Animal House

[Kayori]

¡î Name: Animal House
Rank: C
Repeatable: Yes
Description: Extremely large animals have began to emerged from Fire Country. They are usually two times the size of the average human. Nothing to take lightly. There have been a report that one of these large beasts mauled and killed a civilian. This cannot continue.
Obective: Seek out the large creatures and eliminate them.
Reward: 50 EXP and 1,000 Ryo

Kayori looked around him after the gates to Konohagakure closed behind him with a quiet thump. Despite its large size, it lacked the loud boom as it closed dropping its level for drama as often imagined in lores and tales of old. It had been quite an eventful exit, having met the Raikage from Kumogakure on his way out and even being privy to a staring match as the Hokage and Kumogakure had sized up each other despite the smiles on their face.

They had been giants, titans even as they stood opposing each other, their might so powerful that Kayori was but a mere bug in their presence. The Uchiha laughed sarcastically to himself as he imagined how he must have looked to the Hokage earlier when he had declared himself loyal to the Fire Shadow and beseech him to use Kayori as he saw fit. A nobody before the strongest man in Konoha, trying to make himself look big as if he was of any value.

Loyal as he may be, the blonde shinobi knew he was of no use without any strength to call his own.

"'I'm your blade, use me as you see fit'?" Kayori uttered out in self-mockery as he shook his head. "What a joke." was all he could say as he began to walk in the direction of the village as stated in the mission slip he took out from his pocket. Regaining his composure, Kayori pulled himself back from his sudden moodswing and began to read the instructions again as he moved on, walking slowly through the forest path, greenery on all sides.

[Kayori]

It didn't really take long to reach the countryside, even with Kayori opting to take a slow walk rather than dashing through the branches and leaves of the tall trees that shadowed the ground, often using them as a highway as well as his practice ground for agility. However, he had just returned from a long journey from Iwa just hours ago and he was in no way interested at all to tire himself out before completing his mission. Being mauled to death by a giant beast wasn't his idea of an honorable death.

The village quickly came into sight, the usual precursors over the horizon that pointed to the village leading the way. The forest path became wider and smoother, the grasses maintained so that it would border the road on both sides rather than growing all over the place. Small wildlife made rustling noises in the surrounding bushes, the occassional breeze shaking the leaves of the trees.

Houses began to appear in his line of sight, and soon people. His forehead protector bearing Konoha's symbol quickly attracted attention as people began to crowd around him. Chattering on all fronts, the Uchiha sought to calm the villagers down. To his dismay, he failed.

It wasn't until a few seconds later when an authoritative voice called for the villages to stop talking and make way. Apparently, it was the village head. Standing tall at six feet tall, the man's physique pictured a life of hard work. He was thin and wiry, but beneath the loose clothes were muscles and sinew with strength that could rival the one with the biggest muscles in their village.

"How do I address you, Shinobi-san?" the village head asked. His words made him out to be a man of courtesy, despite his appearance. "My name is Shiba, Tatsuki Shiba."

"Call me Kayori. Where's the nest of the giant animals? Let's just get this over with," the blonde shinobi quickly said.

"Kayori-san, so far we haven't found it, since we haven't even sent anyone to look for it. It attacks during the night, so I hope you can wait and stay guard for the night," Shiba said as he crossed his arms in front his chest and then looked at Kayori. The village head was assessing the youth before him, wondering if this scrawny blonde would be able to do anything other than serve as a playtoy to the monsters terrorizing their village.

[Kayori]

Day turned to night soon enough, the sky darkening to an inky black with grey clouds floating silently by. Leaves and other small things were kicked up by lightly over the ground as a breeze blew through the village, producing a howling sound as it travelled past the houses. For some reason, the howling sound of the wind had always been one of the things that could calm Kayori down, something that he enjoyed.

As a kid, the howling wind had an adverse effect on him, scaring him every time he heard it, but somehow, over the years, the noise began to appear melodic to him, always bringing a smile to his face whenever he heard it.

The exact same expression was etched on his face, a large grin on his face, as he listened intently to the wind howl while he closed his eyes. He was the only person still outside, every one of the villagers having retired to their homes. The Uchiha sat outside a small teahouse, having moved one of their tables and chair outside the shop, a pot of tea that the shop owner had brewed for him sitting on the table.

The shinobi sat lazily, his right leg raised so that the ankle was on his left thigh, and his right elbow placed on the table beside him supporting the weight of his leaning body. His tea cup was held with his thumb and forefinger of his right hand, sipping every so often.

The village head had said that the beasts had always attacked during the night. They had tried different ways of deterring the beasts from attacking, including digging a trench around the whole village lined with sharpened sticks. However, the trench had only worked once. After one of the beasts had fell into the trap, the others had been intelligent enough to mark the trench so that they could falling in.

The other methods had failed miserably as well, only serving to anger the animals more. And hiring a shinobi had been their last resort. It wasn't exactly cheap to hire a shinobi, and Kayori was going to make sure that this village got their money's worth by making sure the beasts stay dead.

[Kayori]

A loud roar echoed through the village, temporarily undermining the howling of the wind. The first roar was followed by a second roar, sounding similar. Windows instantly closed in the houses all around Kayori, the whole village having been woken up by the thunderous roar. Bolts and locks clicked and thumped as the whole village was suddenly roused into activity.

The whole village suddenly fell into a silence again, with the only noise coming from the rustling of the trees that surrounded the village. The monsters were coming and Kayori was interested in their strength. Puling a scroll from his pouch, the Uchiha placed it on one side of the table and swiftly unrolled it with a swipe of his arm.

As soon as the scroll was completely laid on the table, a large blade bearing the insignia of a wolf's head biting down on a ring appeared above it. It had been awhile since Kayori had summoned this sword, having used the shorter and smaller sword slung behind his back more often.

Picking up Souten Ginrou by the hilt, Kayori moved it from the table and then allowed the tip to rest on the ground while his palm rested on the end of the hilt, waiting for the monsters to come.

"Nice sword," someone commented, breaking the silence. Kayori turned around to see the village head, Shiba, sitting on the roof of the tea shop looking in the direction that the roars had came from. "Will it be enough to defeat the monsters?"

"More than enough," the Uchiha replied, his confidence peaking. His attention was brought back to the matter at hand, when the first monster appeared. It was a giant gorilla, standing at two times Kayori's height. A normal gorilla was strong, double that and you get something even more powerful. The second one followed behind the giant gorilla, and turned out to be of the same kind.

"Be back soon," the blonde shinobi exclaimed happily. He heaved up his heavy and large sword, and was quickly dashing in the direction of the two large simians.

[Kayori]

Utilizing the roofs to their fullest extent, the Uchiha leapt up into the air and landed on the tiled roofs to which he continued running and leaping between roofs in his bid to close the distance between the monsters and him before they could destroy the village. Despite the heavy sword in his right hand, which he carried with ease, each and every of Kayori's step was light, light enough that the tiles could remain in place and undisturbed despite the speed that the Uchiha was running at.

The blonde shinobi had his eyes fixed on the first gorilla, which was slightly bigger than the second, his attention fixated on how he was going to take down this gigantic opponent. His years on the battlefield had never equipped him before to fight against a monster of this size, since he had never had the chance to fight against a Bijuu.

Focusing on the last roof between him and his targets, the Uchiha leapt off the roof without any hesitation at all, his sword held high above his head. The last step which had led to a leap had been powered by chakra, strengthening his legs at the last moment to gain extra height in the air, before coming down hard with his Souten Ginrou, striking the back of the monster's neck.

Gravity assisted by powering the strength of his downwards slash, and the weight of the sword was definitely instrumental in the dropping slash technique. It was however, not enough to fell the beast in one strike. Jumping off the monster, which was roaring in pain, its arm grabbing the back of its neck, Kayori hastily ran to the front of the monster.

Gathering his strength, the Uchiha swung his sword forward in an arc before him, chakra having gathered around his blade and was released in a wave towards the gorilla before him. The blade beam sliced through the air with astonishing speed and what was even more astonishing was the ability of the blade beam to cut into the beast's chest, causing a fountain of blood to gush out of the dying monster's torso.

The giant gorilla could only roar, despite weakening and slowly succumbing to its death. The blood from its chest began to pool on the ground around the monster, gradually growing.

SPOILER: Click to show

1. Saigo no Kage (Last Shadow)
2. Kousen (Blade Beam)

[Kayori]

It appeared that the intelligence in the overgrown monsters had evolved with their size as well. Rather than charging in blindly at their attacker, the second gorilla had watched the slaughter of its kin and was clever enough to turn tail and escape before it was killed as well.

However, Kayori wasn't that merciful. As beneficial as the giant specimen would be to the scientific community in Konoha where they could study the beast in captivity, the Uchiha believed that it would be dangerous to have in Konohagakure. Once more gathering his strength, the shinobi cocked his blade, his arm raised and bent, with the sword over his shoulder, before letting it fly at the monster, homing in on its exposed back.

The large sword flew through the air in a circular motion, slicing through trees and leaves throughout its flight until it finally hit the gorilla in its right shoulder before spinning back to Kayori. With ease, he caught the blade in mid-air as he dashed forward through the branches, catching up to the animal.

Speeding up as their distance began to zero, Kayori once more attempted what he had done earlier with the roof, kicking off the branch with a chakra-fueled jump that sent him directly above the gorilla. Once more with a single swing, he sent a blade beam downwards, falling along with it as he prepared himself for a bloody landing.

The blade beam cut deep into the monster's back, and so did the sword in Kayori's hands. He had dropped down with his blade gripped in both hands, thrusting it down into beast, drawing out a long loud roar from the monster. It was sorrowful and full of pain, a dying cry. Not wanting to let the giant gorilla suffer any more, Kayori quickly sealed his sword back into its scroll, and quickly with his free hands, allowed his digits to shift through different hand seals before holding his right palm towards where the monster's heart would be.

The sound of the explosion was amplified and thundered through the forest as Kayori used the Shinkou Sakuretsu jutsu, having released an explosive blast of flames from his palm that held the power to destroy concrete up close. The monster rolled over and stayed silent, its fanged maw wide open as its lifeless eyes stared into the stars.

A large hole was what remained of its heart, instantly killing it without any pain. The explosion had sent blood everywhere, and the blonde wiped off the crimson liquid from his face without any complains. His eyes were cold and steely, as he looked at the dead creature.

"Mission done."

SPOILER: Click to show

1. Musumehagi (Spinner Lancet)
2. Kousen (Blade Beam)
3. Saigo no Kage (Last Shadow)
4. Shinkou Sakuretsu (Crimson Explosion)

[Kayori]

With his clothes covered here and there in blood and filth, Kayori made the rock-steady Shiba raise his eyebrows in surprise when he emerged from the shadows of the forest and into the village. Most of the villagers had opened their windows and were peeking out, curious about the sudden absence of roaring beasts.

"They're both dead," the Uchiha exclaimed with a smirk, and as he continued to walk past Shiba, Kayori thanked the man. "Thanks for the job, Shiba."

[Trigga]

⁵⁷