A Plague of Beasts [mission]

The new day had finally come and it had gone by so quickly this day. It was already nearly noon and the village was most active starting around this time. The children were out running and playing, shops were getting business as always, the trees seemingly dancing to the cheerful sounds of villagers’ footsteps. I was at the moment making my daily rounds and check-ups and greetings. Nothing much had changed in so many years. It had made me wonder at times what the true point of war was when one could simply live in peace as my village had for centuries. An hour passed and the atmosphere still hadn’t changed. It made me wonder if anything was going to happen at all this day. It was not until about fifteen minutes later that a male villager from Elkwood came running to me. He spoke quickly and out of breath with a strong, serious and frightened tone in his voice. “Kage-sama…Elkwood…needs your assistance…we have been receiving attacks from coyote-like wolves for the past month. Though for a while we had control, but now it’s starting to get extremely hectic…please come help us…” The man spoke in shortened breaths and decided it’d be wise to come to Elkwood’s aid as soon as was possible. “Sounds like your situation calls for immediate attention. I shall head there personally and stop the threat at its source, though it may take some time to find it.” The man continued to have this frightened expression on his face, but thanked me for deciding to go there immediately. I informed the man that he may stay in the village for a while to rest and then ran off at full speed to Elkwood where I would first get as much information as possible regarding these animal attacks.

On the way there, I began a general search of the area I was running in order to be sure there were no signs of these animals on the main road. Looking left and right over and over again was creating strain on my neck, so I decided to take advantage of my Kekkei Genkai and closed my eyes. I could see everything around me that had a chakra signal. This would make the search much more simple and much less stressful. As far as I could tell, there were no signs of animal chakra the size of wolves on the main road, so I felt relieved knowing that and sighed. However, I kept myself on guard because the journey to Elkwood was not quite finished and I needed to stay focused if I wanted to eliminate this threat. The rest of the way, though, remained the same and there was, again, no sign of animal chakra in the form of wolves. I sighed again with relief knowing that at least the main road was safe from animal attacks.

I ran through Elkwood’s “front door” and slowed to an allegro-tempo’d walk, heading for the building where the elders of Elkwood were most likely waiting for my arrival. When I walked in the doorway, everyone was in disarray, yelling at each other about most likely some nonsense instead of addressing the animal attacks. I took one full step in the building and closed the door behind me. I stood for a moment, listening to them bicker about issues that could be solved so simply with a little collaborative thought, and then I closed my right hand into a fist and, using the side of my fist that faced outward when the fist was held horizontally, slammed it into the wall that was on my right side. The force of the hit created a loud echo and slightly shook the walls of the building just enough to grab the attention of the bickering elders of Elkwood. “Excuse me. I believe you all should be focusing on the animal attacks and not such petty issues that could be solved quickly and easily if you would all shut up and collaborate calmly. Now, a man from here came to me in Morigakure asking for my help in exterminating these beasts. I now understand why, but anyway, I wanted you all to know that I will have the job done quickly and efficiently, unlike your petty squabbles. I will be helping myself to the villagers here and try to get some information on these attacks, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave of you all.” The entire building was silent I spoke firmly to the elders and they continued to be silent even after I had finished and walked out of the building. Serves them right for ignoring this problem when it stared them straight in the face.

I bent my head down and closed my eyes while nodding in disappointment and sighing. Well, lets start asking the local villagers about these animal attacks and see what I can put together. As soon as I brought my head back up, I saw a young lady carrying a basket full of herbs in her arms and decided I should start with asking her. “Excuse me, miss. I’d like to inquire on the animal attacks that have been occurring recently. Do you know anything in particular that may be useful to me?” She stopped and looked me over. “Well, I do not personally know much aside from the fact that the beasts have destroyed many of our crops and have even killed a few people. Try talking to the guards walking around the village. They’ll most likely be able to tell you more than I can.” I then bowed to her and thanked her for her time. I wondered who I should go to next, but then again, I might be better off if I heeded the woman’s words and asked one or a few of the guards that are patrolling the small town, so that is what I did. There was a guard that had just passed me when I was thinking of who I should speak with next, so I walked quickly up to him and gave him the same question that I gave to the woman just minutes ago. “Excuse me. I’d like to inquire on the animal attacks that have been occurring recently. Do you know anything in particular that may be useful to me?” The guard turned toward me, looking ready to scold me but then I noticed his eyes widen. He probably recognized that I was the Tsurikage. “Lord Tsurikage. It’d be an honor. For the past month, we have been dealing with, or at least trying to deal with, wolf attacks here in the town. They usually come at night, and they come from the forests somewhere to the north. We do not go out there since the wolves may be running around loose out there, so we don’t know their location, nor where they rest.” I nodded and then responded with another question. “Do you know exactly how many come to attack at night?” The guard replied back to me. “I’d say there are ten beasts in total, and they all attack together. We’re all guessing that they are one pack, as only those ten continue to come at night.” I thought to myself then, Hmm…if it’s a pack of ten, they must each be very strong considering the damage they’ve caused. Also, with the knowledge that they all attack together, there’s a good chance that they do have some form of rest area, so I’m good there. I just have to find it. I also need to figure out a way to isolate each of them. Even I can’t take on ten of these wolves on my own. After a moment of thinking about it, I thanked the guard and then walked away. I better come up with a strategy before I head out.

It was late afternoon, so I decided to head to the local tavern to rent a room and begin writing down a solid strategy for killing these wolves. I don’t have much time until nightfall, so this must be completely accurate and quickly formulated if I am to exterminate them. A few minutes later, I walked into the inside of the tavern and asked the tavern owner for a room for a couple of hours. The owner told me it was on the house since I wasn’t using the room for the day, so I thanked him and walked up the stairs to the room I was assigned by the owner and walked in, ready to write like crazy.

When I walked into the room and closed the door behind me, I instantly walked over to the desk that had a stack of papers on the top of its surface and sat down in the chair that was nestled in the desk’s center. As I sat in the chair, I placed a piece of paper in front of me and picked up the pencil that lay two inches from the stack of paper. Time is of the essence. I began writing furiously. I first wrote down what I had learned earlier in the day regarding the attacks and assumed these wolves were of jounin rank at least to have killed a guard, so I drew several diagrams of scenarios of where or how I could fight the wolves and also wrote down to the smallest detail how I should use my chakra throughout the fight, for I would need all of it if I wanted to survive. Page after page, I filled them from top to bottom with possible scenarios and outcomes for strategies I came up with almost every second. Ten minutes passed when I finally stopped and looked over the scenarios I wrote down. One scenario popped out at me. This scenario described the use of bunshin clones and drawing the wolves to the village of Elkwood and getting them to split apart. From that point, guards around the village would stall each of the wolves while I picked each one off one by one until the task was completed. From the looks of it, this scenario had the highest completion percentage than most of the others, so I decided to run with it.

As I decided on the scenario, I rose from my chair and ran out the door, closing it behind me and running down the stairs. After getting down the stairs, I quickly thanked the inn owner for letting me use the room, gave him the key to the room and ran with haste out of the building to gather the guards and inform them of the plan. I then stopped in the road and yelled, using my proud Clan voice to get the guards’ attentions and get them to my position. Five minutes later, they had all gathered to me and I began telling them all the plan for tonight’s slaughter while showing them the diagram of the scenario we were going to play. Another five minutes passed when I finished telling them the plan and then I dashed out to the forest where I was told the wolves came from.

Word Count: 1830/2500

When I entered the forest, I came across footprints roughly the size of wolves and grinned with the fact that the trail was so easy to find. This would make my job much more simple as from where I was standing, it would be a straight shot to the area they rest. Knowing this, I began my preparations for part one of the scenario: make twenty in total bunshin clones and catch the wolves’ attentions and lead them to the village, while on the way splitting the pack apart into one wolf per two bunshin clones. Also, before leaving Elkwood, I placed pieces of paper for substitution on fifteen pieces of wood that I had broken apart earlier during the investigation portion of my task. It was better to go high instead of realistic when setting up the substitution. These would come in handy during the battle and luckily, the general area of battle will be within a 100 foot range of the substitutions. Once I would get them to Elkwood with my bunshins, it would be up to the guards to keep the wolves occupied while I was slowly taking out each one once at a time. There would be two guards to each wolf at precise points in Elkwood, which were all strategically placed close enough together to stay within range of my substitutions and just far enough apart so the wolves wouldn’t have time enough to regroup. It would however give the guards the strategic advantage considering their numbers in just a 100 foot range. Lets get this party started!

Chakra: 345/350

Spoiler:

With the plan beginning to unfold, I ran up one of the large trees and watched what happened. What I observed was what I thought the wolves would do: as in their territorial nature, they gave chase to my clones, which then I made my clones move in the direction of Elkwood where the slaughter stage would occur. Luckily enough, I was able to keep a steady distance from the wolves, though they were damn sure fast. When we reached the village gate, the wolves still chasing my bunshin clones, I ran straight to the first semi-stage for the first wolf, which went perfectly. Two guards then ambushed it as it finally caught and destroyed my bunshin clone; the two guards quickly held down the beast for 10 seconds while I ran over and snapped its neck with my bare hands and then a punch straight to the face that knocked it straight into the ground creating a small crater under its face. With one down, I told the guards to move on to semi-stage three and then quickly ran to semi-stage two, where another two guards were taking on their wolf. One of the guards was injured in his right arm - which I could tell because of the mutation in my eyes - so I picked up the pace and made a full-speed running punch toward the wolf, which made direct impact with the area just below it’s throat and sent it flying and tumbling into the closest building that was behind the wolf, the impact with the building killing it. As I began running to semi-stage three, I made a signal for the two guards to move to semi-stage four, where they were most likely having trouble. Getting to stage three, I was astonished but proud just as well seeing that the four guards were able to take down that wolf on their own. I then gave them the signal to move to semi-stage five as I had begun my stride to semi-stage four, where one guard was sitting up against one of the nearest buildings at semi-stage four while the other three continued fighting the wolf. I gritted my teeth and ran to the aid of the three guards, but as soon as I had reached them, the guards got it taken down but it wasn’t dead. Just before it would get back up, I would crush its skull with my foot slamming its head into the ground at full force. After its body went limp, I told one of the guards to tend to the man that was sitting against the nearest building while the others went to the sixth semi-stage with haste and I to semi-stage five with more haste than the guards. With five down and one loss on our side, I grinned with pride at our victory so far. I hastily ran to semi-stage five, thinking that I may end up having a frown by the end of this fight. When I reached semi-stage five, one guard was torn apart on the ground and dead, another had an arm and leg torn up but not completely useless, and the other two were still fighting the wolf at their stage with all the strength they had, from what it looked like. My face was overcome with grief at the sight of the dead guard, but I had to continue before more were added to the last of casualties. I ran yet again to the aid of the two guards and began fighting the wolf with them. The wolf seemed worn down so there was a good chance I could still use minimal energy to take it down, so I started by sweeping its legs with my right leg, causing it to fall to the ground. While it would be stunned for a moment from the sweeping kick, I would then jump in the air, using my right knee to crush its upper body leaving it crippled and unable to move. After that, while my knee was still planted in the wolf’s upper body -near its neck area-, I smashed its skull with the palm of my right hand, making that hit the killing blow. Simultaneously, I gave the motion for the two still-able guards to move on to semi-stage seven, while I headed to semi-stage six, which was most likely worse than semi-stage five. When I reached it less than one minute later -as I wasn’t holding back my speed-, I was surprised at how the wolf was already dead and the four guards that were there were still alive. Knowing this, I told them to rest and tend to their injuries while I headed to semi-stage seven. All of the guards at this stage were dead and the wolf was nowhere to be found as I searched the area for it. I gritted my teeth and wasted no more time as I ran to semi-stage eight. I could feel my legs starting to get a little sore from the constant running. I’m so out of shape… I ignored the minor soreness in my legs and continued onward to semi-stage eight, nodding to myself in shame at my recent lack of fitness. When I had reached semi-stage eight, two guards were dead, one was gravely injured and one was still able to walk, from what I observed and as I got closer I saw the dead wolf lifeless on the ground near one of the dead guards. I gritted my teeth again and sighed, the sigh full of sorrow for his fallen comrades. I told the still-movable guard to get the wounded man to the nearest hospital-type building here in Elkwood for immediate treatment and then headed to semi-stage nine. Getting there, I saw nothing but the bodies of the guards and the wolf nowhere to be seen. I felt as though I wanted to cry but it wasn’t the time or the place for it, so I stuck it into the back of my mind, shook my head, and headed to the final semi-stage: ten. It looked nearly identical to stage ten, only there were more bodies of Elkwood guards. Seeing this, a new kind of rage grew in my heart and I dashed through the village of Elkwood in search of the three remaining wolves, but there was no sign of any of them. They most likely returned to their cave in order to tend to their own wounds. I must return to that cave and tear them to shreds before they regain their strength and return to take more innocent lives.

Chakra: 340/350 (Five is taken off for fatigue)

Word Count: 3,199/2,500