Starring:
Zankuro, Tsuchiri, Kefka (emitter)
Date: December 9, 2016
Summary:
Oh saru! The dread news! The traveling Ninja Petting Zoo was attacked by bandits and its show animals have all fled into the wild! But in hot pursuit following one of the animals - a ninja monkey known as Rokuro - daring and succesful raid on a traveling merchant is Tsuchiri and Zankuro, Chuunin of Konohagakure!
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Ninja Petting Zoo - Monkey Business"
Land of Fire - Clearing
Oh saru! The dread news! The traveling Ninja Petting Zoo was attacked by bandits and its show animals have all fled into the wild! Luckily each of them bears a rather distinct collar along with clothes a member of their species normally wouldn't wear, but catching them is no task for an injured zoo crew! Who's up to the challenge up helping Hamasaki Kichirou and his fabulous traveling zoo retrieve its animals?
Apparently today that would be Zankuro and Tsuchiri. For whatever reason the two were chosen to tackle this mission together. The animal that's been spotted this time around is none other than a monkey called Rokurou. A group of merchants traveling with a shipment of bananas and other foods reported that their caravan was ransacked in the night at their camp and an entire crate stolen before members of the crew spotted a monkey matching Rokurou's description leaping off into the trees with it.
The best advice they were given was to start at the clearing where the theft happened and bring bait. What happens from there….
If Zankuro were to be honest, getting back to work as soon as he returned to Konoha was the last thing in mind. Yet, he does not complain even for a moment when news arrived on his proverbial doorstep about a mission. It also helped that said mission entailed recovering zoo animals. Because really, how hard can something like that possibly be?
"Heheh! Talk bout easy. What's it been? A day at most before one of them turned up Tsuchiri-san?" Zankuro asked off-handidly while searching through his array of scrolls. "I mean, I know we still gotta actually catch the little booger. But its a stupid monkey… Uhm…" He pauses mid pull of a scroll and glances over to Tsuchiri. "Don't… let the Hokage know I said that? Alright?" He flashes a weak grin, then returns to pulling out the scroll. In a matter of moments, there's picnic blanket worth of fruits (mostly bananas) set in the center of the clearing.
"Alright. Now that that's done…. ohh transaction. Shoot. Think we should'a dug a hole first or something? Or maybe we should've canvased the place first?" He turns about fully to ask.
Bait… bananas and nuts probably. Tsuchuri has a bundle of them in her arms as she makes her way to the clearing, setting most of her stash with the blanket, a pair of individuals stashed in her vest instead. "If you know how to make a pitfall or snare it could help." she says, "But this is a capture mission, I'm not certain how well suited I am for it." while she steps back some.
No sign of the monkey yet, but did they expect it to be THAT easy? Perhaps the scent will entice it soon enough, or perhaps it has their game figured out. Who knows… tick tock… tick tock… There is some rustling in the trees around, however. It gets louder and louder… and then a flock of birds flies out of the trees. Nope, still no sign of the monkey!
Zankuro chuckles heartily and gives a lack luster wave of dismissal. "You'll be fine~ Again, we're just catching a monkey. Not some dangerous criminal type. So long as your go to isn't always to blow… something…" Zankuro trails off from there at the sound of rustling. Though he had lingering doubts, the Sarutobi still had a hand drift over to his supply pouch just in case. A few seconds pass… then more…. and then… a bunch of birds fly out, nearly startling the young man into falling over.
Fortunately, he catches himself, and is soon failing to complete suppress a curse from slipping out. "Fwghason'ovapieceof — Uggh! Right… RIGHT! Let's just calm down a sec here, and…" He trails off into a sigh. "I'll get to work on the pit for now. See if you find any signs that the monkey at least has been about the area more than once… Or perhaps…" Zankuro stops for a moment and rubs his chin. "Better yet… maybe see about cook'n some of those bananas you got over there. Just a little, eh?" He suggests. Regardless of how the suggestion goes, the man is quick to summon a shovel and start to work on that pit.
Cooking a banana.. "If anything I'd think the smoke would scare our quarry off, but.." she shrugs and moves on to gather some kindling from the recently rustling foliage… birds, huh. She doesn't seem that tense about the growing rustle, one monkey wouldn't make such sound. It sounded like it was more crafty than that. So, with kindling gathered she walks back to the clearing to settle down and produce some flint from her vest and start up a small fire for just that purpose, cooking banana. "Well if it's around people, it must be used to some smoke from cooking.."
Digging holes? Cooking bait? Decent enough distractions for a certain monkey to be ready to take advantage of. A pair of eyes peek out from behind the leaves of a tree for a moment before there is a blur racing out right toward Zankuro's back!
If one's eyes can keep up, the blur is none other than a monkey dressed like a ninja with a red collar. It lunges out of the trees at Zankuro's back to try and dropkick him right into the hole he's digging. Hopefully the need to help him is enough to keep Tsuchiri occupied! At least that's Rokurou's hope as he kicks off the guy's back and tries to nab as many of the bananas and nuts as he can on his way out darting toward the treeline again!
"E-exactly!" Zankuro exclaimed, pausing long enough in his work to finger snap. As if purely out of spite or for comedic fashion, lady luck makes certian that the same finger snap is in time with the monkey landing the drop kick. There is sure to be at least one kami playing back the incident from three different angles back to back before time resumes its natural course.
Sadly, Zankuro doesn't get to use that 'time' to figure out what just happen. All he has is a good few seconds to look in confusion, say "Edo?", and wonder over why things were suddenly going horizontal before inevitably falling into the pit. It isn't too deep yet, luckily. Just… deep enough for face plant to be heard, and to leave his feet hanging out the top.
Chiri's just got sparks to go when she hears kicking.. and faceplanting. She turns her attention to the stash first, Zank sounds alive.. enough. Her feathers unfurl from her back, Monkey! Or the glimpse of one. Her only known handsign is put to use in helping her move to keep up with him, feathers forming up a netlike shape and flinging out in the attempt to snag their mark, violet gleam of chakra making an easy to find and follow blur.
With Zankuro face-first in the dirt, that leaves only one shinobi to chase Rokurou! He looks over his shoulder and squeals as he sees the woman keeping up and sending some kind of net his way! No way he's going down without a fight when he just got his bounty!
Leaping upwards, the tricky monkey goes through a cluster of branches with an opening too thin for the net to get through to prevent himself from being captured! At the same time he kicks dust, bark, and leaves at Tsuchiri's face, trying to obscure her vision so he can try to make a getaway!
All the ruckus in the world would not be enough to shake those stars from Zankuro's vision. In fact, he almost felt comfortable enough to just sorta lay there for a little awhile. Almost. But, inevitably all that blood beginning to rush to his head stimulates some focus in the young man.
"Huck! Pbbt! Bleh! Why… why is there so much dirt in my mouth?" He asks aloud after peeling his face away. "And why-…" He gasps sharply, then scrambles to try and right himself in the hole. "Tsuchiri-san! I think the monkey is here!" The call goes out mid-struggle.
A miss! Her net dissipates and the feather returns to a defensive as Chiri huffs, guarding her face from the debris. "I knew it. Smart." she remarks. "Is the zoo really that bad?" she calls out to the trees while turning to run up one and leap off to continue pursuit. "I'll give you a portion of my pay if you come back with me, you can use it for whatever you'd like!" she offers
Promise of money apparently doesn't really work either! If it's spending most if its time in a cage, money really isn't going to help it much! Rokurou's not slowing down any time soon! At least not by choice. But perhaps the valiant kunoichi can succeed if she attempts again.
At last! The great and mighty Zankuro defeats his most terrible and terrifying adversery to date; the hole. It still takes him long enough that by the time he actually gets a sense of where Tsuchiri ran off and goes to follow, he arrives only just in time to catch the last portion of her offer to the the trees. "Where'd it go? I swear if I get my hands on that darn monkey, I'mma tape its mouth shut!" He exclaims while shaking fist, and looking about the area.
Chiri's not so incensed. "If you really want we can help negotiate a better arrangement for you, really! I can't make promises but if I can help I'd like to know you're on board!" meanwhile a pair of feathers make hands to dart into the canopy to chase after Rokurou and snag a monkey- her net didn't work and this little guy doesn't quite have a shiny on him to beacon her in on!
This time Tsuchiri manages to distract the monkey well enough. It looks over its shoulder at her just long enough for her chakra to capture him! There is squealing, jumping around, jerking, and lots of other fighting until eventually it accepts defeat and stops. The first of the zoo's animals has been caught. Mission accomplished!
