It was a calm day, the breeze blew softly from the east, gently rustling the leaves of the forest, birds chirped and called from a distance, and the tantalizing scent of many different flowers wafted on the breeze. But, the sharp tang of metal on metal echoed through the boughs of the trees. A young man was hidden among the trunks of the old trees, flipping and spinning through their branches. The metallic clashes were from shuriken and kunai deflecting off each other or from shuriken wrapping themselves around the metal guide wires attached to them. Zinan was training his bukijutsu, as it paled in comparison to his natural ninjutsu talent.

The young man ran up the side of a tree's trunk and flipped backwards off of it after climbing a few meters off of the ground. In mid-air, he twisted about and threw three shuriken at three different targets, before landing quietly with his tanto drawn. The blade, which was held barely in sight of his own eyes, caught his attention. It was rusty and bent; a cast-off from a higher ranked shinobi for sure. But it was all he could afford. Zinan's eyes narrowed at its mangled appearance. I really do need to upgrade my gear. His accouterments were lacking in quality, or quantity for that matter, and it pain him so. He was a bukijutsu practitioner, after all; should he not have better gear?

With a whirring flip of the blade, Zinan spun the tanto around and slid it back into its sheathe, which was strapped to his back. The spinning motion of the blade caused him to feel the web glands on his arm, which pulsed slightly. They were starting to refill from his last expenditure of glass web. Zinan paused for a moment and looked at his fingertips, which were visible through his cut off gloves. He brought his hands close to his face and looked at the minuscule hairs that covered them. These hairs were essential to the Kumonosu clan's secret jutsu. Without them, they would cut themselves on their own webs and would not be able to handle them with snapping the filaments.

With a sigh, Zinan lowered his hands and stalked towards the three shuriken that were embedded into their respective targets. Two were dead center, much to his pleasure, but the third was off center and outside of the circle that denoted the inner half of the target. With a scowl, he plucked the shuriken off of the target and stowed it back into his gear pouch, which hung from the back of his belt. He felt around in the belt to make sure all of his tools were there. Thee shuriken, two kunai, and fifty feet of metal wire, and the tanto strapped to his back. That was it, that was all he could afford. Zinan's eyes narrowed. His clan was not wealthy like the Uchiha clan or some of the other, more prestigious clans of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Konoha was a great home for his clan, but come of the other families sickened him.

The genin was pulled from his dour reverie by a heavy foot fall and the rustling of many leaves. Without a thought, Zinan leaped into the air and landed on a tree branch that was ten meters into the trees. He looked towards the direction of the footfall and ruckus of leaves only to see a large bear slowing closing in on his previous location. The bear bore many scars, which ran the length of its back and seemed to have been caused by man-made weapons. The fur around its claws were dyed a dark red; blood that had been stuck in its fur for some time. This bear was a killer of men. Zinan closed his eyes. If only I had set the traps like I normally do, this would not be an issue. His mind ran quickly about how to handle the bear. He knew nothing of its abilities; of how fast it could run, climb, or attack, how far it could jump or last in a chase, of its strength in claw or bite, nothing. If only he had decided to train with someone else, he'd be able to establish an attack plan.

Maybe running was his best option. He could stick to the branches and move through the trees back to the Village. But, what if this was a Ninja Bear. He had heard of Ninja Cats and Ninja Dogs, who was to say that there was no such thing as a Ninja Bear. If the bear was indeed a shinobi, he wouldn't be able to make it to the Village and to safety. He'd have to hide and shelter in place until he could figure out a plan or store enough web to trap the bear.

---

WC: 819

---

Bear Killer:

Shinako kept her breath muffled and picked her way silently through the underbrush. Unlike many Shinobi, she had not yet learned to silence the sound of her automatic bodily functions. Her heart pounded against the inside of her chest, threatening to burst through her ribs. Shinako Nara, was afraid.

The scent of the bear filled her nostrils, and the path of wreckage it left in the foliage of the trees and bushes it broke through with every motion. She had been following the beast for hours, and Shinako had been keeping a close eye on it. In fact, she had developed a certain sense of affinity for the creature. Clad in her usual, maroon qipao dress and white sash, Shinako had maintained a safe distance, having seen that the bear was faster than her. A few times it had caught wind of her, but she had managed to elude it. It was a clumsy creature, but wasn’t without a certain natural charm.

Shinako had reviewed the photographs taken of the attack scenes, and had had to eat a second breakfast to settle the churning in her stomach. Still, it was not the creature, roughly fifty meters ahead of her, that stoked her fear. Something had drawn the bear, and she was afraid that that something was, in fact, a someone. The bear had killed before, even wiping out a group of Genin on patrol. Her Chuunin Sergeant had been too short-staffed to send a squad of Chuunin or a Jounin to take care of this issue, so Shinako was sent on the assignment with strict orders not to engage. She was afraid that, if the bear were to stumble upon another person out in these woods, the odds of that person being capable of handling the situation were slim to none. She might have to create a diversion, or worse, fight to the death with the monster. It was no comfort to her to think that they were both killers.

She was almost certain that she would be able to hold off the creature for at least a little while, but first she had to locate whatever the bear was chasing. It hadn’t paid any attention to her since hearing the metallic clashes through the trees, but it would not do to flaunt caution. Channeling her chakra to her right hand and foot, she sprung into the air, planting them on a tree-trunk and propelling herself into the branches above. She stuck her landing by equalizing the chakra flow to her feet, landing with a dull thud on a thick branch. Her keen eyes picked the best path forward before she began moving, and in the space of about ten seconds she leapt from branch to branch, closing the distance between herself and the bear by thirty meters.

Coming to a halt, and wrapping her left arm around the branch above her for stability, Shinako made herself incredibly still so as to maximize the powers of her senses. The bear had entered a clearing with targets scattered about. She stood on the west side of the open space, downwind of the beast, figuring now that she was so close it would take as much interest in her as whoever it was tracking. Her ears caught on to the dark-haired young man before she caught sight of him. He was a little bit younger than she was, but old enough to be of Chuunin rank, easily. However, in the interest of not allowing the details of the scene to evade her, she noticed the missed target below her. She was no sure-shot, but there was no way she would have missed a stationary target by that margin. Relocating the man, she appraised him, noting the shabby nature of his gear, and realizing that her fears were coming to fruition: he was a Genin.
The Kunoichi located her shadow without so much as looking down, forming it into a thin, dark blade against the branch, extending to her right. The familiar sense of dread and excitement filled her as she reached up to her right ear, brushing her hair from around her earring and allowing it to catch the light. She hoped that the young man would see the signal and realize that he was not alone.

715/715

There was a shimmer of light to his right. It was barely in his line of sight so he almost missed it. In an attempt to not draw attention to himself, Zinan did not move his head to look in that direction, but strained his eyes to their farthest right extreme. There was a woman, who seemed to be just a few years older than him, standing on a branch of a nearby tree. She held onto the the tree branch above her for support. Zinan didn't recognize her but he assumed that she was a Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. This woman had probably been tracking the bear that was now intruding on his training grounds. He couldn't get a good look at her, but if a shinobi was tracking this bear, it meant that this bear was a problem. If a bear of this size was a problem, they probably would not send a lone ninja, unless that ninja was strong enough to handle it. Hopefully, this woman was a chuunin, and not a genin like himself.

Zinan turned his eyes back to the bear below him and gave it a closer inspection. It was a rather large black bear and it stomped about with a maddened behavior. The bear was a killer and, if it could be given human attributes, Zinan would say it was psychopathic. He could not size the bear up, nor could he determine whether or not he could handle the bear, if he was attacked. He could, possibly, back the woman up, but only if she was an offensive shinobi. If she was, they could fall into the generic Formation B, with the woman being the attacker and Zinan being the supportive fighter. But if she was supportive just like them, he was not certain how they would fight the bear.

His web glands twitched again. Another three meters of web waiting in the glands on his arms. A breeze fluttered through the leaves and tugged at his long sleeves. Though it made him nervous about drawing the bear's attention, it reassured him that his arms were free enough to be able to use his clan's jutsu if needed. But for now, he needed to remain still and quiet. Zinan needed to communicate with the woman, but speaking would draw attention to himself, as would messaging through hand signs. He was essentially stuck. Zinan would have to wait for the woman to make the first move.

---

Webs of Woven Glass:

---

WC: 420
Total WC: 1239

The young man seemed paralyzed with fear, or indecision, or both, and she could not blame him. If her perceptions about the bear were correct, it had already located the two of them and was just deciding what to do. Its senses were better than her own by quite a bit. In fact, it was physically superior in every way. Shinako signaled to the young man, utilizing the signal for animal, fast, cover, and finally signaling for him to fall back. She hoped that he understood. Orienteering had been a large part of survival training in academy, and had included hand-signals for the field.

As she had surmised, the young man had been deliberately avoiding motion. The slight shift of her body weight as she signaled caused the branch on which she perched to sway and rustle, drawing the attention of the animal below. With surprising speed and dexterity, the beast roared and charged. For an instant, Shinako locked eyes with the creature, and knew that this would not end well for one of them. Unfortunately, she did not share the luxury of approaching the situation with reckless abandon. Whether she liked it or not, she was not responsible for the life of the other Shinobi.

The bear launched itself into the air, easily clearing the height that it needed to reach Shinako’s branch. However, once it was airborne, the Kunoichi released the chakra from her feet and allowed herself to fall backwards, somersaulting from the branch and down to the ground, allowing the bear to crash through the foliage and pass over her. In order to make sure that it would not land on her, she sprinted toward the direction the creature had come from, reaching into her pouch for a jingling, silver trinket as a few strands of her hair began to grow and harden.

The strands snaked around her wrists, forming protective bracelets of wire with their coils. Deftly, Shinako attached the bell to the end of the strand on her left wrist, adding on a Senbon needle for good measure. As the bear came crashing down, the Kunoichi turned and threw the needle, producing a loud, clear, jingling sound. She hoped that the young man had taken her advice and was, by now, out of range of what she was attempting to do.

Unthreatened by the needle, the bear allowed it to lodge harmlessly in the thick skin of its back, where the needle-wire combination rattled to a halt with an abrupt tinkling sound. Shinako pulled slightly on the length of wire to produce the clear, sharp sound once again, and saw her technique go into effect almost instantly. The bear lurched in confusion as its vision doubled and then tripled at that. Shinako figured that the creature was so used to relying on its keen senses that her only hope was to make those senses unreliable. Her arms crossed in front of her in a protective stance, coated in the makeshift armor of her maiden’s hair, she waited for the bear to make its next move. She hoped she was ready.

515/1,230

Chakra: 165/200:

The woman was signalling to him. He could barely make out the signs, but he think he understood. "Animal," "Fast," "Cover," "Fall Back." That could have meant many things. It could have meant "The animal is fast, fall back and get to cover." But Zinan thought that it meant "Animal. Fall back and get to cover quickly." She had to have been warning him of the bear. He knew that the bear was dangerous, that's why he was not moving. But, with this lady here, giving him commands, he felt confident that he could get to safety.

The opportunity for Zinan to fall back came with a rustle of leaves and a bouncing branch. The woman drew the bear's attention away from the genin and he took the chance to leap away from his current spot. The bear was not looking in his direction so it was the prime time to move. Zinan bounded, branch to branch, away from the bear, though he never turned his back to it. The genin watched as the bear jumped through the air at the other shinobi and scowled. She'd definitely need his help to take care of this bear.

Zinan stopped at, what he judged, fifty meters away from the bear and the woman. He heard the tingling of a bell and watched as the bear faltered in his step. Genjutsu? he thought. Zinan had heard of audio genjutsu. They were particularly potent, as it was hard to be clear of the range of captivating effects. From what he could tell, Zinan was not affected by the genjutsu. He could see the effect is was having on the bear that attacked them and wondered how long the genjutsu would work.

Zinan, in preparation to support the woman, pushed chakra through his web glands and encouraged the production of his clan's spider silk kekkei genkai. His glands bulged from the production and Zinan shook his sleeves. He was making sure that his glands were hidden from view, as they were a prime target for attack. He looked left and right and decided to work his way around behind the woman. Zinan took off through the branches again, this time circling around behind the woman's new position. He kept a good distance between him and the, now jingling, bear, hoping to keep from getting caught in the genjutsu.

Knowing that he no longer needed to be quiet, Zinan called out to the woman. "I am fifteen meters behind you and six meters to your left." There was no reason to keep his position a secret; their opponent was not sentient, that he could tell. It was a man-killing bear, but not a shinobi bear. That would prove to be beneficial to the two of them. "You take the lead, I will back you up." She may have wanted Zinan to flee, but he wasn't one to leave a comrade to fend for themselves.

---

Chakra 145/150:

---

Webs of Woven Glass Produced:

---

WC: 495
Total WC: 1734

The young man had not run, as Shinako hoped that he would. This would make things difficult. If she only had herself to worry about, creating a sufficient diversion to escape would have been easy. All of her clones looked like her, and such a tactic would have left the bear guessing for at least a few minutes while she beat a hasty retreat, perhaps by lying flat in a shadow. If presented with diverse targets, however, there was always the chance that the bear would pick the unique option, going after her comrade. This would require a change in tactics. They would have to confront the bear together, head on. Much to Shinako’s chagrin, this had now become a kill mission.

“I’m Nara Shinako. I was indicating that you should run, but it appears as though the will of fire in you is a bit too strong.”

She smiled, even though the young man could not see the gesture. Perhaps he would hear it in her voice and gain the confidence she intended to impart. The bells jingled once again, and Shinako realized that she could not maintain the technique any longer. She could not risk her ally being caught in the area of effect if the bear charged. Cutting the chakra flow through the wire, she snapped the strand back, leaving only the senbon and bell attached to their foe. This way, at least, they would be able to hear the bear coming if they lost sight of it. She wrapped the loose end of the wire neatly around her left wrist as she strategized.

“The creature only fights physically, so our Ninjutsu will give us the edge we need. I may be able to hold it still, but only for a few moments.”

The bear was incredibly strong. The paralytic force of her shadow could overcome it, but not for very long without digging deep into her chakra reserves. The feral nature of the beast’s senses would render most of her Genjutsu useless. In those moments in which the bear gathered its senses for a charge, Shinako hoped that the young man behind her was really packing a punch. It seemed, for all the world, as though they were in over their heads.

The black monster turned, senses now completely free of the illusory effects of her auditory jutsu. Its eyes were focused and full of hatred at the unpleasantness it had just been subjected to. With a primal roar, it charged. Though Shinako was about thirty meters from the animal, it more than halved that distance in a single second, catching her by surprise. The only thing reaction that she could take to such tremendous speed was instinctual.

Her shadow lay between her and the bear, and shot out with speed almost matching the bear’s own, meeting the hulking brute scarcely four meters away from Shinako’s face. The bear was in striking distance as the Kunoichi felt her shadow pull taut, rooting the two mortal foes in place. She could smell the bear’s breath from this distance, and its left arm hovered above her right shoulder. Her jutsu had gone into effect not a moment too soon. Beneath their feet, an inky expanse of shadow connected Shinako and the killer bear and paralyzed them in place.

“Quickly! Strike now, or, if you can’t, get out of here!”

Shinako formed the seal of the rat for strength and concentration as she felt the bear struggle against her shadow. In her haste to enact the technique, she had failed to pour enough yin chakra into it. The beast’s physical might was tremendous, and Shinako’s shadow was barely holding on. She remembered all of the stories in Lord Shikamatsu’s works about Lord Yang vs. Lady Yin, and could not help but feel that, in the real world, Yang won almost every time.

The bear roared again in frustration and Shinako squinted against the foul gust it produced. From this distance the bellow was almost deafening. Combined with its growling and grunting, Shinako was unable to use her ears to locate the young man behind her, and was unsure if he had run or if he was launching a counter strike. The Shinobi in her hoped that he had turned tail, taken her name, and reported her untimely death to her brothers and the Hokage. The more selfish inclinations in her—the dark places that wanted, above all else, to live—hoped that he had stayed to put up a fight. As futile as it seemed to wage war with the behemoth before them, especially when it roared in such a way, there was something deep inside of Shinako that roared back.

780/2,010

Chakra 150/200:

Zinan was not the type to run from a fight easily. Especially if that fight was against something that had interrupted his training. The genin got riled up easily and over a myriad of different things. Coming between him and his training was a surefire way to piss him off. So no, despite Shinako's encouragement and wish for him to run, Zinan did not, is not, nor will he run from this fight. Yes, the bear seemed to be more than he could handle; maybe more than he could handle with the Nara by his side. But, it was a fight that he had now made his own.

"I would not what is in me 'the Will of Fire,'" the dark-haired teen smirked back, though, like Nara Shinako's smile, his would go only heard and not seen. "I'm Kumonosu Zinan." Zinan resisted the urge to itch his forearms; his web glands produced another three meters of web, though this time it was his natural production of web.

He listened to the woman's advice and understood that this would be a ninjutsu fight. Good, he thought, this will be right up my alley. As the bear charged forward, Zinan watched, only long enough, to calculate the vector and velocity in which the bear was traveling. As the black beast lunged at Shinako, Zinan leaped higher into the trees and bounded towards the encounter. When the Nara called out for his attack, Zinan was already in the middle of his motions.

As an afterthought, he appreciated that Shinako had managed to still the beast, long enough for him to attack. Zinan jumped from his branch, high above the bear, and soared towards another, lower, branch in a different tree. As he leaped, three shuriken launched from Zinan's hands, accompanied by the sound of a spool of wire unwinding. The metallic whirring ceased when the three shuriken embedded into the back of the arrested bear. Zinan landed on the other branch with a soft grunt and flashed a couple of hand signs. The movement caused light to reflect off of the thin metal wire, alerting Shinako to their presence. This light was quickly replaced by bright blue, electrical light as Zinan released his jutsu. Raiton energy ran the length of the wire, from his fingers to the shuriken that were embedded into the bear's back.

The attack, though one of the stronger ones that Zinan could perform, would not do much to the bear. It would anger it, sure, but at this point anything would; but, the electrocution would cause it slow for a bit. Maybe the slowed movement would give the pair of Leaf shinobi the edge that they needed.

---

Chakra 130/150:

---

Webs of Woven Glass Produced:

---

WC: 455
Total WC: 2189

Shinako was unable to track the motions of the young man until she heard the crackle of electricity behind the roaring monster. She saw the bear’s muscles seize with something other than is struggle against her shadow. Whatever technique the Genin had used, it was not particularly effective in harming the bear, but it did allow Shinako’s shadow to get a firmer hold. It reached up with hands like black vices, even darker than the animal’s fur, and with comparable strength. For the first time, something other than anger and blood-lust registered on the bear’s features. It appeared confused, almost scared, as it felt the hands creep up its legs.

Shinako knew that she would not have enough time to strangle the bear, and doubted that her shadow could levy enough force against the sinewy column of its neck to do so. Thus, the hand which crept up the bear’s right leg moved past the neck and onto the creature’s face, settling on the side of its head. The on other leg, the hand crept towards the center of bear’s mass, finding exactly the anatomical feature Shinako hoped to find there. From now on, she would think of the bear as ‘he.’

Simultaneously, the hands squeezed, the upper hand plunging an inky thumb into the bear’s right eye, and the lower hand crushing the pendulous testicles hanging between the bear’s legs. He began to roar, before finding the breath taken right out of him. Instead, he produced but a pitiful whimper. Propped up by the shadow, the bear could not even fall down, though she felt him go limp. With a sense of pity, Shinako almost stopped. However, pain was temporary, and did not mean that the creature had been defeated.

Her shadow’s lower hand squeezed until it felt nothing but a ‘pop,’ and then a jelly-like pulp. The bear would begin bleeding internally very soon. The upper hand moved across the bear’s face and crushed the left eye, before entering his mouth and taking a firm grasp of his tongue, near the root. The creature whimpered freely now, and tear streamed down Shinako’s face as she kept going. The shadow simultaneously pulled the brute’s scrotum and tongue, producing the effect of opening its mouth wide, in a silent, choking scream.

“Quickly, your Tonto. Its brain is open to attack.”

Shinako’s voice shook with pity, but her shadow was merciless. The creature had ceased to struggle, but she dared not release her penumbral grasp. Her mind flew back to the young boy she had strangled and then abandoned in the forest, hoping that his teammates had found him in time to resuscitate him. Even if she were to relent at this point, the bear would most-likely die from his injuries in the wild. In short, the Kunoichi was asking Zinan to deliver an act of kindness with his sword. Shinako closed her eyes. She was responsible, but she did not wish to witness the slaughter that was coming next.

500/2,510

Chakra 125/200:

Zinan winced and then smiled mercilessly once he realized what Shinako had done. The other shinobi had effectively castrated the bear and then blinded it, all with her shadow. Her actions had award the Nara clan with another shinobi that appreciated their abilities with shadows. The shadow continued and pulled on the tongue and scrotum of the man-eater bear. The Nara called out to Zinan to attack and he responded in an instant.

With a quick tug on the wires, the three shuriken were pulled free from the bear's thick, black hide and dropped to the ground. They produced a little dribble of blood, but that discomfort would, definitely, have been lost in the agony that the tendrils of shadow were causing to the bear. With a twitch of his fingers, the shuriken snapped up into the air and, after another slight motion from Zinan, they whirred through the air and looped around the bear's thick neck. With a strained tug, Zinan tightened the wire around the bear's neck to the point where the metallic thread cut through the fur and into the skin.

Zinan released the wires from his fingers and raised his arms towards the bear, his hands up and palms facing the beast. From within his flowing sleeves, long strands of near-invisible thread sprayed outwards and across the trapped bear. Zinan flicked his arms about, causing the webs to entangle around the man-killer's legs and body. Zinan had released all fifteen meters of the web that he had built up in one fluid motion. He snatched the ends of the webs as they sprayed out, wrapped them around the branch he stood on, securing them so they would not fall.

The Kumonosu reached down and touched the webs with his index fingers. He channeled his chakra through his fingers and into the webs, hardening them and giving them the properties of razor sharp wire. Staying safe from the sharp web, thanks to the minuscule hairs on his hands, Zinan pulled on the webs to cause them, too, to bite 3/4 of an inch into the hide of the bear.

Righting himself, Zinan drew his tanto, and spun it once. It was a very poorly made blade, but it was what he had. With a slight grunt of effort, the young man propelled himself skyward once more. He soared out over the entangled, enraged, and pained bear, with his tanto above his head. He had the blade in a reverse grip, held by both hands, and the blade was aimed directly at the back of the bear's head. The genin dropped like a meteor towards the bear and made contacted with a solid thud.

At the precise moment of impact, Zinan transferred all the momentum from the fall into the point of the tanto and felt it impact with the back of the bear's skull. He thought the blade was not going to puncture, but he felt a cracking sensation. The blade had punctured through the skull and into the back of the bear's head. He had hoped that he severed the spinal cord but was not certain.

He looked about for the other shinobi, his face splattered with blood and eyes wild. Deep down, a primal feeling surged through his body in enjoyment of the kill. He spotted the other shinobi with her eyes clamped shut. He called out; "Well? Is it dead?"

---

Chakra 120/150::

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Webs of Woven Glass Produced:

---

WC: 577
Total WC: 2766

Shinako felt the bear go completely limp against the grasp of her shadow just before feeling a warm, foamy spatter strike her face. Her eyes opened wide as she saw Zinan appear over the hulking figure of the bear, and the situation threatened to overwhelm her. In an instant, her shadow released the bear, and the Kunoichi stumbled backwards, reeling away from the scene as the sting of bile rose in her throat. She doubled over just as she made it to the tree line, releasing her vomit as her eyes filled with tears, which began to run and mingle with the blood on her face.

Behind her, Shinako heard the sound of the bear’s massive weight toppling and colliding with the ground with a sickening thud. Despite her best efforts, her stomach forcibly emptied itself into the underbrush again. This time, she had to act quickly to keep her hair out of the way. For a few long moments she drew deep, shaky breaths, her lips quivering. She used the end of her sash to wipe her face, though she remained doubled over in case her gut protested again, hands grasping her pants around the knee, just to keep from shaking.

Around the clearing, the birds began chirping again, going about their business now that they sensed that the large predator was no longer a threat. It would have been rather nice, on the lovely day, with its sunshine and pleasant temperature, but it went by unnoticed by Shinako. Standing straight, she quickly untied her sash without looking at it, not wanting to see the blood that she had just removed from her face. She looked up at the sky as she flung the garment deep into the woods, and away from herself. She turned back to the scene, careful not to look at the bear, and locking eyes with Zinan so as to avoid it.

“I’m sorry. I….”

She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say, or how to say it. The prospect of taking life had always bothered her, but to see such a noble creature brought so low, so unceremoniously had triggered something in Shinako that was incredibly difficult to articulate. She was embarrassed at the thought of anyone seeing her like this, let alone a lower-ranking Shinobi.

“….I….thank you for your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

She brought her left hand to her mouth and broke eye-contact, not wanting to linger on the subject for too long. She pretended to scan the surrounding area for any further danger, knowing that there was none, but wanting to keep from looking at the bear for as long as she possibly could.

“I think it’s….erm….dead, but we shouldn’t let our guard down.”

Spoken aloud, the sentiment sounded paranoid and ridiculous. The harmless buzz of nature had resumed around them, and it was only Shinako that appeared to still be shaken by the encounter. She stumbled as she moved towards the edge of the clearing.

500/3,010

Chakra 125/200

Zinan watched, with mild disgust apparent on his face, as Shinako emptied the contents of her stomach in the edge of the clearing. Did killing make this shinobi ill? That thought was preposterous to the genin. Shinobi are tools of killing, tools of death. Yet, here was one killing machine that revolt and vomited at the act of killing. Zinan schooled his expression before the woman turned around, though he had time, as she vomited once more. She had, apparently, wiped her face clean and tossed whatever rag she used into the woods. The genin's eyes narrowed on it.

"You might want to dispose of that better. Your sweat is on it and so are skin and hair particles. You do not want an enemy village to find it." It was a rookie thing to do, leaving traces of yourself for others to find. Maybe this woman was not as skilled as what Zinan had thought.

"Why are you thanking me?" This woman was strange. "If you had not come along, I am not certain what would have happened to me." Then he watched as she feigned to observe the area. Even an academy student would have known that they were safe and that no other threats were around. She was clearly trying to make face for her lack of composure. Zinan decided to give the lady her dignity and played along. "You are right. Maybe we should head back to Konoha. He itched at his glands; already they were replacing the webs that he had expelled.

Zinan slid from the carcass of the bear and cut at the wire that had strangled the bear's neck. He needed to remove all evidence of human involvement at the scene. He pocketed his shuriken after recovering them and quickly gathered the targets that he had mounted about. The Kumonosu left his webs alone; they would decompose in a few short days and made the scene seem like a giant spider attacked the bear. Close inspection would tell otherwise, but ANBU and other organizations were formed to erase all traces of shinobi presence.

He stopped and looked at the lady. "Well?" The tone was full of angst and impatient.

---

Webs of Woven Glass Produced::

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WC: 368
Total WC: 3134

Shinako knew that Zinan was right, but didn't quite like his tone. It raised something defiant in her. Even though she knew it was probably for the best, she decided not to pick up her sash. She told herself that her desire to not see the blood that had coated her face was not a factor in that decision. Besides, the village would send a sweeper team out to the scene after she made her report. For now, she supposed she would escort the Genin back to the village. The report would probably be accurate enough to allow a neat end to this situation, as she remembered the sequence of events vividly. However, there was always the possibility that the sweeper team would need her to trek back out here.

"Yes, let's head in."

She shot a stern look at Zinan, though it was not exactly dominant or cruel. It was the look that a substitute teacher might cast at her students to let them know that she was in charge of the situation. Shinako finally brought herself to look at the bear, and the strange webbing that coated its fur. It did not move an inch, and she was relatively certain that her comrade had succeeded in ending its life. Even if that were not the case, it would not get very far injured as it was. She would not go over to confirm its death, as she had been taught in academy, but would probably tell the slight white lie that she had. It had not been her mission to slay the creature, necessarily, but she was now confident that the threat had been neutralized.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

Shinako was not sure if she had asked that before, and could not convince herself that she much cared about the answer. Zinan’s tone did not betray any distress, other than, perhaps, his annoyance at having been so rudely interrupted. Her speech was still disjointed slightly, and the question seemed almost out of place as she slipped into the woods, moving in the direction of the village. The primal scream she had felt in confronting the bear had completely faded with the death of her foe. She was tired, and wanted to go home.


375/3,385

Bear Killer, 1500/1500:

Training:

Zinan kept his eyes on the woman as he went about his business removing the evidence of the conflict here and watched as the woman refused to go and get the scarf that she discarded into the woods. He let out a disparaging "tsk" before he righted himself. A shinobi should not rely on the sweeper teams to erase their presence. The sweeper team was designed to erase the rest of the evidence that the nin themselves could not erase. This wanton disregard for individual responsibility and general practice annoyed Zinan and he debated whether or not to report this to the administration of the village.

"I am not hurt." The genin flicked his arms out to his sides, which brought his loose sleeves back down to his wrists and popped his elbows. He brought his arms back down to his sides and tucked his thumbs insides his fists. Applying a little pressure with his first two fingers on both hands, he cracked the knuckles of his thumbs. He looked about to get his bearings and followed the chunnin towards the village.

He was irritated that his training was, once again, interrupted. Every time that he managed to get some time on his own, he was either called into the administration building or given orders for another mission. How was he supposed to get better as a ninja if he could never train? These agitated thoughts were his company as he followed the Nara woman back to Konoha.

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WC: 248
Total WC: 3382

Strength: D-2 > D-3 = 450 Words
Speed: D-2 > D-3 = 450 Words
Perception: D-2 > D-3 = 450 Words
Endurance: D-2 > D-3 = 450 Words
Reaction Time: D-2 > D-3 = 450 Words
WC Remaining: 1332 Words

Jutsu Training:

Starch Syrup Capturing Field: 1000 Words:

WC Remaining: 132