Mission Info:

After returning from Hinamizawa, I felt so jubilated and refreshed for doing a mission that I decided to take on another.  Heading through the gates back into Sunagakure no Sato, I walked straight to the Administration building and looked over the Mission Board.  With the village safe from the wolf and considering how rejuvenating I felt after completing it, I decided to bump up to an A rank mission.  Not that hard for a Kazekage to complete, am I right?  I thought so.  And so I was off again, having to tell my secretary that even though I was back didn’t mean I really was back.  She began to look worried for me and also a bit upset.  I was going to be gone for at least nine days, maybe more.  That meant a whole lot of paper work was going to be piled up by the time I got back.  Nonetheless, she just nodded and let me go, picking up her pen and writing a note that she was no doubt going to send to the council about my absence.

I stopped back at my home to drop off my used clothes and repacked for my new journey.  I had to prepare for a much longer stay, which meant that a lot of my clothes would have to be reworn, washed and the like.  I had read the mission note which had said a coastal town was on edge about bandits docking in at night.  So far nothing had happened, but the officials could tell something big was happening and they called for some shinobi of my village for help.  I couldn’t help but imagine the looks on their faces when they saw the Kazekage show up on their doorstep.  Finishing my packing job, I got up and headed out.  The afternoon breeze felt good on my face as I left the shining Village Hidden in the Sand.

321/2500

Not long after leaving my village did I have to set up camp and sleep for the night.  Upon waking back up, I started the second day of traveling to the small coastal town.  For several hours I trekked across the desert that outlined my village until soon some growth appeared and gradually the landscape moulded from desert, to arid rock, to prairie fields.  The beauty of the changing lands as the sun rose into the sky was marvelous, and I made several stops to admire the different scenery.  Memories flooded back to my days as a Special Jounin, when I requested to travel around the shinobi world.  The sights that I had seen and the places that I had been were all so wonderful.  It was always amazing to me how people could take this world for granted every day.

I didn't slow myself too much, always making sure to make up for lost time after I took a moment to rest.  The scenery continued to change the further south I traveled.  The temperature dropped from the normal desert heat I was used to and stayed at a more temperate state that i imagined was quite warm for most people although it felt cool to me.  Eventually there were some hills and even a decent sized mountain that I walked around, following the road as it wound around the mountain side.  Coming around to the other side of the mountain, the world seemed to open up and a glittering, dark blue sea opened up before me.  It stretched far and wide.  I had never seen the horizon as wide and far as I had right then.  My eyes traveled backwards from the ocean's horizon and son coasted along the waves until they came to the coastal town of Tateyama.

I sped up my pace in a rush to arrive.  The sun had already begun to set and I wasn't yet in the town.  So close but yet so far, I thought back to all those stops I had taken along the way to admire the scenery of places and knew that they had indeed set me back.  Moving into a long running pace, the road wound around in a snake-like formation as it scaled down to reach the town below the mountain.  It took a few hours, but I arrived in the town.  The sun had just set when I came into one of the town's larger inns.  After taking up residence in a corner room, I asked the innkeeper to let the town officials know that the Kazekage had arrived to deal with their request personally.  Noticing how late it was, a meeting would be set up for the following day and I was able to eat a nice dinner and then sleep soundly in a warm bed.  I bid the innkeeper goodnight and headed to my assigned room.

807/2500

Waking up to a wonderful ocean view, I couldn't contain myself as I whipped open the windows.  The cool monsoon breeze whisking past my face, through my hair and nightgown, around the room, and then finally slipping under the bottom slit of my door.  It was such a perfect day.  A shame I had to work this week.  My fingers slowly slid down the panels of the open window, trailing their way to the wardrobe where I pulled out my combat clothes.  I was on a mission and didn't know what awaited me around the next corner.  A Zubat could claim me at any second and so I needed to be prepared!

Slipping into my white bandeau and dark brown combat pants, tying my sandals on and hooking my clan's cloak around my neck, I headed out the door for some early morning grub.  The innkeeper pointed me in the right direction, Quality Café.  I ordered the morning special and got American Eggs and Bacon.  The eggs were okay, but the bacon just looked weird so I didn't eat it.  How those filthy Americans could eat it, I have no clue.  Jumping up after paying my bill, I pounced on another patron who just so happened to be Brock from the Kanto region.  He was sleazy as hell so I left.

Focusing back on the mission at hand, I went over to the mayor's house, knocking on the front door three times.  A short, middle-aged man answered the door.  "Why, hello there, Lady Kazekage," he welcomed me into his house.  "I'm Mr. Sasashi.  You must be looking for my wife, she's the mayor of this town."

I only managed to get a nod in before he continued on, motioning for me to follow him as he disappeared around a corner and up a small flight of stairs.

"Yes, yes.  My wife's been talking all about you since that mailman came bearing news that the Kazekage herself was showing up to our door.  Saying how much of an honor it was and how it was such a shame she would still be bedridden by the time you got here.  Turns out she was quite right."

Catching up to him, I was brought into an upstairs bedroom where a petit, frail woman lay covered up in quilts.  A young doctor was bent over the bed, spoon feeding the lady some red, opaque liquid.  She swallowed the spoonful and then turned to me.  She had a kind face that looked young but worn.  It was hard to place her age, she looked like she might have been 30, though the worn look in her eyes made her seem to be in her late 50's.  She smiled, a piece of spinach stuck in between her two front teeth.

"Lady Kazekage, it is so good to see you.  I beg your pardon for having to meet me in such a condition.  If only were on better terms.  But alas, here we are."  She patted her hands on her bedspread.  "Now, to business: as you already know, there has been suspicious activity going on around the docks.  Multiple bandits and hooligans from a well known pirate gang have been seen coming in and out at night.  I believe they are scouting our town out before they try to sack it.  I was going to have one of your ninja investigate the docks and see if he can help us defend the village.  But seeing you have chosen to show up instead, the Kazekage, I'll just let you do what is necessary."

I nodded, half-bowing for her kindness.  She was giving me free realm of how I intended to investigate and solve the matter.  "No need to worry, Mrs. Sasashi, your village is in safe hands.  I'll find out what these miscreants are planning and put a stop to it.  I hope I have enough time to end this before it begins."  Bowing again to the mayor, I began stepping backwards to leave.  Mrs. Sasashi smiled back, understanding my intentions and waved me off.

Leaving the Sasashi residence, I decided to take a stroll around the town.  The town wasn't too large, being simply made of five parallel streets that ran along the coast, having four streets connecting them all, and one road that led up to the mountain road and back into the Wind Country.  The Sasashi house was on the fourth street from the beach and only one block to the west of the town's center street.  I managed to inspect the three farthest streets before dinner and after eating I was too full from the amazing seafood to do any late night check-ins, instead I turned in to my room at the inn.

1612/2500

Waking up again to a bright new day, I clambered out of my bed and into my clothes. Something about the ocean made me feel so calm and at peace. The cries of seagulls could be heard from by bedroom window, and the soft noise of carriages and wagons being taken around the village as they stumbled around on the stony ground.

Heading over to the Quality Café for another breakfast, I ordered steam rice and miso soup. I wasn't about to deal with whatever the 'morning special' was today. Thankfully, the sleazy Brock wasn't eating there this morning, or else he hadn't woken up yet, either way I was happy. The rice and soup were both delicious, and I pleasantly slurped it up, reinvigorated by the good food to start my day.

Today would be my first whole day devoted to the investigation of what was going on. Basically I was going to keep exploring the town, starting with two of the parallel streets that are closest to the shore. Once I had the whole town mapped out in case I needed to chase or fight someone, I would know my surroundings. After I did that, I went around the docks and made a note of which boats were docked and how many spots were open for smaller boats to dock in during the night. The bandits in question seem to be appearing around here, so the best bet was that they were coming by boat. Once all this was taken into account, I started visiting different bars and restaurants that were popular hangouts, listening in for any suspicious talk or just talk about villagers seeing bandits around. It was only at the Lucky Wave's Tavern that I got a good lead from the bartender who told me that some of the bandits in question seem to come in late at night at the bar, but that none had showed up since I had come in. Taking this cue and noticing that the day was coming to a close, I returned to the inn.

1921/2500

Five days had gone by and only now was I on to something.  The barkeep last night was my first real good lead on where I could find any bandits, yet none showed up when I was in there.  Word of my arrival must have spread.  A big flaw in being the Kazekage and doing missions.  If it had been any other ninja of my village, there probably wouldn't be as much of a buzz around town.  Though the small town wasn't really a great place to stay hidden and I was just roaming about the entire town.  The only benefit for me was that no one really knew what I looked like and the town did receive a good portion of tourists.  Still, I needed to be more covert if I wanted to make something happen.

I sat in the Quality Café for another morning, mulling over what to do, my spoon making circles in my soup.  The vibrations creating waves in the soup that bounced around from end to end.  There was nothing to do in the daytime, and I didn't want to be flagrantly out in the open.  I had chosen where I was going to watch for bandits coming to the Lucky Wave Tavern.  The roof.  Sitting up there during the day, with my silvery-white hair, would be like shooting a flare over my position.  So I sat in the Quality Café until nightfall.

Once the sun set in the east and the shop owner forced me out of the café so he could close it up, I headed down to the Lucky Wave Tavern.  Leaping up to the rooftop and clambering up the triangle-style roofing, I carefully and quietly stepped my way up to the peak, making sure to not poke my head too far as I watched the street below.  This was the closest street to the docks, so close that it literally was the docks.  One side of it was all shops and houses while the other was all boats and loading areas.

After about two and a half hours, two burly men draped in swords and quite raggedy, sea-worn clothes made their way into the Lucky Wave Tavern.  This was it.  I had no doubt in my mind that these had to be part of the bandit, pirate gang that barkeep was talking about.

The hours ticked away as I waited for them to exit the bar.  Patiently and painstakingly, I kept myself awake until finally the two left the Lucky Wave Tavern.  They teetered and tottered as if they were on the high seas, the bobbing waves tossing the boat around forcing them to try and balance.  After they had gone a ways, I hopped down from the roof, sticking close to the shadows.  The drunkards took their sweet time, falling and wavering every other minute, it seemed, as they made their way back to a little life boat.

So they had come from the docks.

Watching them stumble with the oars, I waited again for them to gain some distance on me before I stepped onto the ocean's surface, controlling my chakra to keep me above the water.  Quietly, I followed the hollering buffoons a few miles down the coast, past a little peninsula that opened up to a cave on the other side, hidden from view to the coastal town.  They were quite clever, and as I snuck in closer, I noticed a brigantine anchored just outside of the cavern, farther away behind the peninsula to hide it's massive masts that poked into the sky.

Inside the cavern, I saw that they had set up camp.  Several bandits slept on the shore, only a few patrolling the caves that led to the ground entrance.  The two drunkards had kept rowing to the brigantine ship, meaning that there were two groups of men.  Some had obviously set up camp on land, while others manned the ship.  What was this Bearpaw planning?  The answer rang instantly in my head.  A two point attack from land and sea.  But which one would Bearpaw be leading?

I returned back to the inn with more questions than I had the night before.  This was getting interesting.

2500/2500 Mission WC COMPLETE
Training Fuuinjutsu A-->S 131/4000

Six days had already passed and things were only heating up. Sitting once again in the Quality Café, I mulled over what I had learned from last night. Bearpaw's men were camped in a cavern just out of sight of the town, at most a mile away by sea, two by land. If Bearpaw was truly planning a two-point attack on the town, he would be doing it soon. From the looks of what I had seen last night, the group seemed well equipped and ready for action. He could very well strike today. The town was in no condition to defend on two fronts, much less one. I was hoping to stop this before it begins, but I feared I was too late. Bearpaw wouldn’t wait long to take a city and it was a mystery as to why he hadn’t attacked already.

Well, if he wasn't going to attack then I needed to make a move, I thought, and quick. His hesitance to make a move would be his downfall. I planned to visit the Lucky Wave Tavern again that night. This time I would do more than just tail the bandits as they fumbled around and back to their camp. Once they were by themselves, I'd take them out before they got back and warn the rest of me. Then maybe I could take their clothes and disguise myself.

I waited in my room at the inn until nightfall. The bandits wouldn't come until then, and a little boy I had hired waited in the town's watchtower, ready to ring the bell if anything suspicious started appearing to head to the town. Meanwhile I prepared for the night's attack gathering my things. I had all of my combat gear on and laid out all the weapons I had on hand; two tonfas from Daisuke-sama, a fuma shuriken, and a pack of ten kunai and ten metsubishi. Finding places for all of these weapons was hard considering my attire, but I had carried them with me all this way so I was going to use them.

Finally, the sun settled down to sleep and let the moon take over the sky. I marched out and headed to the Lucky Wave Tavern. Around the same time as the night before, another set of bandits appeared from the docks to enter the tavern. This time however, there were three. One woman and two men. They seemed to be quite stressed out and on edge as they entered, as if expecting trouble. Few hours later into the night and they exited the tavern with hoots of laughter, pushing over crates and barrels for fun or because they stumbled into them. Either way, they just laughed all the more and continued walking back to the docks.

Hopping down from the Lucky Wave Tavern's roof, I followed them tot heir boat, let them get out to sea a bit before beginning my attack. Still standing on the edge of the docks, I took out my fuma shuriken. The blades folded out from under each other and fell full circle around the inner hilt. With a silent twirl of my body, i rotated 360 degrees before whipping the fuma shuriken over the waves and towards the boat. I jumped onto the water and rushed forward, following the fuma shuriken closely.

My aim was pristine, hitting one of the drunken men in the chest as he sat along the edge of the lifeboat. His body teetered over the edge and then fell out. The other two just started laughing, too drunk to understand what was going on. I came around the lifeboat and took out my tonfas. Running behind the other drunk man, I pinned his head with my tonfas, snapping his neck, and dragged him overboard. The woman finally seemed to click in her head that I was real and dangerous and tried to unsheathe her longsward, but her hands fumbled with the hilt and she couldn't pull it out swiftly. Charging my tonfas with Raiton chakra I thrusted forward and struck her in the head, the Raiton being enough to shock her brain and stun her.

I stripped the woman of her clothes and then dumped her overboard with the other two men. Her stunned body floated upside down in the water. It wouldn't be long until the water flooded her lungs and she died while being stunned, drowned in the ocean. Quickly I undressed and swapped my clothes out for the woman's. They were a bit large and baggy on me as she was taller than me, but I made the clothes work. After tying a red scarf on my head as a makeshift doo-rag, I picked up the oars and began rowing to where I knew the ship would be.

Being unsure about which place to go, the ship or the cavern, I chose to row into the cavern. One of the guards patrolling the edge of the cavern greeted me. "Hello, pretty! Coming back so soon to see me? Couldn't get enough of me las' night, eh?" The man grunted in an odd laugh, rubbing his belly as he did so. Trying to play the part of a bandit, I told him to go kill himself and save me the trouble.

I managed to find a few lifeboats resting ashore inside the cavern, and after pulling it up onto the cavern's floor and made sure it wouldn't slip back into the water and drift, I headed towards the camp. A few men huddled by a fire, eating up some soup from broken canteens. With a great big yawn and stretching of my arms, I got one of the men's attention. "The rum all run out on ya? Best claim one of the good tents while ya still can, girlie."

I only nodded. It was amazing that no one questioned who I was. Were there several women in this group? None of them seemed to know me by my clothes or style. I had matched the woman's style as best I could, using my reflection in the ocean as my mirror, so I figured I was at least somewhat close to how she looked. Obviously my disguise was good enough to get in, though I wondered if they would realize I was a fake in the morning light.


Training Fuuinjutsu A--> S 1208/4000

Waking up in the pirate's camp, I almost had forgotten what I was doing in a tent and not waking up in the soft silk bed of the inn.  I readjusted my doo rag as I got up.  There was already a commotion of noise coming from outside my little tent.  Fixing my dress in my normal habit, I caught myself midway through brushing my shirt straight.  I didn't have to keep my clothes looking good in this group.  They don't take care of themselves.

Stepping out of my tent, the morning light seeped in only part way through the cavern, the light reflecting off the water to dimly light up most of the cavern.  There were still several torches lining the walls around the campsite.  I walked through the open cavern floor and joined a large group of the pirates and bandits that had gotten in a huddle.  One burly man stood on a log to lift himself up to a higher position.  He began to address the whole gang.

"The tide, as y'all know has not been favorable this whole gaw dang week."  The man began, the whole group grunting and mumbling their grievances at the tide.  "However, there is good news.  The tide is coming back in our favor.  The ship will be able to sail out of it's catch and attack the town by tomorrow."  The whole gang cheered and rejoined at this, I quickly joined in and followed suit, trying to not be too loud and call attention to myself.  "So I want all of you to stay here, no one goes into town tonight.  They've been on edge for a week, and that's worn them out.  No need to tell them that we're finally going through with it."

The group was dismissed after the man stepped down.  A couple went up to talk while the rest went back to their duties or to their booze.  I looked at the man that had given the announcement, noticing a mechanism with three blades resting on the back of each of his hands.  None of the others had this.  So did that mean he was Bearpaw?  It gave a light to why he was given the name.  Watching him, he finished his conversation and the men left him, his eyes turned and saw me looking at him.  He gave a smile and a nod, then turned and walked away, heading to the cavern's ocean entrance.

I turned quickly, hoping that I hadn't looked suspicious.  He seemed to think I was part of the group.  Now facing the other side of the cavern, the campsite slowly came to life as the men went around and made use of themselves.  Some brandished there weapons on the grindstones that they had set up, others were using the tanning racks, while a few took to practicing on each other.  I walked around the cap, usually helping a few who asked me to move boxes of supplies, all the while keeping track of how many were there.  By the end of the day, I had counted forty men and two other women in the group.

After hearing that Bearpaw was planning on attacking the village the very next day, I knew I needed to act tonight.  There were a lot on the ground and probably many more on the brigantine out in the water.  There was only one way that I could think of to killing them all.  Silent and in the cover of night.

When the sun set at night, I took one of the night shifts and watched the ocean entrance to the cavern.  Once the guard on patrol within the cavern finally dozed off, assured that I wouldn't tell anyone if he slept just a bit, I began my preemptive attack.  The guard was the first to be killed, my kunai slitting his throat wide open while I covered his mouth to hush his death.  Moving on, I stepped onto the calm, quiet ocean waves and ran along them, the chakra on my feet keeping myself from falling through the water's surface.

I made my way over to wear the brigantine rested in the ocean and got to work on the rope to the anchor.  It was a thick rope, and I had to use Raiton chakra to increase the cutting edge of the kunai.  About an hour of shredding on both sides of the rope and finally my kunai met each other, the rope sinking into the ocean's depth and the brigantine began to bob freely with the waves.  If the tide was helping them set off tomorrow, then the tide tonight should be enough to crash it into the rocky cliff face of the peninsula that it anchored behind in hiding.  Just for good measure, I took my kunai and lit them aflame, stabbing the ship's hull countless times, setting the entire bottom of it on fire.

While the brigantine burned in the ocean, I headed back to the campsite.  No one had seen my attack, and so I would wait and see what would happen, hoping that they would kill themselves off after finding that there were traitors amongst the ranks.  So, heading back to the tents, I decided to wait and see what my little tampering would do.  By morning, half of their troupe would be killed off with their ship.  I slept well that night.

Training Fuuinjutsu A-->S  2123/4000

After a restful night, I woke up to the sound of yelling, clashing swords, and fighting. Opening my tent and stepping out to see what all the fuss was about I came to view a battle erupting right before my eyes. A few men were brawling with each other, while swords and knife fights skirted around it, sometimes mingling with the unarmed, fist fighters. Surveying the broken and tangled pirate troupe, I couldn't find Bearpaw anywhere to be found. Had he been on the ship? I wondered how many might have survived the flaming, drifting ship as it collided with the rocky shore and cliff face.

As the fighting unfolded below me, a sharp bellowing called down from behind me, thundering through the cavern. All the men stopped their fighting and turned around, their eyes transfixed on something behind me. I slowly turned, the loud thunderous bellow having made me just a bit nervous. What lay behind me, was Bearpaw. He stood, six feet and ten inches tall, his claw-like weapons sprung out three inches from his knuckles. The sharp steel dripped with the blood of two mutinous and dead crew mates that lay at his feet.

"Quit you're pathetic squabblin' you bloody idiots!" Bearpaw roared, his voice still thunderous and loud. Everyone lowered their arms and waited for his response. "Obviously this is sabotage. A foreigner is in our midst. It ain't me lying to ya just to get rid of ya! Hell, I loved my ship! My beautiful, beautiful ship…" He sounded as if he was about to cry, the depression of the captain echoed through the crew mates as their heads went down as well in remembrance of their lost ship. Bearpaw sniffed once and returned to face his men. "Now, everyone line up! I ain't gonna let this spy live a second longer!"

This was not good. Things had been good when the crew decided to turn on each other. Several bodies littered the floor. I made my way to the rest of the crew, forming up in the line while I counted the number of dead or dying that littered the cavern floor. Seventeen. Calculating, it meant there were only twenty-five of them left. They were in no shape to try and attack the village now. I suppressed my grin, instead using my Kekkei Genkai training to put on a confident swagger as I stood with the rest of 'my' ship mates. A few heads leaned out to look at each other, as if they could spot who the traitor was among them.

Bearpaw slowly strode towards us, his candid walk revealing years of trained sea legs that were still being re-accustomed to the solid and unwavering earth. His eyes flicked from one man to the next, squinting at those who locked eyes with him before he looked them up and down, tilting his head back and forth. As he made his way down the line, Bearpaw would abruptly clash his claws together, the scrape and sparks going straight at the person's face to make them jump. He stopped two men down from me.

The man Bearpaw gave extra attention to was just a bit shorter than Bearpaw was but just as big. His dark skin tensed up, his muscles flexing in nervousness and fright while Bearpaw leaned his brutish face against the shorter man, stopping only an inch away. A few sniffs and Bearpaw sunk his claws into the man's gut. "I told you Naomi was mine, Tsutsu. Hope she was worth it." The dark-skinned Tsutsu gasped for breath, blood spat from his mouth as he collapsed onto the ground. Bearpaw resumed his search.

I cursed under my breath. For a second I thought I was going to get out of this. Instead, he kept on going, breezing through the other two men that stood beside me. Finally reaching me, his eyes began to gleam when he looked me up and down. I arched an eyebrow in questioning whether he was checking me out as a captain of the ship or as something else. His eyes met mine and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Oi, doll, can't remember noticing pretty here before."

Uh oh. The jig was up, I felt it in my gut. My hands gripped my tonfas that were hooked on my belt loops, ready for the lunge of his claws. However, Bearpaw just kept his smile, turned sideways and moved on to the man on my left. I still watched him, thinking there had to be something about what he had said to me. In a quick moment, Bearpaw thrusted his left hand out as if to strike the man next to me. The adrenaline rushed within me and the moment seemed to take forever as I watched the trajectory of the claws slowly arc towards me. My left arm reacted, swinging out my tonfa and adjusting the trajectory of Bearpaw's left hand back to the man on my left. The blades sunk deep into the guys flesh.

Bearpaw swung his right hand for me, his anger boiling at having killed another one of his crew. My right arm swung out the other tonfa, tucking it inside Bearpaw's thrusting right arm and pushing it out and away. The blades sunk instead into the man on my right, his head lurching forward from the weight of force in the thrust. So Bearpaw did indeed figure out that I wasn't one of his crew. Now the only solution was to fight my way out. With these two men dead and Bearpaw already killing Tsutsu, the numbers were down to fourteen men and Bearpaw. I jumped two meters back as Bearpaw pulled out his claws, the rest of his men brandishing their own swords as well. Time to see what i was made of.

The men surrounded me as Bearpaw waved them to attack me. He couldn't wait very long, anger overtaking him as he launched forward into the air, both claws surging ahead of him, aiming for my head. I placed my hands on the ground where I stood, forming a seal that activated in time to form a dome of fire around me. The swirling flames burned Bearpaw, his howls being the only thing that went through the flames and reaching my ears. I placed another seal in the dome, making the flames rush around with greater intensity and speed until balls of fire rushed out in different directions. With that, six of the crew members burst into flames after being hit by the fireballs. Their screams echoed as they jumped into the water to save themselves.

Releasing the seals, I came out of the fire dome with three kunai in my right hand, both of my tonfas pocketed for the moment. I charged up these kunai with Raiton energy, tossing one into the water and using the electricity shock the six pirates resting their burned bodies in the water. Six down, eight more to go, and then Bearpaw would be all mine. He clambered up to see my glowing kunai in hand. He barked for his men to charge and so they did, all of them yelling as they raised or pointed their swords at me.

Two men came from the right, one had his sword raised for a slashing movement while his partner pointed the blade to strike at my heart. At the same time, a third man rushed from the opposite side of me, pointing his blade at my gut. Ducking and sidestepping to my left, I passed the solo man's pointed sword, letting me elbow him in the back, surging him further. The man's sword pierced right through his compatriot on the other side, the one that had raised his sword up, not being able to adapt to my sudden dodge. The angle of their attack was perfect for me and brutal for them as the third man that had come in partnering with the slashing pirate, pierced the solo man with his own sword. I ran around to face him as he was the only one that didn't get a gut full of sword, stabbing his chest with my left kunai to stun him before slitting his throat.

Three more down, five to go and then Bearpaw would be mine.

The other five had also charged in, but seeing what happened stalled them. They backed back up and seemed to mull over what to do. I slowly sidestepped in a circle, viewing each one of the crew as they planned their next move. Taking advantage of their hesitancy, I reached back into my pouch and pulled out my pack of metsubishi, holding them in my hand with my kunai. I made my hands dance in the air, letting the knives flow through the air gracefully, all in an attempt to distract them of what I was planting on the ground around me. One full circle of metsubishi finally planted, I stopped and waited for their next attack.

They rushed me in waves, one man coming at me head on while being closely followed by two more which then had three more to arrive shortly after them. They had spread themselves out to surround me and throw me off, and to be honest, I was slightly impressed. Changing my tactics, I cut off my Raiton jutsu and switched to a Katon bukijutsu. My two kunai were instantly lit aflame and I began to twirl with my arms stretched wide at my sides. The flames grew and grew til they could grow no more. A spinning inferno five meters long spread out from me and scorched all three of them as they closed in on me, my timing of the jutsu impeccable. The brushing of the hot air against my face as I twirled lit me up in waves of happiness. I was dancing again. How long had it been since I had a good dance like this one? I could not remember.

The men fell down and tried to put out the flames but they were scorched, their bodies gradually stilling from their frantic and chaotic movements as each died by the flames. Now only Bearpaw remained. He stood, tall and brooding in his depressing situation. Heavy breaths noisily billowed from his nose as he huffed and puffed. His eyes frantically took in the dead as he furiously cursed at me. "You little bitch! You've ruined everything!"

After I had stopped my spinning fire jutsu, Bearpaw made another leap at me, the same as before. Was he really so stupid to use the same move? I ducked low under his leap and raised up my hands to grab him, pulling against his momentum and slamming him to the rocky cavern floor. He spun around his body to face me, but it was too late for another attack. My hands were on his legs, a seal being formed over his body. The blotches of ink rising and wrapping around his body, paralyzing him completely. Reaching out with one hand, I picked up one of his crew mate's swords. Crawling up onto his chest while maintaining the seal, I sliced down at his neck. I kept cutting and cutting like it was steak until finally his head came off.

Silence overwhelmed me and the cavern as I dropped the sword to the ground, leaning back against my folded legs. I was actually tired, having used quite a bit of energy for this fight. The endorphins rushed through me, the heighetened adrenaline still flowing. The feeling was glorious. Oh, how great this mission had been for me to take it on! I clambered to my feet and walked back to the tent I had claimed the day before. The day was nearly over and there was still the walk back to the town that had to be done. Exhausted from the fight, I went to sleep in the bloody and scorched campsite.

Training Fuuinjutsu A-->S 4135/4000 COMPLETE

I woke up to an awful smell on my third morning in the cavern.  The bodies were beginning to smell and decompose.  I quickly got up, the pungent smell of death being more than enough to wake me up.  Dead bodies were everywhere in the torn up campsite, making it a real pain to move them to the water where I let them sink to the bottom.  All the weapons were thrown into the sea as well and I took the one of the logs from the main camp's campfire to light the tents ablaze.  Nothing would be left by the time I was gone.

Taking up my own belongings, I headed out and traveled on the water to the shore of the town.  I went all the way back to Mrs. Sasashi and dumped a bloodstained sack on her bedside table.  "Here is the head of Bearpaw, Mrs. Sasashi."  I told her, explaining that I had stopped them before they could attack and killed them all off and gave the location of their hideout and where the town's men could find the remains of the brigantine.

After saying my goodbyes and, of course, getting paid I made my way out of town.  I traveled back around the mountain and through the Land of Wind.  It was another great mission accomplished and I just couldn't help but feel proud of my success.  Hurrying back to my village, I made sure everything was still in order just as I had left it nine days before.