Fresh Meat (mission; solo)

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SPOILER: Click to show

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: 200 EXP and 1,000 Ryo

Another C-rank mission—Suzuka was starting to feel like a Genin again. And well, that wasn’t such a bad thing, but… It was certainly a waste of her talents. Kazuo had given her the oddest look this morning when she headed over and essentially asked for something easy. He’d try to hand her a D-rank mission—some bullshit about picking up garbage—and she shot him the hottest glare. She’d said easy, not asinine; fuck would she look like picking up trash?

Still feeling just the slightest bit indignant, she’d stopped by her house to pick up a few supplies. She took her tracker, wire, shuriken, and katana, but that was about it. If she even needed that much she was slipping, but she didn’t want to be totally reckless. You never knew what might happen outside those gates—hell, you never knew what might happen inside the gates these days. She didn’t see any more reason to dawdle—she’d already waited a couple hours since she’d gotten the mission, knowing she could knock it out quickly. She headed out to the gates, her mind idle and her demeanor relaxed. This was not enough to get her feeling that heat in her veins, that excitement she felt when real danger and challenges awaited her.

Nodding politely at the ninja on gate duty, she started out of Konohagakure, heading for the small village whose location had been provided in her mission folder. She had all the details she’d need memorized—she just had to meet her client within the village and get further information. She also wanted to make sure the village was secure, for the moment. As she picked up speed, and began jumping more than running, she ran a small breeze through the grass below her, weaving through the trees expertly. She hummed a little tune to pass the time—the village was a few hours away by foot, and she didn’t exactly have any other way to entertain herself. It was funny how your perceptions of ninja life changed from what you thought in the academy; the amount of busywork most shinobi had to do—right down to the Hokage—was astounding sometimes.

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Suzu felt like she was swimming in her own body by the time she arrived. The monotony of the trip had made her feel sluggish and anxious, and her mind had drifted all over the place as she was travelling. She was still on autopilot as she came upon the village, the trees lessening in density as she slowed to a light jog. She exhaled deeply. A light sweat had filmed her skin, and she’d gotten a bit hot from the journey. Luckily, the clothes she’d worn today were pretty breathable and hadn’t really gotten wet.

Finally, she arrived at the village. She got a couple strange looks, most likely for the sword hanging on her hip, but was greeted in a friendly manner, for the most part. Polite nods, smiles, and the like—luckily, this was a village which appreciated Konoha’s services. Regardless of this appreciation, some people just didn’t like seeing weapons in public. Like the ninja of Konoha, some of these people had seen war, even despite being civilians. She’d be looking for a Watanabe Takumi. After taking in the bustle of the town entrance, Suzuka kept on, stopping only to ask for directions. She’d headed toward the largest buildings she could see, but oddly enough, these held only shops and markets inside them. The location she sought—the Town Hall—was closer to the edge of town.

She entered and stated her business to the man at the door, along with her mission code. That was this town’s preferred way of confirming that she had, in fact, come for a specific mission from Konoha. Many towns didn’t particularly trust other hidden villages, so they had protocol to protect themselves from being infiltrated unawares, even if they couldn’t do much more than that. Soon enough, she was led upstairs and told to wait outside a large double door. She did so patiently.

Within minutes, a wiry, troubled-looking man walked out and beckoned her in. He was about Suzuka’s height—maybe a little shorter—and was balding somewhat. He ran his fingers through the whispy grey hair that was left, sighing quietly and walking back to his desk. Suzuka sat down quietly, her brown eyes moving around the room curiously. It was well-furnished, with ornate red and gold trim and a cabinet full of expensive-looking antiques. She’d seen rooms like this in books, but hadn’t ever sat in something quite like it. She didn’t quite understand how someone could do work in such a distracting place.

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“So, about your services…” Suzuka’s attention snapped back in front of her in response to the nasal voice. “There have been two animal attacks recently, by what we can assume is the same one animal.” The man spoke slowly and deliberately—a little too deliberately—and Suzuka couldn’t help feeling a pang of annoyance. “It’s a wolf that’s been troubling us. We’re normally equipped to deal with normal-sized animals, but this one—” He stopped here, spreading his arms out to make a gesture meaning large—“very, very big.” Suzuka looked at him quizzically, eyebrow cocked, words stuck in her mouth, which was probably a good thing for the moment. She was more incredulous than angry, though. It seemed the man had reached a break in his baby speech.

“Um, you know I can… Understand speech at a normal pace like normal people, right?” Suzuka smiled sweetly. “You understand that among our ranks we have some of the best government spies and most extensive intelligence known to man… right?” With this, there was more of an edge to her voice. She was being maybe just a little bit rude, but frankly, they’d already paid the village, and the mission would be done. That said, she still undercut it with that nice, unassuming smile. The man seemed somewhat insulted, but more embarrassed. Then again, you chose your words carefully when a trained soldier and a katana were looking you in the face.

“I—er—of course.” He took a handkerchief from his drawer and wiped the sweat from his forehead with it. He seemed to need a moment to regain his bearings, which Suzuka gave him, folding her hands on his desk and still smiling, mostly just to kind of freak him out at this point. “Well, the citizen was attacked to the southwest of the village here. Suzu’s eyes moved in the general direction automatically—it wasn’t close, but that was where the Forest of Death was. That would certainly explain why a giant wolf had suddenly started attacking, but… Well, that wasn’t important now. Suzuka would look into it later. For now, she had all the information she really needed.

“Okay, then…” She’d cut the man off without realizing it, but he didn’t seem to mind—if he did, he didn’t show it. “And you’re positive there was just the one animal?” She stood and prepared to leave. He nodded.

“Yes, just the one. The first attack was weeks ago, the second attack days ago.” Here, Suzuka turned back around.

“A few weeks ago? And you just asked for help?”

“Well, we figured we could neutralize the threat ourselves…” Suzuka’s frowned at him and turned away.

“Of course. Well, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to stop any suspicious or disturbing activity you might have happening in that area… You never know when another wild animal might escape that way. I’m also sure I don’t need to tell you not to hesitate to let us know when things are too much for you to handle.” Still frowning, Suzuka turned on her heel and walked out of the office, letting herself out of the building. People’s stupidity utterly baffled her.

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It wasn’t long before Suzuka arrived in the area the beast was supposed to be in. Now, she just had to do a little tracking. She went to work immediately, starting by going to where the last person had been attacked. There were a lot of signs of life around—lots of cracked twigs and broken branches. In fact, there were even more signs of giant life—huge claw marks in trees, large paw prints—subtlety was not this wolf’s forte. Honestly, she felt bad killing it; it was probably just confused and trying to find new territory. An animal out of its element was violent, but more than anything, it was probably just scared. Sighing, Suzuka followed the trail of destruction she saw, eyes alert.

Soon enough, the trail stopped near a large river, but there was no sign of the beast. Puzzled, Suzuka looked around for any sign of it, but she saw nothing. It had definitely come in this direction… maybe the path she’d found had been old? She looked around. Where could it have gone? As she stood and scratched her head, she was completely unaware that she’d walked right into its trap. A great bark sounded behind her, and this thing must have moved fast, because Suzuka’s ears told her it was way farther back than it actually was. As a reflex, she drew her sword and turned, just barely stopping this thing from driving its fangs right through her. A shower of water rained down on her, and she realized it had been in the water. It must have just jumped in, but somehow Suzuka hadn’t heard it. Then again, this thing was a hunter. Maybe this would be less of a breeze than Suzuka had thought.

The wolf jumped back, rear high, head low, front legs outstretched. It was ready to pounce. Suzuka jumped back herself, taking this thing in. She turned on her tracker. It was about twenty feet tall from paw to back, and its canine teeth were about as long as her katana, and thick. She felt like an ant looking up at the thing. She looked down at her katana, which, in this situation, would probably have the approximate potency of a toothpick, and put it away. She’d have to use good ol’ ninjutsu to put this thing away.

She began to form handseals, but the second she moved, this thing pounced. It was even faster than she’d thought. Shit! Suzuka jumped back, her feet touching on a large and sturdy tree trunk, and she began ricocheting upward among the trees, thinking herself safe. She was very unpleasantly surprised, however, to find that the wolf had begun doing the exact same thing. Of course, it was leaving trees that had to be hundreds of years old looking like splintered up twigs in its path, but it was following Suzuka just as quickly as she’d been moving. The moment she finished her seals, she pointed her head straight down, and a huge ball of flame erupted from her mouth. Where she’d expected flambéed wolf, though, she simply heard a yelp and saw a mass of fur, teeth and claws twist in midair like a goddamn cat. It fell back down to the ground, nothing but the fur on its tail lit, and it jumped straight into water it had first jumped out of. Suzuka gingerly made her way down the jagged trail of broken trees and alighted in a pile of wood, a wet wolf staring her in the face as soon as she touched down.

…Faaaaaaaaaawk.

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SPOILER: Click to show

Kasumi Enbu, Goukakyuu; 2 mid

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She’d have to go big on this one. With a water source nearby, she wasn’t terribly worried about what she planned to do, even though it was a bit reckless. She immediately went back into handseals, and the dog charged at her again. When it was a few meters away, a stream of gas erupted from her lips, and luckily for her, the wolf smelled it and backed away slowly, but it had already been surrounded. Suzuka used this moment to run past it and toward the water forming yet more hand seals; the beast looked around in confusion, but before it could react further, Suzu unleashed a single fireball from her mouth, sending it toward the mist she’d made. She was now standing on the water; as soon as the fireball left her mouth, she removed the chakra from her feet, dropping down into the pond. It ignited instantly, but the wolf had already jumped high into the air, missing the explosion completely.

Above Suzuka was a brilliant plume of flame, and though she couldn’t see, she figured the beast wouldn’t be out for the count. Before the flames even faded all the way, she put her hands on top of the water and used her water walking technique to vault herself up. She just missed the waning flame, but had she not timed it like that, she would have missed her opportunity to strike. A longer string of handseals this time, and she was running straight toward the falling animal. A much more intense stream of flame erupted from her mouth now, white hot and focused. It took only a moment to take due to the water on the dog’s fur, but the mist had also collected on it and in a moment, it was completely enveloped in flames. The smell of burning fur filled Suzuka’s nostrils and she almost gagged. The dog began thrashing about wildly, yelping and trying to make it back to the water, but Suzuka was ready there. It wouldn’t even make it, though—with a final high-pitched howl, the wolf fell, and Suzuka breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t even noticed her heart racing.

Before it could spread, Suzuka contained the fire. As the wolf continued to burn, Suzuka couldn’t help noticing that it smelled pretty good… Feeling like sort of an asshole for even thinking about it, Suzuka helped the fire go out with some of the water nearby, and then she headed back to let who she assumed was the mayor know she’d completed her mission. Upon arriving, she instead opted to just let the doorman know, and she headed right back to Konohagakure. That was more tiring than she’d planned—now, she just wanted to get paid.

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SPOILER: Click to show

Karyuu Endan; 1 mid

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Suzuka returned to Konoha, report in hand. While she hadn’t noticed anything suspicious on the part of the town (she thought they might have done something to provoke the wolf… but it seemed perfectly capable of luring in innocent people), she still wondered if they needed to check things out at the Forest of Death. A beast that strong, and that smart—that was what really worried Suzuka. If something was amiss over at that forest, multiple towns in the Fire Country could be in danger. She couldn’t imagine the damage that could be done to innocent people… and her pockets. This could be very, very bad.

Suzuka walked into the headquarters, folder in hand with her report. It was later in the day, so it was pretty much empty there now. Not seeing anyone she knew, she arbitrated and walked to the counter straight ahead of her. Ignored for a moment, she cleared her throat. The man behind the counter looked up, visibly annoyed at having been interrupted. Nonplussed, Suzuka looked him straight in the face, unsmiling, and placed her folder on the counter. She gave her mission number. “That’s the report for my mission,” she explained. He raised an eyebrow.

“…You killed the thing, right?”

Suzu immediately copped an attitude. She had not had the day for this. “I mean, yeah… and I wrote a report. Which I’m giving to you know. Which I expect to be read. Which I will follow up on.” She crossed her arms and the two began a staring match. She wasn’t intimidated. Immediately, the need to do work overcame the man’s grit.

“…Fine. You’ll get your payment when this is processed. You have a lovely night.” Suzuka turned on her heels and left. Stupid. People. UGH.

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[~Kohana <3]

+55 EXP