It was a cold evening when Takashi and Nyanko got lost. It was all because Nyanko had to chase the man who was carryinf fishes - the two were strolling around Iwa, when Nyanko noticed a man who smelled of sea food and decided to follow him. The cat got so focused on it, that they managed to leave Iwa unnoticed and stalk the man all the way to his home. Only then Nyanko realized that the man was carrying shrimp instead of a full sized salmon. "What a rip-off," Nyanko moaned, because he disliked shrimp. And Takashi was always ready to say tell a lecture:"Maybe if you weren't this greedy, we wouldn't have ended up here in the first place."
The duo in fact were stuck somewhere unfamiliar - with no living soul in sight, and no direction of Iwagakure. It was cold and they had to search for a shelter. Nyanko had a warm fur to protect himself, however Takashi wasn't that good at maintaining body heat, in spite of being a Nekomata descendant. He however made up for it by drinking a lot of tea every day. But what a surprise - there was no hot water in sight. That was his weakness - the shortage of boiling water. His white and yellow robe protected his upper body from some of the cold breezes, but his legs were freezing.

Traversing the paths of Tsuchi no Kuni, they were bound to meet someone. Takashi hoped to meet someone who would provide them a shelter or at least direct them towards an inn or Iwagakure. Nyanko hoped to meet someone who would give him a fish.
It was neither. Instead they found a shocking sight. Nyanko was the first who got suspicious of the path in front of them, he said that it gives off weird vibes and smells of ''dead fish''. Soon Takashi completely understood what the cat meant by this comparison, for it was the smell of death. Getting closer, they indentified a corpse that was half-eaten and mutilated. Nyanko made a guess that it was an old lady and it seemed like she had tried to flee from someone for there was bruises on her kneecaps - probably from falling.

This incident left them two in distress. They had to pick up the pace and find a shelter as fast as possible. They didn't start running yet, but their senses for sure were focused. They head each bird chirp, the water stream flow and the leaves shaking in wind. Thankfully, they never heard anything in impatience grinding their teeth.
After a while their mindset changed and they were back to the old cheerful tone. As the sun was getting lowered and the shadows grew taller, they again struck someone. Alive this time. "An old lady again. Grizzled hair, a cane in the left hand. Looking towards us with a worried expression," Nyanko whispered all the information he could observe in the few seconds, as they were approaching the woman. "Hello!" Takashi started, because it would weird people out if Nyanko initiated the conversation instead. The lady took a deep look at the two and shaking her head said in a sad tone:"You travellers should turn around," she pointed towards the path they were coming from, "People die.." she paused to make the situation more eerie, "when they don't listen to my advice," she finished and started walking past the two travellers, without talking again. Takashi wanted to get more information from her, but she seemed out of her mind (despite the fact that the two already saw a corpse and they should seriously have considered not advancing).

They continued walking towards the setting sun on the rock covered path with foliage on both their sides and a few trees in distance.
639

What the hell is going on these days...

Raishi was on his way to the assigned location of conflict within Iwagakure, as there apparently was some sort of commotion going on. As he sped on mechanically, swooping from rooftop to rooftop without effort, the cool wind in his face was not enough to distract him from his inner conflict. For the past few days, he had been feeling some sort of inexplicable way, almost as if he was no longer in his own skin anymore. Of course, residing in the somewhat unreal world as he did, more often than not, these were signs of a mental attack of some sort. He had read of clans of old that could actually do that; control one's mind and body without them even realising. But this was different. It was almost unnatural in a natural type of way. The type of conflict that not only affected his inner self, but stretched out to the material world, as Iwagakure had been getting more and more strange from his perspective. This is not the time... he thought to himself annoyingly, struggling to put away those thoughts so he could focus on the task at hand.

This mission in itself was a particularly weird one, something Raishi had never had to deal with before. There had been reports of a plethora of 'monsters' so to say; abominations, that were plaguing the towns local to Tsuchi no Kuni. Of course, like any dreamt up monster, they pillaged the towns, even going as far as devouring some of them in an expected grotesque manner. The mission was simple, to eliminate any encountered alien. Simple enough.. he thought to himself as he now exited the safe confines of the main  section of the village, and entered the now apparent war zone that was Tsuchi no Kuni. Indeed, the task was a simple one, but it did not mean that it was going to be an easy one. According to the reports, all the victims had been gorged before the beasts left, and if that were true, that meant that they truly were just animals he and other assigned shinobi were facing against. There would be no shred of humanity in these creatures, so, he needed to put them down like he would any other monster.

As he ran deeper in the war zone, he could literally smell the all too familiar, yet overwhelming whiff of death lingering in the atmosphere. Despite being a shinobi, he was not used to these levels of Death, because as a shinobi, despite all the espionage, deceit and trickery involved in the profession, when it came to death, there were certain lines one was not meant to cross. These beasts however, knew not of this. As Raishi slowered his pace and walked down, the scent got stronger and stronger, worrying him of not only the vile nature of these creatures, but also the fact that he would be nearing one of the towns that had been attacked. And true to his assumption, it was in no time that he began seeing grim bodies splayed over the hard, rocky floor, with their now dried blood the only colour on their defiled bodies. And their faces...they told stories of an indescribable horror. Raishi could barely believe his eyes. At some point, he'd even seen what looked like the body of an assuming elderly woman, with bruised kneecaps. She'd tried to run.. he'd thought to himself with distress.

As he continued on the rocky road, he encountered an old woman who just walked straight past him, her eyes filled with an indescribable sorrow. He pitied her. Following this, he quickened his pace along the road, and was surprised to see a somewhat familiar figure in the distance. Well what do you know.... he thought to himself, half alarmed and somewhat impressed. There was Takashi, walking confidently along the road, with a cat beside him. Raishi began to wonder if Takashi, being blind, had any idea of the gore that surrounded the pair, or if he even knew of the extreme danger he was in. Wanting to find out why he was here, Raishi called out to Takashi as he neared him.

" Takashi!! What are you doing here??"

TWC: 715

Nyanko was first to notice the man approaching them. He quickly provided the blind boy with a description of the man:"A bit taller than you, grey hair, muscular, dark clothing" Due to all what has been witnessed so far in the forest, this could mean bad news. What if the man was responsible for the dead lady? After all, alive lady had warned them to not proceed in the forest. Was this the guardian that will now deal with the violators? Was he there to single-handedly slice them up and leave rotting on the road?

But the negative thoughts wre chased away as soon as the man spoke for Takashi recognized the voice. "Oooh, it's you!" with a relieved smile he exclaimed, "I was worrying that it might be someone.. of not so good intentions," Takashi explained his shock before.
The jounin never introduced himself to Takashi, thus the boy couldn't answer his cat anything upon being asked more about this person. Though Takashi introduced Nyanko anyway:"This is my cat, Nyanko," the cat lifted it's right paw in order to shake 'hands' with the stranger. Instinctively Takashi put his hand in the inner pocket of his robe and searched for a cup to pour some tea in. Only then he remembered that it was actually not possible right now and apologized to his guest:"I'm sorry, I won't be able to serve you any tea this time."
After the pleasantries were finished, Takashi would finally answer the question he was asked:"Actually, I'm so glad you found us. We are lost," his expression got saddened and he broke the eye contact (if he had managed to establish one in the first place), "we have no idea how to get back to the village," he was referring to Iwagakure, "and there are some strange things happening here. We found someone dead.." Takashi thought it would only be natural to tell someone of authority of Iwa.

It was actually surprising how long Nyanko had kept quiet. Someone might even start to think that this Ninneko couldn't speak. But there was a reason why the cat refrained calling Takashi dumbo several times already. There was something bothering Nyanko. "Hey," Nyanko was whispering to Takashi for he didn't fully trust the stranger yet, "The smell of dead fish is getting stronger since he got here." It was really weird - first time Nyanko identified the smell, they actually were moving and getting closer to a corpse. But ever since they encountered the Iwa-nin, they have been standing in one place and not moving. There was no logical explanation why the smell would be moving towards them.
Nyanko himself was getting too nervous and lost the control of sitting on Takashi's shoulder. The two actually had a detailed plan of how the cat will be sitting on Takashi and helping the boy coordinate. By applying pressure with his paws, Nyanko could control where Takashi was going. If the boy would not be ignoring these signals right now - he would be staggering in all directions.
"Do you smell that?" the boy inquired. Cats didn't have particularly strong sense of smell, but this Ninneko could compare even with some of Inuzuka. Sometimes it was foolish to not trust Nyankos sense of smell even if Takashi himself felt nothing in the air.
But this time there was no need to smell it for there was an audible inhuman screech not too far away. "Oh, I guess that's why you are here," Takashi said and checked if his kunai was still by his side.
609

"Oooh, it's you! I was worrying that it might be someone.. of not so good intentions"

Raishi couldn't help but smile at the younger shinobi, even though he was fully aware that Takashi would not be able to see it anyway. There was just a certain innocent charm about him that amused the Jounin. Now standing facing the blind Konoha-nin, concerns stirred up in him, as they had in his previous mission concerning the boy's safety. Was he aware of the level of danger he was in? Surely he could smell Death lingering in the atmosphere. To some certain degree, he seemed to be aware of a certain level of danger, as he had replied to Raishi's greetings with relief. So why on Earth was he there? And with a cat?

"This is my cat, Nyanko. I'm sorry, I won't be able to serve you any tea this time."

Raishi looked curiously at the cat, wondering how Takashi had managed to find a companion since their last encounter. The cat itself was somewhat pudgy, its coat a mix of charcoal grey, maroon and cream. Upon its introduction by Takashi, the cat raised its right paw towards Raishi, as if to shake hands with him. Odd... Raishi thought, before extending his own left arm to return the gesture. Shaking a cat was by far the weirdest thing he had done in a long while. Well that was that one experience with Fukai... he thought, before expelling those thoughts from his head. He really didn't need to remember that.

"Actually, I'm so glad you found us. We are lost. We have no idea how to get back to the village and there are some strange things happening here. We found someone dead."

Raishi raised his eyebrow as Takashi explained his predicament.Despite only having met him on one other occassion, Raishi could tell that the young Konoha-nin somehow always managed to gert himself in trouble, as this was the second time he was lost in an area of conflict. This might prove to be a dangerous trait for both himself and his comrades... Raishi thought to himself carefully. Indeed, Takashi's unassuming attraction to danger would be detrimental to both his self, and others around him in the long run if not addressed. But for now, Raishi decided that he might as well enlist the boy's (and his cat's) help in his mission to come.

"You seem to always get lost in just the right places...don't tell me you have an eye for danger?"

Facing the horizon in the distance, the mission location, Raishi spoke casually, at first unaware of the pun he had just said. Of course, seconds later, he did realise and felt a bit sorry for saying it, as he didn't want Takashi to think that the Jounin was deliberately making fun of his sight, or rather, his lack thereof. He then turned round to Takashi, an apologetic expression on his face. Surprisingly, the boy hadn't even picked up what he'd said at all, and was instead seemingly listening to his new found cat, Nyanko. That's no ordinary cat... Raishi thought, a curious eyebrow raised. This cat was whispering to Takashi, at least trying to, for reasons unbeknownst to Raishi. But what they didn't know was that Raishi, being a high-level shinobi, had relatively outstanding perceptive abilities. So much so, in fact, that he could pinpoint the dripping of blood or water, as well as heavy breathing, in a 20-meter radius. So, the cat whispering to Takashi whilst being right next to him was nothing.

"Hey, the smell of dead fish is getting stronger since he got here"

Raishi raised an eyebrow as he heard this, unaware by the two he was facing. Now that the cat mentioned it, he did, in fact, notice that the smell of Death was getting stronger and stronger, and this didn't really make any sense, as the group had been standing in the same position over the past few minutes. It really was strange. Unless....

Suddenly, an inhuman shriek pierced through the already looming fingers of Death, as if the shroud was unveiled to expose Death's ugly head. At that, Raishi was at alarm, his heart pounding ever so slightly with fear. Takashi had asked him a question, but he wasn't paying attention. All he knew to do now, was to attack.

"Oh, I guess that's why you are here,"

Rakashi spoke in a matter of manner, Nyanko still somewhat perched on his shoulder. Knowing where the screech came from, Raishi merely looked in the distance, and took a deep breath before talking facing Takashi once more to address him.

"Okay here is the situation. For some time now, there have been attacks on local settlements around Iwagakure by what have been described is mutated animals. Frankly, we don't have the time for a full description of what they look like, as they come in all shapes and sizes, but just know that they are ruthless animals, and have been the cause of the death you've seen...sensed on our way here. So be on guard. Stay close, and follow me."

Upon saying that, Raishi then dashed towards the source of the screech, hoping that Takashi was following  him closely. Of course he had no idea how Takashi would manage to follow him, being blind and all, but he had faith in the young shinobi's abiilities. Why am I calling him yound...he's just a few years younger than I am! he thought to himself jokingly. The road continued on to join the path of a roading spiralling up one of the biggest mountains in the land. There was another screech, coming from somwhere along the side of the mountain, so Raishi ran along to path that went upwards, spiralling around the mountain. The path itself was about 5 meters wide. After a while, they had gained some altitude, so Raishi stopped to try and figure out if they were still on the right path. Of course, the smell was exceedingly worse than it had been when they were on ground. We're definitely closer... he thought to himself carefully.

Then all of a sudden, Raishi heard multiple screeches like the one they had heard initially, but this time, it was coming from all around them. Death was creeping in on them, its fingers clawing at their nostrils. Raishi looked around himself alarmingly, and then he saw them. There ontop of them, climbing down the side of the mountain at alarming speeds, were indescribably grotesque monsters. Acting quickly, Raishi wove handseals before slamming his hand on the mountain wall that the monsters were clawind down on. The wall itself began to heat up, as veins of lava appeared on the surface, melting it. There were about 3 creatures, but they did not persist, and instead continued advancing towards Raishi and Takashi. That should slow them down Raishi thought, before throwing three kunai at the creatures' respective heads. The lifeless bodies of the creature continued sliding down the mountain wall, the lava burning them more and more as the slid. Finally, they reached the platform that Raishi and Takashi were on, with the intoxicating smell of burnt garbage.

"Well that was quick.."

He looked at Takashi and smiled, before once again hearing the screech. he spun round, realising that there were more beasts: 3 climbing from a platform below them towards them, 2 coming from in front of their path, and  2 behind their path. They were trapped.

"Looks like I spoke too soon. You ready?"

With that, Raishi weaved a handsign, and a shadow clone appeared. The shadow clone quickly jumped off the platform with two shuriken in hand, missiling towards the group of beasts climbing towards them. HE targeted for the beasts in the middle, and shoved both kunai into what seemed to be his head. Upon doing this, the two other beasts used the clone's attention on the middle beast, to attack it. So, the two other beasts successfully attacked the clone, biting into either side of  the clone as they entire lump of 4 bodies fell of the mountain. Within seconds, the clone exploded, taking with it the two other beasts. It stank even more.

Raishi, on the other hand, had charged for the two beasts in the front of their path. Although as he charged towards them, he'd moulded chakra into his hands, before releasing them as shuriken towards the perceived heads of the animals. 4 shuriken per head. Before they even reached Raishi, the bodies dropped dead, the brains fried.

Now finished, Raishi turned round to Takashi, hoping to see how he was faring with his own two opponents. Of course, he didn't expect him to fail, as he had  proven to be a more than capable shinobi thus far. However, he was interested in his techniques, as he hadn't seen him actually fight. After watching Takashi, Raishi would walk towards him, before asking if he would like Raishi to direct him back to the village.

245/315:

EXIT
TWC:2256
Mission: 1500/1500
Jutsu: D Rank 750/750
Leftover: 6

Takashi's calmness probably could be explained, because he has never seen death. He has killed, but he had no idea how gruesome and terrible a death was. What color was blood? How did slithing a throat look like? What were the fear in the eyes of the dead? Why were broken bones and dislocated joints disgusting? What does tears looks like? The boy has never witnessed a lying naked corpse with rotten meat instead of a muscular body, that had worms multiplying inside it. Worms crawling out of a person's mouth - not disgusting to Takashi. You could call these perks of a blind shinobi.
There is just one occasion when the young shinobi has lost someone dear to him - it is his parents. He isn't even sure if he has lost them for he has never seen the corpses, thus he believes he can still find them. It is the only bad memory of death he can relate to. Otherwise Takashi would probably make a good murdering machine - there is no sight that would strike fear in Takashi.

After the creepy screech, the Iwa-nin explained some things to Takashi - why he was there, what was going on and what they were going to do. Takashi wasn't a good listener and got lost in his words after almost two sentences. Wasn't it for Nyanko, the boy would not have reacted and followed the jounin. The boy wasn't even sure why and where he was running now, it was just pure trust for Nyanko - the cat applied pressure to the front of the boy's shoulder and almost instinctively Takashi followed the cat's lead.
As they advanced into the unknown, Takashi too could finally smell it. It was a foul smell and it raised negativity in Takashi, of course. This allowed him to focus his senses even more and be aware of his surroundings just by his hearing - he could hear the wind hitting trees, leaves and birds on the branches. This gave the blind boy a general idea of the area he was currently in. Nyanko didn't even have to describe it for Takashi to be able to even utilize some of the things nearby - like tree trunks or heaps of dirt. Another screech - it made Takashi take a kunai in his hand. Those definitely were the creatures the jounin had told him about - it was better to be prepared.

The screeches didn't stop - in fact they occured all around the party. It was not only creepy, but also dangerous. Takashi could only keep his balance for the jounin's reaction and decision making didn't match Takashi's. He could only hear the ground cracking and was focusing on holding the balance. It didn't go too hard, his feet cramped into the ground and Nyanko helping coordinate his feet around the place. The two feline creatures gave no attention to the more experienced jounin for they had problems on their own. "Two beasts. Bloody, dark, thick fur. Huge claws on every limb. Mouths full of gigantic teeth. Black eyes," was the description Nyanko gave his master upon seeing the hostile creatures. This didn't give them any advantage in particular, it was just general information. Was it necessary? No, but Nyanko was still in training.
The beasts were succesfully dodging the lava streams and hastily advancing the party. It would be bothersome to deal with both of them at once, thus Takashi weaved Rat and Snake seals and held up the Earth Release seal with his left hand. He didn't need both hands to deal with one monster at a time. Surprisingly, this worked on both beasts - apparently Takashi's flashy robe brought attention to his hand movements.
Both monsters slowed down incredibly - to them the ground was not only cracking and overflowing with lava, but also turning into deep and thick mud. But the young Nekomata had underestimated the two beasts for their legs were huge and strong. Their struggle didn't last long enough for Takashi to kill anyone. In this brief period, the boy only succesfully threw 6 senbons and hit the back of  creature with all six of those. Nothing lethal - just uncomfortable for someone with as thick fur as those things. Though painful screeches emerged from their mouths. Just before they managed to escape the lava got to their feet and burned them therefore slowing them down.
The distance between the two hostile creatures and Takashi with Nyanko on his shoulder were about 20 meters. It shouldn't take longer than 3 seconds before they make a direct contact. And who knows what kind of distance they could cover in a jump?
But there was one more trick up Takashi's sleeve. More precisely - in his pocket. The boy quickly revealed a vial that contained many things. He would not dare open this on any normal situation. But he remembered well that this liquid burned well. "Take this, demons!" in fact, it was quite accurate accusation for these beasts truly could remind of demons for some people. The boy threw the vial at a patch of lava most near the source of claws scraping the ground (where the beasts were coming from). There were enough lava around the place for some of the liquid to spill in the lava and result in an explosion that would temporarily stop the monsters and put them out of motion. But this was not the stop. Using this distraction, Nyanko jumped off Takashi's shoulder and covered the distance fast enough to jump on one of the beasts who was dazed by the sudden explosion. Nyanko would release his claws on the beasts face as well. It was mere scratches, but this beast would now focus on getting the annoying furball off his face.
Meanwhile Takashi used another of his earth chakra genjutsus to make the other beast fall into the lava. This wasn't a trapping technique, quite the opposite: this was falling technique. After a quick flash of three consecutive hand seals and a stomp of his feet, Takashi could hear painful screeching for the beast had indeed fallen in lava and it's body was getting burned everywhere. There was no way to recover from getting consumed by the hot liquid that the vial's contents had only amplified.
Taking the care of the other monster wasn't that difficult: Takashi knew exactly where Nyanko was positioned at and crossed this distance in one leap. Kunai in hand, Takashi forced the sharp metal in the beast's neck, slicing arteries and killing it instantly. Before the dead body hit ground, Nyanko quickly jumped back on Takashi shoulder and guided the boy back to the safety of jounin. "We're done," Nyanko addressed the strong ninja of Iwagakure after seeing that there were no living beasts left attempting to charge the jounin, and he was just watching over Takashi and Nyanko.

It was a really nice gesture of jounin to offer a guidance back to village, after their job here was done. They took this little journey slowly and Nyanko didn't have to stressfully guide Takashi through forest in fast pace. The boy finally learned shinobi's name - Raishi and promised him some tea once again. Their way back to village wasn't quit for Takashi asked all kinds of different questions, the same way he would if Raishi would be buying tea from the boy. When Raishi got too vague on his answers or started asking Takashi some more questions: the boy would gladly answer freely speaking about Konohagakure, his skills, his clan, his travel experience and his positive affirmations of Iwagakure.

Chakra: 165/190

Jutsus:

[Exit]
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