Dovahbear [M/Jett]

[Lang]

SPOILER: Click to show

Mountain Bear
Rank: C
No. of Participants: 2
Details: A massive bear is roaming the countryside. Find it and kill it. Or tame it - the choice is yours!
Rewards: 200 EXP & 1,000 ryō

Following his impromptu therapy session with the three wayward academy students, Rael underwent a five-day dry spell with regards to missions. He couldn't recall the last time he'd gone without at least a D-rank in two day's time to preoccupy himself with, let alone nearly a full week. He never actually got around to finding out more about his partner on his most recent mission, and originally believed it would be a long time before they crossed paths again. A bit ironic, finding out this morning at the mission's office who he'd be duoing with this time around.

I guess I'll be the one on standby, in case that bear isn't nearly as nice as the ones in children's storybooks.

Even on a good day, Rael sure as heck didn't want a 700-lb grizzly smacking him in the face with one of its paws; he'd take any opportunity to engage the thing from a distance. As long as Jett had any form of ranged ninjutsu in his arsenal, odds were they had little to fear. Checking over his equipment a second time, the Genin made certain his explosive notes were all accounted for. The wild animal they were going to put down was tough enough to be peppered with kunai and shuriken, and it'd still have enough time to bite their faces off.

Waiting outside the village gates for his partner to show, Rael began to map out the course they would need to take in order to reach the site where their quarry was last spotted. It'd attacked a small group of merchants roughly four miles to the north, and reportedly frightened off the civilians, leaving their food packets and other rations behind. Maybe if they were lucky, they'd get a chance to scavenge for some leftover usable goods as well.

[Jett Kuroi]

Jett wondered, if there was something in the environment in Mizu no Kuni, that made animals grow extremely large. First, there was the huge Rhino in that arena battle, and now, he was being told to track down, and take down, a large bear. He wasn't entirely thrilled, but a mission was a mission, money was money, and experience was experience. In the end, he could not turn away this mission, so as to further his goals and desires to seek out his sister.

His last mission with Rael had definitely been an interesting one, and having not been on a team, he never expected to be paired with the same person on any two missions, least of all so close together. Regardless, he had nothing to complain about, and so he set out from his home, to meet up with Rael out at the gates to the village. Once at the gates, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket, and grinned. Someday... he would remember he was wearing that mask, and his grins could not be seen.

"Ohayo, Hiraiyomi-san!"

After walking up beside the younger genin, Jett would turn his gaze out into the wilderness. He peered out into the distance, thinking about the task they were being given. It seemed like a step up. Fighting the gigantic rhino was one thing, but it was in an arena, where many stronger than he could keep watch. Today, they would be out on their own, only with each other to rely on. Despite that, he wasn't afraid.

"Anxious?" he asked, with a wider grin that might be seen crinkling his cheek just above his mask. He was eager and raring to go.

[/size][/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Lang]

An ear twitched at the sound of his name being called, and Rael returned the greeting with his own "Ohayo" and a small wave. Looking over the other Genin as they approached, he saw nothing that looked especially out of place. Trusting the teen enough to forgo a last-minute equipment check, he smiled a bit at Jett's supposed concern, shaking his head. "No, and it doesn't look like you are either." Working out the last kinks in his ankles, he inclined his head towards the path that would lead them north, passing by one of Kiri's harbors along the way.

"Looks like we're all set. Let's go."

He led them at a fairly comfortable pace, going little faster than a brisk jog along the dust-ridden trail, decorated on both sides by dense foliage and assorted wildlife. None of the creatures ever made it within bow-distance of Kirigakure's outer walls and sentry towers, its people too wary of enemy nin using them as decoys or fodder to gain entry. The country itself may have possessed a significant advantage warding off intruders, but the same didn't apply for the hidden village it kept tucked away.

I didn't have a chance to really speak with you last time, Yogiri-san," Rael asked, as they were about halfway to their destination. It would be rather strange if they continued to be paired together, but never learned anything more than each others' names. "Am I right to assume you've just recently graduated from the Academy?" He was older than the average age of most Genin within the village, but from what he recalled during their last mission, Jett hadn't been a shinobi for very long at all, coming here from presumably a smaller village on the outskirts of Kiri.

[Jett Kuroi]

A brow lofted at the response he got from Rael. Jett was very enxious. Very anxious indeed! Sure, fighting a huge animal was a daunting task, but it simply meant he was progressing, and ready for a tougher task. He was ready and willing to take on these tougher tasks, to continue to get tougher himself. He needed to be strong enough, so he could resist the surges of anger without much effort, and be able to go on his search for his sister without worry. After an equipment check, and last minute run downs, they were off, and straying from the village gates.

He was eager, but he would not press on too fast is the other boy wasn't in any rush. He had to keep a pace that was comfortable for both after all. And Jett had to do whatever he could to make sure Rael was kept safe on this mission. He had learned since their last partnering up that Rael specialized in medical ninjutsu, so he viewed this mission as a first in a long line of tests of his capability in protecting a vital person of the village. He thought of what an honor that was, to be entrusted with such a duty.

His thoughts were drawn away from that in time however, as his partner began to ask questions. Jett was wary of questions, not liking to talk about himself much, since digging too deep tended to work at unraveling his true story and origins. He would focus on not making it evident he was hiding information though, and would smile again, behind that mask, as he glanced back slightly towards Rael.

"Hai. I know it seems odd that someone would wait till my age to enter the academy." He chuckled lightly. "I just came to this village, less than a year ago. Late start in my lifetime, but in the end, it did not take long to graduate."

Hopefully, he had dodged the bullet there. Though honestly speaking, Jett was sure there would be more questions. One does not become to easily deterred from questions, when they really wish to know about someone. He just hoped he would be able to explain himself, without alluding to his true background. Eventually though, they came upon the abandoned merchant post. There was no sign of anyone or anything still nearby, so here they would be able to check for clues as to where the Bear headed next. Not to mention, look for abandoned supplies that could be salvaged.

[Lang]

It wasn't exactly hard to figure out Jett was a person with history behind him; the way he answered Rael's simple question, almost copying what he'd said a week ago without revealing any specifics, confirmed it. The older boy had obviously been somewhat trained before coming to Kirigakure. Otherwise, who would think to enroll in the Academy shortly upon arrival, then actually have the ability to graduate in the same year. Indeed, he was curious about the teen, powerfully curious. However, Rael also respected his fellow Genin's desire to keep the past under wraps; he didn't have the right to be prying into other people's business anyway.

"Haha, sounds a bit like me. I didn't come until well after my seventh birthday, nearly two years ago now. We've all got a bunch of circumstances that either hold us back or push us along faster than we'd like to go," he chuckled lightly, sharing a bit of his own previous situation to lessen the distance between them. "In the end though, things turned out more or less alright, so for that I'm thankful."

Whatever else Jett was willing to divulge, Rael would quietly accept with a patient ear. It wasn't long after that they finally came across the makeshift camp mentioned in their report. There wasn't hide nor hair of anyone still left around, and if it wasn't for the lack of dried blood, notched blades, or even just a dead body or two, he could've swore a raiding party had swept through. The hastily-erected tents and tables once laden with food were practically torn apart. The identity of the culprit was evident by the huge, and he meant huge claw marks gouged into the shattered benches; a creature with paws that size could easily envelope his entire head with the same appendage. Rael would've liked for some recent light rainfall, since it would soften the earth just enough for any tracks to show up, but not so much it would completely wash away the trail it left behind.

Maybe they were lucky then, that Mr. Bear obviously never read 'A Guide to Stealth' and didn't give two-shits about hiding its tracks. Not far away, the dense underbrush was practically uprooted heading towards the northeast. Impossible to tell if the beast left just moments ago, or it departed immediately after wrecking havoc with the poor civilians.

"Looks like we got our lead. You want to take point?"

[Jett Kuroi]

Jett's memories were never fun things. His thoughts into those times merely brought more pain, misery, and most especially, suffering. He tried to ignore those thoughts, and not dwell on them as much as he could. The scene before him would not usually help such. However, since he knew what was behind it, he would not reflect on his own troubles at the time. He took a few moments to inspect the area, to survey the damage, and gaze off in the direction of the bear's obvious departure. He heaved a heavy sigh.

When he fought the rhino, he managed to bury a pair of kunai, charged with lightning chakra, into its head, slash the back of its neck, and it was still moving. And only when he had slashed the backs of its knees, did he render it immobile. He was sure he'd have to do something similar, and keep the bear from moving early on, if they were going to have an easy time with this. Something told him, they weren't going to have an easy time regardless.

Firmly, he nodded to Rael. "Hai, let's go." With such a short acknowledgement, he would leap off in the direction of the bear, following its path further and further into the wilderness. It would not take long to find a cave by a lake where the tracks led to. The bear was too large even for teh cave, but it was reclined by the lake. Jett would come to a halt, dropping into some brush nearby, and kept himself hidden to look towards the bear, briefly, before glancing back to make sure Rael had been kept up with him.

[Lang]

A bit of the old Rael surfaced as their hunt continued, rearing its head upon sensing the task was nearly at its end. He was no expert in tracking, but even someone with one eye and half a nose could follow the devastation their quarry left behind. Keeping pace with Jett as they carefully picked their way through the tattered vegetation, they finally exited from the dense forestry, coming upon a vast lake. However, it wasn't the clear waters or dank cave which caught their attention, but the sight of one massive bear dozing just outside the latter. Rael could swear he saw something akin to large, empty bottle of honey mead next to the sleeping beast, but he could be wrong.

At this distance, they were too close to the wild creature to speak aloud, as they risked waking the thing from no doubt its food-induced slumber. Hand signals would have to do. Assessing the scenario as best he could given their situation, as well as numerous unknown factors that could play into this, Rael pointed to himself and the lake, indicating the route of approach he would take. Following this, he gestured towards Jett, then directly towards the grizzly, suggesting he take the frontal attack role. While he never had the chance to see the older male in action, he knew plenty enough about his own limitations. No self-respecting medic ever charged in headfirst, unless they were a Souin Master. Then he could've just punched the bear with a chakra-enhanced fist and blast it into meaty pieces. Too bad he wasn't.

Taking caution not to disturb any outlying twigs, or do anything else that might compromise his stealth, Rael slipped into the freezing lake without a sound of complaint. Ignoring the cold water as he adopted a slow breaststroke, the white-haired boy swam towards the grizzly with only his eyes and the top of his head out of the water. If everything went smoothly, Jett would only need to distract the animal for a few seconds before he got into a perfect flanking position, especially given it would still be somewhat drowsy upon awakening. From there, he'd be able to easily incapacitate the beast while setting it up for either of them to take the kill shot.

[Jett Kuroi]

Quietly, Jett nodded and followed the instruction. He was not the sort of person to command on a team, and was perfectly comfortable, no matter the age difference, to follow such instructions. He would move through the brush, taking care to not make noise and rose the bear. Once he was nearly around the other end of the bear, he came up out of the brush for the frontal approach, and began the task. He began forming his seals; Dragon, Dog, Tiger, Snake;^1A and focused his eyes on the bear. The lightning formed as a ball within his hand, then burst with crackling lightning. The ball would be hurled at the bear, zipping towards it. Even if the ball missed the Bear, Rael would not be in danger, as it would pass at an angle, not directly towards Rael's location.

As the lightning ball careened for the bear, Jett kept moving, putting himself directly in front of the bear now. On the plus side, the attack did not miss, hitting the bear in the shoulder, and forming a large wound. It fell to the side, into an oddly positioned pile, as the lightning sent little shocks through the bear even after the attack dissipated. On the bad side... the bear was not dead, and it looked angry now as it got up. Now, Jett had not expected a one shot kill even though it had been asleep, but he hoped there would not be trouble. Regardless, he began pulling in his chakra once more for the next stage of the fight, and began backing away from the bear, to draw it away from the water, and give Rael room for his part in this.

To keep the bear distracted, and give Rael all the time he needed, even if it caused Jett personal injury, Jett would charge in, with lightning chakra dancing around his hand.^1B he thrust his hand out, pointed at the bears face, letting dozens of little beams burst out from his fingers, to try and keep it focused away from its own rear.

[/justify]

---

1A = Raiton: Raikyū -- Lightning Ball(- Mid x1)
1B = Raiton: Danpen Inazuma -- Shooting Thunder(- Mid x1)

---

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/font]

[Lang]

A Raiton user hm?

This could definitely work towards their advantage, especially if Jett knew several high-level ninjutsu of the corresponding element. What a pity their grizzly bear wasn't situated in the water to begin with; they could've ended this in an instant. Fortunately, Jett knew better than to toss the lightning orb in a manner that might have landed in the lake with him. A low or mid-rank Raiton technique might not kill him outright, but he'd be stupid to think it wouldn't at least come close to incapacitating him. As Jett's 'Raikyū' smashed into the slumbering bear's shoulder, Rael's body rose up out of the water, wading through the last few meters into position directly behind the target, a blue aura similar to electricity surrounding his palms.¹

However, instead of waiting that extra second he needed to end the thing's life, the grizzly let out a thunderous roar and charged towards the advancing Genin in front, its movements seemingly unhindered by the slight wound as it closed in on all fours. For something that weighed nearly half a ton, it was ridiculously quick as the distance between it and Jett dropped to nearly zero, swiping out with a mammoth-like claw towards towards the Genin's outstretched arm, just as the latter released the lightning bolts directly into its face. On the plus side, the bear was instantly blinded, howling in primal rage as it jerked backwards, slumping down to furiously bat at its own eyes. However, its debilitating injury didn't stop the grizzly's paw from smacking into Jett's limb with enough force to instantly shatter multiple bones and send the teen flying nearly a dozen feet away.

"Shit," cursed the white-haired boy, who'd begun sprinting towards the pair as soon as the grizzly began its charge. Coming up on the temporarily-stunned animal's backside, he slashed along its hind legs with his bare hands, dropping the creature as it instantly lost control over the usage of its limbs. Their prey would try to retaliate, but its inability to defend itself or rend the boy to pieces couldn't stop the next attack, a quick palm thrust towards the heart² before Rael danced back and sidestepped, letting the lingering effects of his technique slowly finish the job. With the immediate threat out of the way, Rael rushed over to where Jett lay, quickly assessing the extent of his injuries.

It was probably totally uncalled for, but he couldn't resist. "Looks like he gave you a break," he quipped, before kneeling as a green, glowing light began to emanate around his hands.³

---

1. Ranshinshou [Chaotic Mental Collision] // B // [x1 Mid]
2. Chakra no Mesu [Chakra Scalpel] // A // [x1 Mid]
3. Shousen no Jutsu [Mystical Hand Technique] // S // [x1 High]

[Jett Kuroi]

Jett was expecting the bear to come at him regardless of the lightning he was shooting at him, into his face. With a flick of his wrist as the bear swung at him, and as that lightning peppered his face, the Kakkou strapped to that wrist would retract, gauging into the bears paw. Of course, the blade would shatter, part of it still embedded in the bear's paw when he moved it to try and get rid of the 'ouchy' on its face.

A gift and a curse, the Kakkou managed to absorb some of the force of the bear's paw, but the strike still managed to cause some damage to his bones. It wasn't a clean break, but it was a sever fracture. Jett was still shoved to the ground, face first but with the bear's distraction, he would hug his arm tight to his body, keeping it as still as possible, while putting his weigt to his other arm, and "three-legged" crawled out of the way, as Rael severed the bear's ability to stand on its hind legs. Of course, with the strike to its heart following, Jett ever more wished to get out of the way, so that he would not be crushed by the falling brobdingnagian monstrosity.

Once out of the way, he would turn himself around, and lean up against a tree trunk, still with that arm held firm and still to his torso, as he watched the younger boy approach him. Despite the situation, he would chuckle slightly at the lil quip at his expense, and nodded his head. "Just a tad." He'd remain still as the kid used medical ninjutsu to tend to him. Now, coming into this encounter, Jett knew Rael was a medic. However, he did not know just to what extent he had taken those skills. To think, someone could use surgical ninjutsu in an offensive manner as that, and at Rael's age. It began to make Jett feel ... insignificant.

His eyes would wander, glancing off and away from the fallen bear, and stared into the woods as the younger Genin repaired his arm. He wondered about how much success he had really accomplished. Without Rael there now, Jett would probably be in serious trouble. Would he have been capable of returning, if he had attempted to do this on his own? His eyes became distant, as his lids closed halfway, shading those intensely green orbs in a bit of shadow.

After some time of dwelling on a general lack of self-worth, his good hand would unstrap the broken weapon on his wrist, and toss it aside. "We better get going... the wolves will smell the blood and come checking this out in no time. Don't need to be caught up in their feeding frenzy."

[Lang]

HEALING POST

His words were lighthearted, but inwardly, Rael was deadly serious as he analyzed the extent of Jett's injuries, hoping his coldly-efficient call and the other Genin's brash actions wouldn't spell an early fate for the older boy. Fortunately, the retractable wrist blade prevented the grizzly bear's claw from directly gouging into his arm and slicing it to bloody ribbons. However, the force of the swing had instantly snapped his wrist, and from what he could tell, cracked the carpal bones in multiple locations. All in all, Rael was damn impressed his Genin counterpart hadn't panicked after taking some pretty hefty damage. Either he was someone able to completely focus on the objective regardless of personal well-being, or the teen had suffered similar wounds in the past.

Placing both palms over the injured limb, Rael set to work on repairing the bones first. 'Shousen', as well as all medical ninjutsu, wasn't something you just turned on and it magically solved problems, especially ones you didn't understand; he had to guide the healing chakra in performing exactly what was required. Osseous tissue in the form of cortical bone and trabecular bone began to form at a greatly accelerated rate. At the same time, Jett's body began to produce marrow far more quickly than it normally ever would, combining with the previous tissue into new 'soft' bones that fused together with the old ones. At the same time, the newly-created tissue began to work on the three bones located in Jett's arm as well, seeking out the ulna, radius, and humerus in respective order. Rael would've taken this moment to give the other male's body a complete tune-up, but an operation of that scale would take much longer than they had the time for.

Next, it was time to work on the skin and flesh. An enormous, ugly bruise colored black and purple already spread across Jett's entire arm, indicating just how many of the capillaries were broken beneath the skin, leaking blood out of sight. The ruptured blood vessels were mended, and the bodily fluids that were spilled but invisible from view were filtered through the rest of his body, even as more red and white blood cells, as well as platelets, were created to replenish the body's regular amount. Before their eyes, a healthy hue returned to the Genin's arm, as the mess of colors it'd been retreated before vanishing completely.

"There, good as new."

The entire procedure took under half a minute to complete, but Rael knew he had to be even faster in order to fulfill his duty as a combat medic. Every extra second he took gave an active opponent time to end his life while in the middle of an emergency operation, and then neither nor his patient would be in a position to help anybody. Luckily, their quarry this time was a single being, and not even an enemy nin at that. There would be time later for guilt in allowing Jett to be injured in the way he'd been, but not now.

"I agree. If that also means you're up for skinning this thing as proof, or taking its head back with us, be my guest.

[Exit]

[Jett Kuroi]

Jett huffed. "Head, hell no am I lugging that. A paw will do." He stood up once the younger boy was done, and moved over to the bear once more. Pouring some chakra into his blade temporarily, he would sever one of the bears paws and snatch it up. The rest would be left to the wolves that were no doubt on their way. Once he had what they would need to prove the completion of their deed, he would signal him to follow. He leapt back into the air, up to one of the branches of the trees, then bound from branch to branch, on their way back to Kirigakure. All along the way, his eyes would go distant, as he reflected on this mission.

| End |

[KEITH]

+45 - Lang
+38 - Jett

[/justify][/font]

[~Kohana <3]

+200 Lang