who stirs just a bit. The Reizei climbs up onto the first hawk and away they fly, moving from the mountain at breakneck speed. Soon enough, the hawk calls back at him after flying for a bit, "They should be ahead, I will let you off here so we will not alert the group they are hunting." Ryouji says, "Thank you…" then slides off his back onto a passing tree limb. He bounds off of it as the hawk gains altitude again and flies off. Ryouji hits the ground running like a shot towards the village using his swift release to cover ground quickly to make up for lost time. He reaches the edge of the village and slows down to catch his breath.
Their investigation would lend… Not much. But apparently folks had a lot to say despite the fact that the Kumo-nin's targets were only there for a few hours. Poachers in the Land of Lightning weren't uncommon, nor were they illegal, per se. But they were certainly frowned upon! Especially when they were going after rarer creatures and summon types! The villagers would share many gossip, saying, "There was such a terrible growling coming from one of the carts. I thought it would break. But they quickly took care of it. They have these things… 'Tazers'. I guess it knocks the animals out or something?" "They were headed north when I asked where they were going. I'm not sure why, though. There's nothing there." "They let some of the animals out and they ate my crops!! They had this one huge rabbit that just snuck off with all my carrots! :("
By this point, Kajiru and Noab seem to have found the right trail. Now all they have to do is get to the end of it, and the poachers can be caught! … Maybe. Who knows. The poachers seem to be traveling fast with their carts despite their heavy loads.
"Ah.. touche.." Oshiro comments at the jestful comment. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to separate at this point. The information gleamed, despite giving them mostly what they already knew, was enough to take a minute to ponder, "If they've forced a giant summon into servitude, this may prove to be an.. interesting mission!"
Without further questioning of the village populace, (and a healthy helping of sushi), the Saito Jounin begins to take off out the front gate of the gated community. Spotting another Lightning Shinobi in the distance, Oshiro waits by the gate, assuming they were being sent as back up. As soon as he arrives, Oshiro would order the trio north at double-time to make up for lost time!
Unfortunately for Oshiro, the enthusiasm he exudes is met by a shake of the head and a small frown from the infamous berserker. "Interesting and dangerous. I don't know about you, but we might need a little more help if they've managed to break even a summon creature." While those words are allowed to stew, Rise started to drift off for a little more exploring, only to stop short upon seeing Oshiro make a beeline for the gate. Wordlessly, she shadowes him until the source of his attention became clear.
A smile made its way to the surface despite resistance. "Ryouji… Heh… Figures they'd send a Reizei to back us up." She comments. Although there was more she wanted to ask about (namely the boy's appearance), once Oshiro gave the order for the team to move, the Shirokiri didn't waste a second on not following afterwards.
Aaaaand not much to do but keep on truckin'. c.U And trackin'. Without marching songs for now, 'cause Noab said earlier it's time for silence. Shhhh.
Kajiru agrees!
Ryouji nods to Oshiro and smirks at Rise, "Yeah, I'm the backup. I've got a personal steak in this. But you're right, I'm the one who'd get here the quickest." and takes off with with the group. He keeps all his senses open as he runs along and says to Oshiro, "How close are we to catching up to the poachers?" He's eager to crack some skulls it seems.
With Ryouji on the team, the Kumo-nin are able to sense both Konoha's team and the poachers. Interestingly enough, Ryouji would also notice another chakra signature, but it didn't feel human (if he had a sense of what animal chakra felt like). The Kumo team would finally get to run in with the Leaf, and maybe they can work together, even! Or not. Who knows c.c;;? Either way, Kajiru and Noab seem to be gaining on their targets, as Kajiru would notice the scents are getting fresher. Noab would notice a faint plume of smoke. Seems like these villains decided to relax for the time being. Of course, it is around lunchtime…
"A Reizei, eh?" Emotions and personal feelings are set aside for now, as the three begin to push towards their northern destination at a high-rate of speed.
After an hour or so of booking it, Oshiro notices the Konoha Nin, and stops! Without making a loud noise, he offers a friendly wave, then waves his hand forward, motioning for them to keep on going! Were they going to work together? Sure, why not? But they didn't have time to just sit around and chit-chat. Any tactical planning would have to be done on the go.
Oshiro slips his grandfathers sword from it's sheath as he continues forward, the blade held close to his body.
She quirks a brow, but doesn't comment on Oshiro's reaction. Yet. Until something came of it, why worry so much? As for the jaunt through wild country and beyond, Rise's body fairs little better than before. If anything, the woman is even more out of breathe than the last time. She does not complain even once.
The Konoha-nin scents are picked up well before they come in sight. One in particular stands out, though it isn't until she she's the giant old man that the girl can put a face to it. "Ah! O—" She starts, and just barely stops herself in time. Suppressing every urge to properly greet the elder Akimichi, Rise settles for a curt nod before taking off after Oshiro, winded still yet reinvigorated in a way.
Ah, smoke. The classic first sign of an encampment ahead. There's not much point in lighting a fire at midday for light, warmth, or protection, so it's probably for cooking…Noab's stomach growls involuntarily. -.U;
Wait, what's this? A team of ninja from an allied village converging on the targets? What are the odds of such convenient happenstance? >/ Why, it's the sort of thing that only happens in STORIES! …Which is conveniently not going to occur to Noab so as not to hinder the scene. :P Noab signals a response to the Kumo nin and moves to bring his team's path parallel to theirs, close enough to communicate in low voices. "We're after poachers, suspect it's that group up ahead. Hopefully we can verify before we go in blades swinging."
Rushing along behind Noab, Kajiru sniffs at the incoming allied shinobi. She peers at them and then gives a wave, "Hi!" She declares though not so loud as to be dangerous. She looks to Noab and nods to his words before looking at the group, "If these are the guys with the cart, they are definitely the poachers." She nods her head, "And I'm gonna chew their faces off." She nods again before looking ahead, "I don't swing blades, I bite." She nods her head.
Ryouji gives a polite bow to Oshiro and says, "Oh yeah, we're ready to go." He runs along with the group until he reaches the konoha group, lifting a hand in greeting to the konoha-nin. He takes a moment to gather his chakra up, focusing for the coming battle before heading out once again. He runs with Oshiro, looking over at him every once in a while. A bit of familiarity runs through the back of his head, he knows he's seen Oshiro before, but he can't put his finger on it. Oh well, worry about that later Ryouji. He pushes his chakra network a bit, shifting his body into his blur mode. The edges of his body vibrate and become insubstantial as his effort in maintaining this speed relaxes. He spots the smoke as well and nods towards Noab and Kajiru. "Yo, let's all take care, there's no data on these guys beyond poachers, right? So we don't know what they might be capable of. I sensed some strange chakra in that group a while ago." He looks over at Oshiro, "I'll do what you think is best, Oshiro-sama. What's the plan of attack?" He gives a respectful bow towards the jounin.
It seems the brunt of the force ahead aren't too bright, but /some/one has to be. The leader narrows his eyes, hearing whispers or something… Well, he doesn't know what it is, but it's better to be safe than sorry. He signals for two men to blast the area with flames, hoping to drive away any help that might be forthcoming. With little to no hesitation, the men do as they're bid, both of them forming the handseals to make a huge fireball that washes over the entire area.
Oshiro slows his movements as the two teams converge. As the two groups exchange info, Oshiro hmms quietly, "I don't like the sound of the Ryouji-san. The villages back south-west were saying that a giant rabbit had cleaned out one farmers crop overnight." Furrowing his brow, and pursing his lips, the young Jounin mutters, "I'm no expert, but I think they may have managed to force a giant creature into a contract, or something along the lines. If we go in, we need to go in very.. very carefully. I don't know about you, but giant-summons aren't quite my forte! Any suggestions?"
The fireball was unexpected! Oshiro's chakra flares out of his pores as he grips onto the hilt of his sword. Instinctively, the young man flips up into the air, somersaulting over a tree, and landing a several meters away, managing to avoid the burning danger all together! It was on now! Sprinting forward, the Saito Jounin brings his blade out to the side, charging full speed into the group. As the gap is closed, Oshiro chooses the boss as his victim! With chakra rippling up the blade, and down his arm, Oshiro attempts to end this quickly, slashing downwards in an attempt to severe his neck. He liked severing necks. It was his M.O. after all!
Suggestions were going to have to wait it seems, what with the great many great waves of death sent at everyone. Her body moves well before conscious thought gives the order, placing the petite woman behinid the nearest after a quick side-step. THe tree wouldn't hold out forever, but buys enough time for her to enter a trance and build up chakra. Her eyes snap open a moment later, and soon she scrambles up the side of the burning tower of wood for a better view. Rather than rush in as just about every cell in her body demanded, the woman to using Oshiro and other's action as cover while she circled about their prey.
Well, even if we don't have proof these guys are the poachers, they're evidently pretty willing to shoot first and ask questions later! That puts them in the use-force-against category in Noab's book. Of course, first he has to deal with the force coming against him. Noab weaves some quick seals and slams his palms into the ground. A wall of earth shoots up to block the flames. With that accomplished, Noab pours more chakra into the ground, and a mudslide starts racing toward the enemy, hopefully putting some baddies off balance so that the others can deal with them more easily. "Lethal force is authorized!" Noab barks to his subordinates.
Blinking at the incoming attack, Kajiru leaps out of the way and lands, skidding to a stop. She stands up striaght, growling as chakra flows into her body and her teeth elongate into miniature daggers. Her fingers grow nasty claws as well do her toes. A tail sprouts out of her spine even as her ears turn into furry rounded wolverine ears atop her head. She flicks her fingers and glares at the enemies, "Time to kill!"
Zori had finnaly caught up to the group. Zori didnt want to be with this team he was paired up with, but he has no choice for this mission. Zori looks around glancing at Kajiru and Noab. All of a sudden the whole field goes up in flames. Zori is struck by the fire. Rolling around on the ground in one motion to put out the fire on his clothes. He turns and looks at the baddies. Zori looks down at his now tarnished Purple Hoodie, its been burned off in certain spots. "Dangit! You ruined my hoodie!" Zori glares back at the baddies with a intent to kill. Zori's wires unwrap from his wrists and lash out from up under the sleeves of his hoodie at the baddies slashing and slicing at there bodies.
Ryouji reaches into his sleeves and pulls out a long roll of explosive tags all attached together. He says, "Swift release, explosive tags managerie!" He disappears as his swift release chakra fills his legs and pushes his speed to insane levels. Each guy ends up with a tag strapped to the leg or arm as Ryouji stops at the same spot he was at when he started. Each one going off at roughly the same time. His training is enough that, like his b-rank whirlwind of blades, he can chain AoE attacks to indiviual targets instead of just blowing up the whole place. He snaps his finger as they start going off, "BOOM." But did he forget about the fireball? Yeah, it washes over him and he gets roasted somewhat. His fault for acting all hot stuff and not noticing the hot stuff. He looks at his cooked and still smoldering arm as he starts beating it out yelling, "Oww owowowow!"
Oshiro is fast, which is probably a good thing for him and a bad thing for his opponent. The head honcho of the group isn't fast enough to block Oshiro's sword, and his throat ends up slashed. While he jerked back to avoid getting beheaded… Ahem… Well, it looks like he's pretty much done. Rise would get to see, from her higher vantage point, a cart filled to the brim with animal cages. Then another one in the front with bigger spaces for bigger animals. The horses that draw the carts don't look to happy, as it seems there's a bear in one of the carts!
Oshiro would be able to avoid the explosion, as the man's body (you know, mr. Head Honcho) took most of the damage, meaning that … Well, he's even deader than before. Combined with Noab's muddy river, the group are able to deal some massive damage. Even Zori has a hand in the destruction, his wires slicing the poachers' throats, arms, and legs to prevent them from retaliating. The only guys left are four of the …. well, they're the cowards of the group, it seems, as they were sort of hiding in the center hoping this attack would blow away. Fat chance, but no cigar for them! They don't even attack… So pathetic c.c
One shot. One kill. That is the power of the Senshi guard. Oshiro didn't get the decapitating blow that he had hoped, but the red mist that squirts out of the severed carotid arteries was good enough for him.
The exploding tags causes the young Jounin to reach a hand out and bring the lifeless body in towards him to take the brunt of the explosion. Probably not the best course of action, but it worked! After the smoke and dust settles, Oshiro flicks his bloody blade to the side, sending a trail of blood along the wall before it is returned to it's sheath. "Those four cowards.. cuff them. We are bringing them in, and interrogating them. If there is a poaching ring, we will find out everything we need to." Giving a menacing glare towards the survivors, Oshiro growls, "Isn't that right boys?"
No amount of death and destruction is going to deter Rise from her goal. Nope. The woman was a, well, woman on a mission! Actually finding where the poachers kept the animals however…
She lands gently atop of one of the larger cages to take a closer look inside. If she could get at least a few words out of the larger animals, it is enough to convince her to smash open open the locks (even if that meant opening a gate or three). Unfortuantely for the rest, they are left in their cages. All the while the girl made a point of staying as far away from the horses as possible. The teams didn't need to add chasing runaway carts to their list of things to do. In fact, with that thought in mind, the woman wasted no time in rushing back to the others to let them no the good news!
Noab pokes his head out around the earth barrier he erected. Yup, looks like things are pretty much over. "Stand down lethal force," he orders. "Unless one of these scum tries something stupid, of course." >) Noab glances over to Oshiro. "No reason to be greedy, right? We can each take half of the surviving poachers. Not too likely any of them know anything the others don't, and we can each conduct our own interrogations. Everybody wins." Except the poachers, of course. 'Cause EVIL NEVER WINS. *V-sign* "Somebody see about releasing the animals. Careful, they could be pretty skittish."
Blinking as everything is already over, Kajiru looks over at Noab and then blinks at the cage. As rise is over there, so is Kajiru and fast. Her transformation ends as she appears by the cage and gets right up close to it, "Bear person! Can you talk in there? Are you a talk talk rar rar bear with a giant house sized bear friend with a rar rar attitude who is lookin' for you or are you just a regular rar rar bear who wants to eat honey and rip off faces?" She then peers closer, "Blink once for yes and twice for no or just say rar for yes and rar rar for no." She nods.
So the fight is over or just about to be over. That's good, because Ryouji needs to get back and take care of his hatchling. Ryouji is sure to be awake now and will need food. Babies will do that. Ryouji says, "Oshiro-sama, when I get back, let's have a chat. I'd love to talk with the grandson of Masahiro." He lifts his hand up towards the giant hawk flying above. It dives down to land and Ryouji climbs on. "I need to head back to what I was doing before, but this was something that needed to be done. The hawks will be happy about this." The giant hawk spreads its wings and launches itself into the air again and heads back to the mountain.
As the larger animals are freed, and then hopefully the smaller ones, it becomes clear that these animals were only rare breeds and not summons creatures. None of them talk. In fact, Kajiru's little outburst of words just resulted in a blank look from the bear she was talking to. Oh well… Perhaps Kajiru will find her target another day? Hopefully! But the teams were successful in capturing these poachers for later questioning. It's likely that the Kumo and Konoha teams divided the prisoners, too, since they were allies and could just swap info easily if need be. The teams would head back to their respective villages to do what they willed with both prisoners and animals. Hopefully they freed them all, or at least brought them somewhere safe. The bear looked a bit grumpy and totally swiped its claws at Kajiru, though.
