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The speed of Crocodillius' tail was intense. Geijitsu barely had enough time to run towards the other side of the tail as it flew through the air towards the building and jump off, coming into a tuck and roll at the end of the jump just as the tail struck the building. A loud crash was heard, and the sound of the building collapsing filled Gei's ears. Coming out of her roll, she quickly turned and faced the monster that continued to stand before her as she contemplated her next move. One more, her hand went into her pocket as she withdrew another shuriken, her last one, and began a sprint around the creature.

She was looking for an area exposed, someplace where she could score a critical hit. However, Crocodillius was not content to simply sit idle and wait for the shinobi's assault. No, he had noticed Gei's graceful escape from his tail and he began to turn his body with hers, attempting to keep pace with her. It was then that Gei gained a great idea. Reaching into her pack, she drew out two senbon and positioned all three secondary weapons into her hand. With the addition of her Fuuton chakra now surging through the weapons, Geijitsu ran forward, towards the maw of the savage animal.

As she began to get close, she saw Crocodillius' eyes widen in glee. With a surge of speed that could only be called impossible, the large demon croc opened its mouth and shot forward. Taking careful aim, the shinobi tossed all three of her secondary weapons in quick succession into the beast's mouth, striking it three times along the upper roof of it. The crocodile, now incensed with pain, pushed through his agony and got his mouth around the girl. Shit, Geijiutsu thought, as the mouth began to slam shut. Would this be the end of our heroic female?

... No! Displaying a skill that was well-known throughout the Shinobi-verse, the appearance of a wooden log from the building that Crocodillius had destroyed earlier would have confused the giant crocodile if he could have seen it. As it was, the monster's jaws slammed shut, trapping the piece of wood but not the shinobi, who was now 10 meters in the rubble that the crocodile had knocked over with its tail. Jumping quickly forward, the girl began to run down the beast's tail and spine once more, this time withdrawing her chokuto from her pack. She didn't have a technique to enhance the cutting strength of the weapon this time, but it wouldn't matter.

It was time to end this!

Sneakers pounded on the pavement as the girl shinobi ran with her full speed towards the town to the north. In Sawakiri, Geijitsu had found out that only a couple of hours before she had arrived, the giant crocodile that she was hunting had been seen. The town militia had been dispatched but hadn't been heard from since. Unfortunately for Sawakiri, that likely meant that the people who had gone were all dead. Surely they would have sent a messenger back by then if it were not the case, if not returned to the town themselves.

As fortune would have it, Uruwamizu was only a short travel. With the fast pace that Gei had set, she managed to reach the place in only a couple of minutes. All of her former tiredness from her travel was gone, her pituitary gland pumping ridiculous amounts of adrenaline through her body. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for signs of struggle, but it didn't take long before she found what she was looking for. All around the village, signs of destruction and battle were evident. Claw and teeth marks several meters wide appeared on buildings, and the corpses of the fallen defenders were strewn across the battlefield.

The sound of battle reached Geijitsu's ears. The battle was still happening, then?! Gathering even more speed than she had before, the girl ran towards the sound of the battle, the roaring of humans matched with murderous intent of demonic crocodile. In just under a minute she came upon a scene that would likely haunt her for the rest of her life. Gei stumbled to a halt, her mouth opening in shock, as she saw the number of dead bodies cut open from claws and teeth, the moaning of the near-dead. Almost a hundred people here and there, right in front of her, was the villain which she had spent the greater part of two days searching for.

The last of the defenders of the town charged, their weapons drawn, but with a sweep of the croc's tail, they were flung back several meters, near to where Gei herself was standing, and she watched as they hit the ground with a thump. Crocodillius, with his large yellow eyes, turned his head to look straight at the female shinobi who had come. Fear coursed through her being, but she controlled that urge and reached into her pack. Pulling out a shuriken, she faced down the being and readied herself. The battle between sea-monster savage and teenage shinobi female was about to begin.

Since her last mission had been such a bust, having been tricked into being the Hunter in the Hunting Festival, Geijitsu made sure to pick a mission this time that couldn't possibly be misinterpreted. According to the Missions board, there was a large, oversized crocodile who has been terrorizing the countryside for the past several months. This was the sort of thing that could not be allowed to continue -- if it were, then the country would lose its faith in the village and would stop sending in their monetary support.

Of course, the mission supplier couldn't really have made the task very easy for her. Although it said that the crocodile was in the countryside, it didn't say where! Of course, considering that Gei was looking for a crocodile, she knew that she would do better to restrict her search to places that were within sight of water. That being said, Mizu no Kuni was a waterlocked island nation with water that surrounded every bit of the island. That would, of course, make things kind of difficult. Gei took a moment to consider her options before heading into the first little hamlet of the nation.

Walking to a shopkeeper, Geijitsu would begin an inquiry. Had there been any rumors lately of large animals terrorizing the countryside? Of course, there had been rumors, but that was the extent of it in this situation. The shopkeep knew of no area directly under assault. In fact, it seemed as though the creature was intelligent and moved about, making sure that nin tracking it would have a difficult time finding it and preventing it from striking again. Gei took this knowledge into consideration before nodding her head once, extending a bit of Ryo to the man for his trouble. He graciously accepted the gift and told her that she might check the next town down. Rumors coming in would be more fresh as she got further out.

Gei thanked the man and began her long walk towards the next town. There was no sense of urgency in her pace, just a casual stroll that let her move at a nice pace without being overly exerted. She took the time as she walked to examine her surroundings, affixing everything that she saw to her memory. It wouldn't do to get lost in one's own country, but Geijitsu had always been more of a city girl, and being out and about by herself was more than a little bit disconcerting for her. Either way, after a couple hours of walking, Geijitsu finally found herself arriving at the next hamlet, Sawakiri.

Chasing after the shadowy figure was a tough battle that Gei hadn't expected. Of course, she wasn't exactly the most athletic person, but she wasn't horribly out of shape, either! No matter what, though, this man was just moving far faster than she was, and she could barely get far enough to see him turn corners. As she ran, Gei performed a series of handseals, gathering chakra inside of her legs to boost her speed, and woosh, off she went!

Now that she was gaining on the shadow, the girl was surprised to see that it looked like the thing was slowing down. More than just the simple fact that she was running faster, the shadow figure was moving slower, almost as if it were taunting her, or daring her to get close. That idea caused a tiny spike of rage to flare inside of her body, and Gei reached into her pouch, withdrawing a kunai and tossing it towards the shadowy figure. The kunai soared through the air, but at the last second, a hand reached from that shadow figure and grabbed the kunai, pulling it back into the depths of the cloak.

Geijitsu's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Someone talented enough to catch a kunai like that in mid combat was certainly going to be a challenge for her to fight! However, it seemed as though luck was on Gei's side. As the two continued their run, the shadow figure reached a dead end. It stopped, turning to face Gei, and a smile lit up on her face. It was hers now! Reaching to her left hip with her right hand, the girl pulled out her wakizashi and, with a gallant upward swing, sliced towards the shadow. The blade sliced straight through the shadow, revealing it to be a black cloak, and a person rolled out of it to the right.

The person had a large basket of chocolates in it. "Happy Hunter Festival!" And just like that, Gei felt immensely embarrassed. Of course! It was the Hunter Festival! Everyone would be watching the festivities! And just like that, doors slammed open and people were cheering, loudly. Gei took the whole situation with a very light heart and waved, giving pleasing gestures to the crowd. This continued on for several minutes until light was beginning to fade. Gei waved goodbye to the crowd and made her way back towards her home. This mission was complete, at least...

The mission that Geijitsu had chosen was very simple. In fact, she had chosen it for that very same reason. It wasn't that she was afraid, exactly, of doing missions, but at the same time, it never hurt to start off small and then work your way up, did it? She was to patrol a small portion of the town to make sure that nothing was going wrong and, if necessary, to correct it. If something went terribly wrong, she'd be able to call on some backup pretty easily.

Because this was a timed mission and not one that required her to move as quickly as possible, Geijutsu moved with a leisurely pace, one that was not slow but not quick. Instead, it was filled with purpose, slow enough to allow her eyes the chance to look over the surroundings before leaving, but one that would not leave her lingering in one spot for too long. With this pace established, Gei moved towards her assigned area of the town and began her shift as a patroller.

At first, all seemed relatively quiet. There were no loud shouts or sounds of screams, no obvious signs of misbehavior. But that in and of itself was beginning to seem strange. In fact, it would seem to the girl that there was something definitely wrong in this area. As her eyes danced across the horizon, it suddenly hit her why it was so quiet in this place...

There was nobody here!