Were Yusuke to follow the tips from locals in his search for Oki Kuma, he would find a recurring theme in reputation and where to find the genin. It would seem that this Oki Kuma had a reputation for a recent fight that destroyed quite a bit of the Iwagakure Bazaar. Ironically, said Bazaar was a common visiting site of the other genin as well. So, if Yusuke Yanagi follows the tips and sayings of the locale, or if he just wandered around until he found him, he would find himself the location of the genin rather quickly, standing next to… A bear.

Standing over an entire foot taller than Yusuke, the genin was rather muscular in build, looking identical to a black bear from a distance, if a black bear were in clothing. Speaking of clothing, his attire was rather practical; a large white vest top, that on him was quite tight, and a pair of black shorts. His feet, which had two inch long claws for nails, were protected by basic combat training boots, the skin and nails visible due to the sandal like nature of the boots. Wrapped around his neck like a scarf lay a metallic chain, and his hair, black and sharp, was spiked out and messy, as if he were just electrocuted. Placed in front of his throat, like a collar, he wore his Iwagakure forehead protector with pride. This rather bulky individual was Oki of the Kuma clan. And currently preoccupying the time of the massive individual was a rather short, chubby, bear cub. This caramel furred creature, with a white blotch at its snout and belly, was Debu. The Yogi and Booboo duo of Iwagakure.

Turning, Oki looked towards the stranger, a grin upon his face. In his hand was a piece of scrunched up paper, and despite being as young as he was, a sharp, black, goatee stuck from his chin. Humming to himself, Oki watched the person who showed up intently, stroking his goatee as if he were a bond villain, a reference nobody in character would get. He thought for a moment, the bear at his side flopped lazily and seemingly only glancing at the person nearby. Finally, Oki spoke up, clicking his fingers as an idea entered his head. “You sir! Do you need something?!” his voice bellowed the question, Oki clearly having taken the term indoor voice too literally.

402

Oki continued to listen to the stranger, looking from side to side, up and down, almost as if observing his posture and muscle mass, a light hum emanating from behind his lips. The name the stranger mentioned first sounded familiar… Yusuke Yanagi… Yusuke… Ah! Of course! There was a mission to be done today! And this man, if he was old enough to be called that despite his height, would be Oki’s partner. This thought was all but confirmed when he announced he was looking for a genin named Oki Kuma. Who could that handsome sounding devil possibly be? Of course, Oki knew who that handsome sounding devil was. He was that handsome sounding devil after all. With an uproarious laugh, Oki nodded, before following the question with an answer of his own, Oki style. “Yes, you are speaking to none other than I! Oki of the Kuma clan! The soon to be great bear of Iwa, student of a Monolith, and proud warrior! We have our mission to accomplish!” he declared, striking a pose while flexing his muscles. “So we shall go! And we shall save that pussy!” hearing this sheer stupidity, Debu simply put its paws over its head, pretending it had nothing to do with the idiot of a genin that was Oki. He was, after all, embarrassing to be around.

Laughing, Oki was incapable of realising that, from his sheer daftness and oblivious attitude, his pet bear, deciding it had enough of his stupidity for one day. With a grunt, the chubby bear walked off, its Iwagakure forehead protector hung loosely around its neck. Debu knew that the task wasn’t going to need him. After all, it was just fetching a cat from a tree. And while bears could climb trees, Debu just didn’t care enough. It was a D rank mission. A task that was basically just there to keep genin busy and from causing trouble. It wasn’t extreme enough for the dynamic duo to make a scene. Recently, there hadn’t been anything extreme enough that Debu felt the need to be there. Aside from the whole, being there, that is. So, he went home instead, letting Oki get on with his menial tasks and boasts while he went to go look for fish or something. Still oblivious to this, Oki simply patted the small man on the shoulder, long 2 inch nails sticking out past the person as Oki kept up his rather gleeful grin and spoke up once more. “Well now! Lead the way companion! We have a kitty to save!”

428 + 402 = 830

Several minutes of walking passed, and now Oki looked up, craning his neck backwards to look up the sheer height of the tree that he was standing in front of. It wasn’t that he couldn’t climb it. But a giant six foot five inch man climbing a tree with long nails and as much hair as a bear might be intimidating to an already startled cat. Judging from the pristine colour of the cat’s fur, it was used to being pampered before anyways. This also, as an animal lover, let Oki know that it was more easily startled, not used to the reality of the world outside of whatever luxurious comforts its owner would afford it. So, when Yusuke suggested thinking up a way of getting the cat without startling it, Oki began to think. After all, he couldn’t simply approach it normally, and likely, neither could the smaller individual. So, for once in his rather dumb life, Oki had to come up with an idea. Either approach the cat stealthily enough that it’s not startled, slowly enough, which could take all day, or fast enough.

With a grin, Oki decided on the last option.

“I’ve got a plan” Oki announced as his only warning, before ducking down rather suddenly, grabbing his partner by the legs. He took a few large steps away from the tree, dragging Yusuke off his feet, but also making sure that he wouldn’t smack his head into the tree by accident. That’d be a pretty terrible thing to do after all. Satisfied that he was at enough of a distance from the tree so as to not smash his current partners head into the wood, Oki began spinning. Despite the calculations that went into the distance judgements, the whole motion was surprisingly quick and fluid, leaving little time for understanding as the smaller genin began spinning around. Once. Twice. On the third spin, Oki flipped his arms up, launching Yusuke directly up with the momentum he had built up, the smaller genin flying through the air like a majestic whale. With a grin, satisfied that he had used enough momentum to allow the other guy to reach the cat, Oki gave a thumbs up, having ignored any potential protesting Yusuke might have made, declaring with pride. “Catch the cat, and I’ll catch you tiny man!”

390 + 830 = 1210

Oki watched with a satisfied grin as the smaller genin flew through the air, in a fashion that Oki for a moment deemed majestic. For a moment. Of course, moments aren’t long, this one especially not so. Flailing his arms around like a penguin that had fallen off a cliff, Oki surveyed as Yusuke, seemingly high on being high, seemed to forget he was a person, not a bird. But, perhaps he had a bloodline limit that allowed him to fly by looking like a fool? That could be feasible, in which case Oki would look like a genius for totally being able to tell and judge that in mere moments! A literally flying genin! Oh how glorious- Oh. With a THUD, Yusuke had found himself launched directly into the tree, moment of almost cartoonish humour passed. Uhh… Whoops? With the thud, the impact, the tree began to wobble, the cat that clung so cowardly to the branch losing its grip in the sheer oddity that was the passed moment.

So, the situation had escalated and changed rather dramatically. And by dramatically, of course it was actually really stupid. A falling cat, and a genin currently clinging to a tree as if the ground itself became something to avoid. In Oki’s defence, Yusuke did say to think of a plan. Thinking of a plan, and sharing said plan, are two separate things. Plus Oki kind of likes to throw things. It is good stress relief, and good for muscle building. After all, Yusuke must have weighed what, people weight? Whatever people weight was. So, what better way than to pick up and throw said weight to gain better muscle mass? Regardless, menial tangent aside, it was time for Oki to actually be productive. After all, the mission stated that the cat was to be returned unharmed. And if there was one thing Oki wasn’t adding to his reputation, it was this; He would not be responsible for an injured kitten.

Quickly, Oki’s mind travelled to what the softest thing he could think of was. After all, despite cats always landing on their feet, it was best to make sure it had a landing, a surface, that wouldn’t break its feet. Forming quick hand seals, ones that didn’t seem right for a genin of his size, Oki poofed into smoke, from that smoke jumping… The bear from before that had walked off. With a leap, the chubby mass landed beneath the falling kitten, who rather comically bounced off the flabby flesh of the bear with a mewl, claws leaving minor scratches on the back of the animal that did next to nothing to the thick hide of the beast. Of course, said beast wasn’t actually Debu, but Oki using one of his clan’s best techniques. Bear stuff was weird. So, letting the cat back down to the ground and holding it by his mouth, Oki disguised as Debu looked up to the tree where Yusuke was still stuck, watching and waiting. This’d be interesting.

503 + 1210 = 1713

Chakra: 135/150 (-15 for C rank jutsu)

Jutsu used:

It would have, and quite simply should have, been an unbelievably easy mission. It was just rescuing a cat from a tree after all! But apparently, terrible team work can ruin any mission, no matter how simple. How did it ruin this mission? Many, many ways. For a start, throwing ones partner into a tree is probably not a good plan, unless of course you’re trying to fight a tree. Which was not the case. Secondly, a lack of communication probably doesn’t help. Like, perhaps it would have gone better if they had talked about the plan before acting it out, or really talked about anything? Thirdly, sheer stupidity. As anyone could tell, stupidity is the quickest way to ruin a plan. Just like right at this very moment. The plan was to safely rescue a cat from a tree. Yet now a net, which happens to be one of the two muppets, is falling on top of a bear, the other muppet, who is holding the cat in its mouth. Truly, a stupid situation. But situations involving Oki, well, they always were stupid.

So, here, the bear looked startled, the net now falling at increasing paces towards the semi-suspecting creature, gravity doing its part to aid in the acceleration of the net. Taken off guard by the sudden net from the sky, in a poof of smoke, undisguised from his transformation technique, the cat still caught by the fur by its neck within the teeth of Oki, done in a way so as to cause minimal pain, if any at all to the cat, the only pain coming from if the feline moved to try get away, which would of course cause the fur to pull. With a yell, Oki of course concluded the best thing to do with a net… Is wrestle with it! So, kitten in mouth, Oki began standing up to his two feet, having just been on all fours due to transforming as a bear. Of course, being as large as he was, there was no way he’d stand up wholly before a net fell on him. So, if the net were to poof back into being Yusuke, his partner, then the smaller ninja would likely just bounce off the large brick of a man. If however, for some reason the ninja did not undo their transformation, well, then it’d just be awkward, the large six foot five man caught in a net, like a beast caught in the hunt.

415 + 1713 = 2128

A touch. A bounce. A splat. It was like a circus that had gone terrible. A performer who didn’t know how to perform. With half amusement, half intrigue, Oki watched as his mission partner fell from the tree, and bounced off the large man, barely flinching at the pressure of someone falling on him, and then… Flipping onto the ground. Perhaps it was just because it was comical, seeing someone do a flip, or perhaps it was just the overall stupidity of everything, but Oki couldn’t help but snicker, dropping the cat into his hands from his mouth. This guy was a laugh, just from how daft he was, so, Oki made a mental note to be on the lookout for him. After all, a good laugh was a good time, and a good time was exactly what Oki cared for.

Oki’s eyes shot to the shopkeep who had been laughing throughout the entire thing, albeit now it seemed he was getting his comeuppance, a woman who Oki could only assume was his other half telling him off and scolding him for his waste of time laughing at strangers. Every bit of the situation seemed like a joke, like something someone had scripted, written. But philosophical thoughts that were derived from a fourth wall breaking joke aside, Oki really just had enough of this situation. This was the longest a mission had taken him. And he’d wrestled a rock python! With his bare hands! Granted, said bare hands have the equivalent of kunai on the ends of the fingers, but they are still technically not weapons, so, still something he’d count as cool!

Holding the kitten carefully in his left hand, Oki sighed, looking down at Yusuke, who lied face up on the dusty earth. A lot quieter than before, to not startle the now calmed animal, Oki spoke. “I will go return this little one to whoever its carer is. Do not worry, I will tell nobody of your interaction with the tree. I can imagine having a cat laugh at you is embarrassment enough as it is. So, tiny Yanagi, you go get yourself some rest, and be sure to pick up your payment from the Administration Building later.” With a nod, Oki turned, walking off, cat in hand to go find the person who had lost their cat. Of course, such a task wouldn’t take long, since he had the mission details, and the mission details stated who set the task. With a grin, he shook his head as he made his way. This task had taken a lot longer than was needed.

After about ten minutes of walking, Oki had calmed the cat to sleep, and delivered it to its owner. In hindsight, he probably should have dragged Yusuke with him, but, well, this was Oki, so, that wasn’t going to happen. Why not? Because realistically, about five minutes after leaving, Oki had forgotten him. Then the ten minutes passed, and Oki remembered. But oh well. By the time he’d thought about it, the moment would have passed, and Yusuke would no doubt be on his way home. So, satisfied the mission was done, and that Yusuke wasn’t severely injured (at least as far as he knew from what little attention he paid), Oki went home.

550 + 2128 = 2678 WC DONE
[EXIT THREAD]

Training: