Trial of the Forest: Part 1 [Mission]

There I stood at the door hidden in an ancient grove in the forest near the beautiful Morigakure. My squad and I had been told to come out here to investigate this ancient place, as the Kage was told that strange rat-like creatures have been terrorizing some locals immediately nearby. Our job was to simply kill them, and because we were on a mission, I was all serious. I drew my knuckle knives from their holsters on either hip, and securely slid them in place on either hand. I looked to both of my teammates with a firm look, only found on my face during serious situations (and during birthday parties; I hate birthday parties. Birthday parties and Barmitzfas). I read the inscription along the rim of the door allowed, and a shiver was sent up my spine. "Alright guys, let's get in there and clear 'em out. The faster we finish, the faster we can get out of this creepy place. You guys ready?"

I was standing with my two new friends in front of the door leading into a really dark cave. I was nervous, this was my first real mission and I was afraid I would let my friends down. As I saw Rohim preparing himself for battle I squated down next to Shiro, I had an idea for us to help. I began clicking in his tongue to him and said "Friend, we have great taste and we could probably pick out the enemies location because of it...would you be able to go in first and find our enemies?" He replied to me with a little hesitation but I could tell he was trying to be brave "I..suppose I could, It makes sense." After asking him I would rise and tell my plan to my friends hoping they'd find it useful "Ummm I think I have an idea...Me and Shiro have better taste buds than most people and I could probably send him in first to scout the place out and then report to me. Then after I get the news from him I can go in first and use my tasting abilities to get us closer to them...if you want." I would look down at Shiro and then to my allies to see if they thought my idea was useful or not, It would be fine if they didn't think so.

I stood with my team at the door to the sacred grove, apparently rat monsters were infesting it for some reason and the three of us had been sent in to deal with it. My tonfa were drawn and held against my arms in combat position as I listened to Hebi's plan about him and Shiro scouting first since the room was so dark. Thinking on this I remembered that my clan was known for their tracking through scent and would able to assist in finding them. "I can manipulate my body to get us an exact location if I'm close enough but it won't last a long time, your tasting powers are great but one should never underestimate the nose of a bear."

I listened to my partners with a blank expression and my mouth hanging open, accidentally expressing my boredom a little more than I would have wanted. Something about sneaking in with a tongue.. sniffing stuff with a nose to pin something to a tree.. maybe? I don't know, but that stuff wasn't my style anyway. I tried to pretend I had actually processed what they had proposed, "Yeah great idea! You guys do that, and I'll do what I do best and kick some ass!" And with that, I ran forward and pushed the door open as fast as I could and burst into the first room containing the rats. Most of the lanterns on the ceiling had been knocked down and extinguished, but a single small lamp in the middle of the ceiling still flickered, giving the room an extremely dim glow in the very center of the room. I stood in the area illuminated by the light, because I couldn't see anything otherwise. I heard scuffling and hisses coming from the darkness surrounding me, and began to rethink my champion strategy. "Uh.. guys? Little help?" As I looked to my friends for help, the first creature attacked. A large rat-creature-thing leapt from the shadows and landed on my chest, tackling me onto the ground. I held its mouth back from my face as it snapped at me while I was on my back. It's yellow eyes were glowing, and I could have sworn I could see some bone along the side of its body, like it was undead or something. I twisted the head and threw the rat onto the ground before reaching across my body with my right hand to stab it in the side, killing it. I scrambled to my feet, and noticed there were way more of them slowly circling me, making those weird hissing noises. "Guys?!" I yelled again.

Takoda brought up a good point. We should've gone in as a line with me leading to get a basic area and had him behind me ready to sniff out for somewhere exact I looked down to Shiro to confirm the plan but when I looked back up Rohim had yelled something and barreled into cave...he wasn't someone who liked plans I guess. I heard him yell for help inside the cave and looked worriedly to Takoda and said in a sort of shakey voice "We...we have to help him." I would look down at Shiro and then to Takoda again half expecting one of them to try and stop me, but this was a real combat situation, nobody is going to hold my hand here. I motioned for Takoda to follow me in and ran into the dark. Once I was on though my nerves began to take me, but I had to do this to be a better ninja. I stuck my tongue out of my mouth and began to taste the air, I gagged, the taste I had just had in my mouth was quite honestly the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted, I said to my friend between coughs "The taste is definitely of rotting flesh and rat feces...but it's not very thick which means that they were here long ago, It would be fresher if they were here right now but we're in the general area...maybe your noise can get us the rest of the way?" This was merely a suggestion and I would be fine with him needed me to get us closer, but I didn't want him to think I was underestimating his abilities.

I would only hear part of what Hebi said as I ran inside instantly after hearing Rohim call for help, after all he never called for help so this had to be something on a level above what we had dealt with before. Upon entering the room I noticed that there was only a single dim light in the center which is where I would find the white-haired Uzumaki with our new friend right behind me no doubt. Looking around I would start hearing and every now and then seeing flashes of warped looking giant rats, they seemed to have no trouble in this dimly lit room which means I would need to turn on my nose to help my teammates pin point them in the area so I started to charge up the needed chakra. "We need to get back to back in a triangle so we dont get ambushed, Im working on my tracking nose but it'll take a few more seconds." I got into position just as one of the rats jumped at me only to be knocked across the face with one of my tonfa, laying there motionless on the ground and soon pulled away into the dark by its fellow monsters to have god knows what done to it.

I was happy to see my friends standing above me, handling a rodent or so by themselves so I could stand up. I scrambled to my feet, and faced my back to Hebi and Takoda. "We need to get to that corner!" I yelled as I pointed in between them to the corner they were both faced towards. We began slowly inching our way over to the dark corner, trying to get to the wall to use it as cover, when a rat bit into my calf and drug me back to the center of the room. I howled in pain and turned to kick the rat off my leg. I kicked it off and stood up as fast as my wounded leg permitted me to, and readied myself. The same rat, jumped at me again, but this time I was ready. I wound back a fist, and let it fly as hard as I could and met the rat in the air. My bladed fist pierced through the forehead and crushed the brain of the rat, and the force from the punch sent it whirling back against a wall. The punch had killed it instantly, so I didn't have to deal with its yelping in pain. I limped back to the corner with Hebi and Takoda. "Let's hurry this up so I can clean my leg up. Who knows what shit they have on their teeth." I was afraid an infection would hinder me, so I wanted to prevent one as soon as possible.

He obviously didn't agree with my plan and ran forward without me, I understood his desire to save his friend, and I wanted to help too. I ran and eventually caught up with them joining them in their circle with my back faced to theirs. It was too dim in the room and I could hear the sounds of scurrying rats all around. I was breathing unevenly on the verge of near panic, I had to know where they were at. I licked the air and could again taste the foulness of the rotting flesh only a lot stronger since they were right around us. Something else was mixed in though...human blood? That meant Rohim had to be injured. I needed to try and help out and I looked down to Shiro before drawing a kunai. I had to use the form of my people for this, and I had to make Shiro match me to try and confuse the rats. I began to charge chakra into my body feeling the unpleasant feral change beginning to envelop me as my bleach white tail came out from my lower back. I said to my comrades "In a little bit will you guys be able to cover yourselves?" I needed to know whether or not I would be able to utilize my clans ability in a hit-and-run tactic or if I would have to stay in the circle.

My face twisted and reshaped itself into the snout of a bear, my nose reforming more than the rest to resemble that of a bears perfectly. My senses were amplified to such a degree that every scent around me for ten feet was distinguishable right down to where they were and although most of those smells were either rotten or literal shit I would deal with it and take note of Rohim's injured leg. My hands were starting to glow with green chakra as I prepared a medical technique to put him back in the game when my nose picked up on something. "Two behind you Hebi, just about to jump at you from a distance." After that I would use my Tonfa one more time to destroy the head of another rat that was crawling towards my injured friend before laying them on the ground to prepare for when my jutsu was ready.

90/100

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I slouched down against the wall and held my leg. The leg hurt extremely bad, but I had to keep fighting. I put my weight on the opposite leg and hoisted myself back up. I watched as Hebi readied himself to slay two more, and I directed my attention to the center of the room. I wouldn't be able to go after any of them, but I could surely defend myself.

I had finished the transformation. My fingers had grown sharp claws, and piercing fangs formed in my mouth. My eyes glowed with a vibrant red that pierced the darkness of the cave, and I had lost all fear I once had. I was focused now only on the task at hand which was to kill the rats. I listened to what Takoda said and right when the transformation was completed I turned around and sprinted toward the rats, with Shiro at my side, and punched the first full force just as it left the ground causing it to squeak and fly back with an audible thud into the stone wall of the cave. The second one I quickly dispatched with the assistance of Shiro. He spun on the ground twapping the second rat, who was to my right, into the air enough so that he was shoulder level with me. With the kunai in my right hand I thrusted down on the airborne rat, planting the knife right through its rib cage and slamming it to the ground, quickly ending its life. I began charging chakra in unison with Shiro, my goal was to make it hard for them to differentiate which beast was which.

Spoiler:

My hands were coated in a thin layer of glowing green chakra, this was the first time I had used ijutsu in a real combat situation but I kept myself level headed and as calm as possible while I got to work. Hovering my hands over the wound seemed to do most of the sealing work on the skin layer but it was starting to bruise from the now internal bleeding so I lightly pressed my hand to the leg and sealed it up completely. I grabbed Rohim's hand and tossed him up to his feet with my bear-affinity strength so that he would land on his feet and be ready to fight again. My tonfa were once again drawn and raised just in time to block one rat while another bit my shoulder. I whipped myself around, breaking the neck of the one lodged onto my arm and then using the last bit of my medicinal chakra to heal up the wound before getting back to business.

80/100

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