Starring:
Nobunaga, Riye, Asuro
Date: April 16, 2014
Summary:
Hired by a collector to hunt and acquire a strange beast, leaf shinobi stumble upon a strange village.
"The Tanuki Village"
Near the Land of Grass
Another day another mission and another hunt. Once again Nobunaga has been tasked with leading a team to track and hunt another strange beast. This time however they have a little bit more knowledge to work with. From what Nobunaga understood this beast was dangerous, even more so than the last. He's requested three genin to show up but unfortunately Zankuro couldn't make it. Still Asura and Riye were capable and with perhaps the right planning more than enough. Nobunaga met the two outside of Konoha's Gates. The trip would be long so he told them to pack accordingly. Their mission would bring them near the Land of Grass.
"So let's review. A collector has hired us to hunt and kill a rare species of bear. This creature is rather elusive able to change its size and shape. We also need to keep an eye out for rival huntsmen. Now after we kill and capture the beast we will transport it to the exchange location specified and then be on our merry way." Nobunaga looks between the two "That sound about right?" he refers back to the mission briefing. "Oh yes and also be mindful of the…?" Nobunaga's eyebrow raised. "Fanatics?" he shrugged and rolled up the scroll. This recap was done from the shadowy treetops in a dense forest. The team was just above some strange tracks they'd noticed beforehand. It was their first and only lead so far for tracking down this bear. "Make any preparations you need. We'll follow these tracks from above and hopefully they'll lead us right to our target." Nobunaga nods. The sunlight was fading fast. A few more minutes and darkness would be upon the land.
Asura was summoned to join the ranks of Nobunaga and Riye, unlike before his buddy in crime Zankuro was no where to be find something about being summoned away on another mission or something. Either way the fact that Zankuro isn't here right now kinda made the boy feel bad, "*sigh* I suppose we should make this quick I guess." Asura head was draping as they moved and the mission was something that didn't strike him as fun and no Zankuro means no body that needed saving either way he would glace at Riye from time to time wondering if she was as strong as she looked. Time started to past and Asura quickly notice the fading sunlight "Are we there yet? Cause this light is fading fast." Just as said that they arrival, on the treetops right before the bear tracks over looking the view he would start to take in everything that was around trying to find anything that would tell him how big this bear was.
Taking only necessary items, Riye has her mask up when she meets with the others and nods to each in turn, "While I don't revel in the idea of killing a rare animal, a mission is a mission." She nods her head and then is on her way with them. When they get to the agreed upon location, she simply retrieves her blades from her back, locking them into the gauntlets at her wrists and then gripping them handles on the underside of the blades. She peers at Nobunga a moment and nods to him before looking over at Asura and chuckles, shaking her head, "I doubt that things will be…too bad."
"I concur Riye-san. Sadly rare creatures attract avaricious and materialistic people. Most of which are our more wealthy clientele." he sighs. Seeing that the others were ready Nobunaga stands and signals them. From here on out it was known that they'd use simple field commands to communicate unless the situation warranted otherwise. Nobunaga gives the signal to move out and takes off in the direction of the tracks.
Not long afterwards they'd notice ahead a hunting party. It was composed of three each armed with a series of hunting weapons. Bows and arrows, hunting knives, nets, etc. Working around these guys could prove to much of a hassle so Nobunaga signaled the team to take them out, but not to kill. He has Asura take the marksmen, a balled man with goggles holding a bow, on the far left. Riye would take the larger burly looking one armed with a mallet on the far right. This left Nobunaga with the demolition man, armed with what seems to be explosives and other fire hazards, in the center. It seems they were following the tracks too hence why they were spread out a little. Once everyone had their targets and commands Nobunaga took off and assaulted his target.
Asura keep his frown on his face however it was lifted when he notice that they get to take down hunters a slight devilish smile came across his face before he shifted toward his target. "Target acquired…moving to take out target." Asura moved swiftly into position before strike the target with a swift snapping kick to the neck. Hoping to take it out without alerting others around him of his presence. Once his targets is taken out he would be looking towards Nobu for further directions all he knew was he had to wait for the signal whenever that my be.
A swift chop to the side of the neck puts Nobunaga's target to sleep. Asura is successful in incapacitating his foe. Riye's is the only one who's target remains conscious but he's not going anywhere. Nobunaga winces "Riye-san you were supposed to knock him out. I'm sorry sir that looks like it hurts." Nobunaga walks over and kneels down at the fallen hunter. He briefly looks over the hunter for anything useful. "So. How fairs the hunt?" Nobunaga asks pulling out a kunai. The hunter knew the drill and groaned. "We saw it. But it ran. We almost had it then it changed and then it…just went up." Nobunaga blinks. "Up?" he looks to Riye and Asura to see if they've found anything useful.
Asura looked around for clue and then it happen in the form of two huge paw prints in the dirt, "found it…you know the clue we're looking for…its right here." Asura crossed his arms before he looked up the huge cliff side before back towards the ground "so wait we're going to have to climb this right?" Frowning the young genin sighed before looking back at the cliff side "its just as I though…of course our luck would have us going the extra mile." Crossing his arms the Uchiha waited for further orders deep down he already knew what they were.
"Apologies." Riye states and then looks at the large man before looking down with a sigh, "I was…well, I'm not good at doing that sort of thing. I felt perhaps bringing him down fast was the goal." She nods, "Not necessarily knocking him out." She then looks over toward what Asura finds and then looks around herself. She points toward a tree and then up it, "Something…jumped, like the man said." She nods pointing up, "Up through the trees." She then looks to Nobunga.
The huntsman chuckles "Yeah we figured the same thing. It's den or whatever has to be somewhere on this cliff." Nobunaga looks to Asura and Riye. "It's not a problem at all Riye-san. He can't move either way. Nicely done both of you." Nobunaga nods and turns his attention back to the huntsman. He hits the man in the head with the blunt end of the kunai handle. "I do not envy the headache you'll have when you wake up." Nobunaga rises and looks upwards. "We'll have to scale the cliff-side." Nobunaga grumbles. He can use his chakra to walk on any surface but he wasn't so sure about Riye and Asura. "Unless either of you want me to carry you…you'll have to manage." Nobunaga starts scaling the cliff and on a ledge he finds the same footprints from below and a path that leads further ahead.
However Riye and Asura managed to climb the cliff-side the group would find themselves confronted with a dead end once they reached the end of the path. They had a glorious view of the forest behind them however. "Trail ends here." Nobunaga sighs "Check around see if you can find anything." as they searched it would be Asura who would notice a clove of dark brown fur in a crack of a stone wall.
Asura climbed up the cliff and once they made it to the top he looked off the edge before long however he pieced together the fur noticed that it was the same type of fur in the hunter hand. "Not sure if this'll help or not but isn't that the same fur as the one on the hunter hand?" Asura crossed his arms and started to rattle with the thought in his own hand. "Hmm things are getting weird about this mission and thus its that which is going to make it annoying." Asura would sigh before spitting off the edge of the cliff. Then a light turn on and he laughed "oops I guess I forgot to tel you I stumbled upon that eh…well I found this very same fur on the hunter I knocked out. If that helps." Asura would be blushing as he laughed nervously.
A gasping Riye sighs as she gets to the top, shaking her head and then swallowing, "I am so not a climber." She then looks up at Asura's fur, peering at it and blinking as she walks up toward the fur before looking over toward Nobunga and then at the crack in the side o the cliff nearby. She walks up to it and pushes but to no avail…at all. She then gestures, "Come here." She calls to the others, "I believe this rock moves…there's something beyond it."
Nobunaga pinches the bridge of his nose and just chuckles weakly at Asura. "G-good job Asura. Thanks for sharing this with us." Nobunaga says as he moves over to take the fur from Asura. After a quick comparison Nobunaga nods. "Yep the same." he then watches Riye push the rock for whatever reason. Nobunaga is confused until Riye explains herself. "Ah very nice. Asura let's go." Nobunaga waves Asura over. Working as a team they manage to slide the stone back revealing a dark path that seems to take them down inside the cliff. The team was on to something big now.
Nobunaga leads the genin down this dark path passing up bones along the way. Some human some not. They traveled downward for a while until they were lead back into the forest but there were no trees. The path they were on looked traveled. Suddenly up ahead they see two men garbed in beast hide. Nobunaga signals everyone to hide before they run into them.
Asura help the removal of the rock before he shifted about and wondered into the cave quickly coming out of the caver however they notice something in animal clothing sighing he notice the signal and moved to hide. However holding in his gas was a different task and thus it suddenly escaped him although silently it smelled really bad. Causing him to blush even more "urgh really?! This is why Ramen sucks as a breakfast." Asura tried to hide in the shadows of bushes hoping that his escaped gas didn't get him caught. *repose
Slipping up ahead with the rest, Riye, for her part is keeping silent for this part already. Just as they notice the beast men, Nobunga signals for them to hide and Riye merely needs to slip off a little. She was already keeping well hidden as they moved, not wanting to draw attention as is.
The villagers spot Nobunaga and Asura, thanks to Asura's little 'slip' up. Two more men appear, with spears, and briefly converse with the villagers. The two men armed themselves with jagged stone spears. "Outsiders!? How'd they find us?" Nobunaga winces and looks to Asura. "Really?" "You two come out now!" Nobunaga thinks for a moment. "You….two." He looks to Riye and signals her to stay hidden. He then looks to Asura "Follow my lead." Nobunaga steps out "Sorry! We…were lost and were looking for shelter for the night?" He says sounding helpless. The two spearmen showed little care as they approached him and Asura. "What should we do with them?" They asked. "They've come to far. They'll have to be dealt with accordingly." They jab at Asura and Nobunaga. "Start walking. Any sudden movements and you're dead." Nobunaga complies and expects Asura to do the same.
Riye was safely hidden. If she followed Nobu and Asura she'd come to a small village along with them. There was no where to hide at the entrance though so that would have to be as far as she goes if she doesn't want to get found out. "Take them to the feeding chambers. I'll go get the chief." One of the spearmen tells the other. Nobunaga and Asura then find their hands bound behind their backs with rope and lead to said chambers. The village seemed to be Tanuki based. Shrines, signs, pillars etc. "Ah fanatics. It all makes sense now." Nobunaga chuckles "Quiet you!" a spearmen shouts "Sorry." Nobunaga apologizes. He and Asura are thrown into a smelly cage that dangles over large arena-like pit. "Excuse you by the way." Nobunaga pardons Asura for his flatulence earlier.
Riye meanwhile would see only one guard at the entrance of the village. Down the road from her a trio of tribesmen approach. They carry baskets, hand woven, seemingly filled with fish. At the gate they set the fish down and begin chatting with the guard. Their backs exposed. One of the fish baskets was open. If Riye acted quickly perhaps she could take advantage of that.
Asura would play along for the most part however he kept thinking about breaking out of the cage would be nothing however since Riye haven't been capture and thus he wouldn't have to do much and it seems that Nobunaga wanted to play along for some strange reason. Thus the Uchiha boy would lay down in the cage as though he would get comfortable. "It appears that we're going to be here awhile might as well nap until something exciting happens." Asura would sigh before looking back at his team leader before at the sky.
What was that? Was it the wind?! Was it a shadow? Who can tell?! Probably Nobunga…probably anyone with any real skill in perception. None the less, Riye tries to rush forward and slip into one of the baskets to be carried inside all sneaky like.
It wasn't glamorous but Riye had successfully hidden herself inside one of the fish baskets. The trio of tribesmen carries her in. It seems that her weight is comparable to that of a full basket of fish. She can overhear the trio talking. "They've caught some outsiders. They have them in the feeding chambers." One of the men snickers "Man first those hunters now these guys? When will people learn?" The third man speaks now "Think they're after the Tanuki as well?" There is silence for a while before Riye is set down somewhere. The sound of the baskets being emptied is heard and her basket is up next.
"Might as well I suppose." Nobunaga says sarcastically to Asura. "We can get out of here at anytime. But I was trying to wait for…" Nobunaga trails off once he sees three men walking into the chambers. They're pouring fish into the center of the arena-like pit. One of them looks up to Nobunaga and Asura "Just the apetizer. You two will be the main course." Nobunaga's eyebrow raises. "May I ask for what?" The men just laugh and continue to empty the baskets. Riye's was up next. A low bellowing snarl then echoed throughout the area. Nobunaga nudges Asura "Nap time is over."
Asura would start to break out of the rope as he rub his wrist before molding his chakra, before flashing through handseals "alright about time, now let's rattle this cage a bit. Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Asura would tries to set the rope ablaze hoping that it'll be just enough to send it crashing into the area side hoping that it would set them free. Asura held onto two kunai in hand in hand as the cage broke he leaped from it and crashed onto the wall on contact he would stab the wall after finding the weak spot. "Oh boy, that was a close one…hey Senpi did you make it out alright?" He would be teasing/joking with Nobu before he made his way up the area side.
Hearing the plans of the men, Riye waits until they have emptied the first two baskets and moved to her basket to act. The top of the basket pops open as she comes out, her eyes looking between the two men who are directly beside the basket. Her blades by her side and…are they covered in darkness? They seem to be edged by shadows as she suddenly raises up her hands as if she were preparing two punches, the very action bringing the tips of those blades before the eyes of the men before suddenly both blades are pressed forward toward each men's neck and to the other side as her eyes fall upon the third. Riye simply states in a tone that shows no remorse or room for question, "Beg forgiveness and I may spare your life."
The tribesmen in alarm stumble back narrowly avoiding Riye's attacks. Perhaps a stroke of luck but there wasn't much to go around. "Wait wait wait…" Nobunaga says to Asura but it's too late. The cage is ablaze and falling. Sure Nobunaga was able to free himself but the cage would come falling down right on top of Riye. The tribesmen start to run. "They're monsters!" one of them shouts attempting to escape. Nobunaga lands not too far off from Riye and the pile of fish.
The arena starts to tremble as a mighty raw echos throughout. A dark cave that lies on the other side of Riye and Nobunaga is the source of the roar. "Asura, regroup please." Nobunaga says before taking a stance. "Hello there Riye-san. My my today just doesn't seem to be our day." he notes with a smile as a large bear-like creature emerges from the cave. It didn't waste time before charging at Nobunaga and Riye. Saliva oozed from its massive jaws. It was hungry. "Thats….not a tanuki."
Asura wanted nothing more then to save Riye if he could however the strain of climbing up the area side took a toll on him thus he had to stand at a distance and watch. However that didn't stop him from flashing through hand seals, take a nice deep inhale that made his cheeks puff out the chakra swirled about around him "get out of there guys!" as he released a stream of white hot air hoping to trap the beast in its mist before releasing an orb of blazing hot flames towards it, whipping his mouth the youth thought to himself. "perhaps I should have asked if we're taking it dead or alive first…"
A creature like this monster isn't so easily figured out. Riye's style of figuring out her opponent and using their movements to avoid doesn't work so well with a crazed beast. She is hit and knocked aside, causing her to stumble and shake her head. In response, however, she moves after the beast, trying to send one slash to its hip, another to its hamstring and trying to drive the tip o the blade into the back of its leg and downward. She coughs a little either way though and shakesh r head, "Bring it down fast."
Nobunaga evades the charging beast. "Riye-san are you al-" he was worried for a brief moment or two but Riye was already back up on her feet and ready to go. Asura's attacks were effective. The creature was blinded and pelted with a flame. Its hide was still rather tough though. Riye's first slash cuts nicely along the hip. However the creature's hide seems to be a bit too tough for her last two strikes. Nobunaga follows up on her attacks though aiming for the same two points. His scarf is flicked at his targets before becoming edged like a blade. "I'll ground it. You two go for vitals." Nobunaga commands.
Asura puff his cheeks he would spit out two more fireballs the size of both where small however when they collided with each other they created a single big flame that raced across the surface of the ground threatening to set the beast ablaze. He would be looking at the two and notes the hard hit that Riye took with a little snickers. "She's pretty tough…cool when we get back I have to spar her." Is said before he focus his attention onto the beast, this was the moment that Asura enjoyed the most about missions like this the combat made his blood boil with excitement.
With a nod, she moves forward with her blades and attempts to get ahead of the creature before stating quietly, "Apologies beast, sorry you were to be treated this way." She then moves with precision and purpose to slash into its throat. She then blinks as she looks up at Asura and then shakes her head. She then sighs though why is unclear.
The beast's hamstring was sliced deep by Nobunaga. It couldn't move anymore. But with a hide that tough it may not have to. Still it couldn't attack them anymore. Asura's second fire ball hit home and burned the beast well. Riye's attack on the head is what seals the fate of the beast. It falls exhausted and bleeding out. Nobunaga signals a ceasefire. Why? Not because he's having second thoughts about the creature but instead because they're are surrounded by bowmen of the tribe. Behind the leaf shinobi emerges a tribesman most likely assumed to be the chief. The chief was a Tanuki. Nobunaga blinks at the chief who looks a bit too calm. "So you've defeated the Beast of the Chambers." the chief spoke. "You are strong, superior beasts it seems." The bowmen are ready to fire with a word but the chief instead bows. "Please spare my tribe. If it's me you want then I will come along but only if you leave my people be."
Nobunaga points to the now dead beast. "Um actually we're here for that." Nobunaga answers. The chief rises "The Beast of the Chambers? It is a rare bread. Nearly extinct thanks to man." Nobunaga nods "Sounds about right. If you let us leave with its head then you have a deal." The chief considers Nobunaga's offer. "Very well. But you must never return." the Tanuki chief adds. Nobunaga is more than happy to comply. It's been a long mission. After the beast was pelted and beheaded it was given to the leaf shinobi. They were lead to the entrance/exit. "Ok." Nobunaga looks to Riye and Asura. "Let's get this over with already." Nobunaga says with a tired smirk.
