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Calming the Savage Beast. pt2 (B-Rank Mission / Hanbei/ Private.) Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:39 am
Hanbei~
D-rank
It had been a long sad afternoon
No sooner than the Chuunin got back to the village, Hanbei could feel the tension in the air. Violet eyes looked to and fro to see what all the commotion was about, looking at the crowd Hanbei had looked to one of the passers by, tapping them on the arm to see what all the commotion was about. It seemed that a large black bear had killed a group of people at the mill just outside of town. Hanbei couldn't help but wonder, that he had just gotten rid of a large black bear in the forest in that area. Asking if the mill was to the west, the person nodded before going about their daily business. Hanbei could not help but be confused. If they had all been killed after he had already gotten rid of the large black bear, there had to be something wrong with the results.
Pushing past the crowd to view the scene, it seemed there were a host of ninja crowded around the administration building and the missions board that was hung up in town as there was yet another one seeking the death of a deadly bear placed up upon it, identical to the one that Hanbei had torn off the board no longer than earlier that same day. The proof of his concord kept in his hands as he approached the person putting up the new poster, asking him what exactly this all meant.
"Sir, I'd taken this mission, I have the part here to prove it, I went to the mill, questioned those men, hunted the bear and came back here, I didn't hear any screams or cries that could be from any bear that i know. And I even bought back its nails and teeth to show that I had done the deed. I'd delivered the bear to be skinned and pelted to the tanners not half a days travel away. That bear is dead. "
'Hanbei didn't expect to hear the result.'
The person putting it up claimed that there was a survivor, that they had given an account of the attack from the pitch black beast. But unlike the one who had gone wild, almost training and adapting off of ninja, this one seemed different. The other bear had only attacked those who had wandered into its territory, hunting men and women that passed through. But this one seemed different, it was a larger stronger male bear who seemed to roll in a fog with him when he moved. He attacked the mill viciously and mauled any and all of the men there. The few survivors recounted that they had wounded the beast with a fork and an axe, but the beast didn't so much as slow or bat an eye. It was as if it was in a frenzy, in a rage that could not be stopped. The weapons lodged in it, it killed those who assailed it in a single deadly swipe.
The way that the person seemed to retell the tale was as if they had been attacked by a demon, and that usually meant there was something deeper at work than that of a normal beast hunting people. If this one was going out of its way to hunt things down, it must have been because it was hunting Hanbei. The boy was convinced it was a spirit seeking vengeance, it was tracking the scent of the ninja who killed the other bear back to where it had been, which meant, that the next target of the creatures' wrath would be the forward ninja post to the west of the village. Hanbei shouted to send word to those ninja immediately and tell them to pull back to the city as he body flickered out as fast as he could in order to reach the location. Although he knew other, stronger ninja would relay the message first, he wanted to double over his own path in order to lure the bear away.
The trip took the boy almost half an hour, but, once he finally reached the location of the watchpost, it was already destroyed. Something hulking within it still like a shadow as Hanbei could hear the sound of breaking wood and cracking glass. Holding his breath, hanbei would move closer, he knew that the beast that was within the house would be able to smell him, it was confirming that Hanbei had the same scent as the person that had killed the bear in the forest. Channeling his chakra in the same way he had before with his medical sight and his needles, although he could hear, feel and smell the bear from the shed, as soon as he activated the technique, it was not there. The thought of hanbei's thoughts being realized was shocking and horrifying... because as he activated a technique that allowed him to see all signs of biological life and nothing else...
'The area was pitch, there was no life signs at all.'
Shocked hanbei cancelled the technique just in time to hear the massive creature shatter through the wall of the building. Summoning his needles, hanbei knew that the fight would not be over so quickly this time. Throwing as many as he could with his sitting needle technique, they jammed into the shoulders of the bear spirit as hanbei dived to a side. A swipe narrowly missing the boy as he quickly used his hand-signs to deliver a stream of needle hell into the side of the bear. Undeterred the spirit roared, charching up the river as hanbei used his twin cast technique to double the force of the wave. Ignoring the needles entirely, the bear took one more swipe, slamming hanbei in the side of the shoulder and hurtling him through the watch house and out the other side, laying him out on the ground. Groaning and barely consious.
How the hell did this happen? Hanbei had ended the suffering of the man killing bear humanely, and done his best to respect its body. But... perhaps there was more to the story than he was lead to believe, perhaps the stories he had been told about the bear were wrong... Then it dawned on him, that the bear that he had killed was a female bear that had been in a rage. Female bears were not often territorial, they wondered in search of food. Male bears had territory. If a female bear was ever rooted in one place it was for one reason and one reason alone... It had cubs! The mother was protecting its young, the bear that had been hunted was not the mother, but one of the cubs, the loss of a child and at the risk of loosing the other in the group, the mother bunkered down, no longer risking moving in order to defend the rest of its young from the ninja!
With the mother dead, there was no longer anyone to care for the cubs, nature was out of balance, and Hanbei needed to fix it as quickly as possible, or the spirit of the cubs' patriarch, their totem spirit would hunt Hanbei to the ends of the earth. Looking at the bear as it came around the building, the Guanyin knew that there would be no reasoning with the spirit now, he had to placate it one way or the other. The creature was running on nothing but malice and anger for the creature that had killed its kin. Its charges. But Hanbei was now wounded, and was only able to move so quickly at any given time. There was one technique that was meant to harm the immortal though, although it was meant to be the legendary twin needles of the clan, he would simply have to deal with the less legendary standard version.
Summoning the dharma and drakpo needles both at once, he would wait for the final moment as the bear was over-top of him, looming down, as it opened its jaws to swallow him, hanbei thrust out with the blue needle, putting it in the creatures' mouth and holding it open as the healing technique washed over its form, regenerating its wounds from earlier as Hanbei used the confusion to escape out from under the bear and run into the forest. He had a couple of moments to get through, so, activating his medical sight again, he ran through the forest to find the missing bear-cub. It didn't take long for the rage of the spirit to take over once again as he would finally lock onto the cub, 200 meters away. Hanbei would charge for it in a beeline, but for every meter he made, the large bear behind him was 3m closer. It was fast, faster than him...
But he had to make it...
Closer and closer and closer he ran, until the cub was finally in sight, bursting from the brush he would make a line for the cub. Then, it was all decided. The beast exploded from the foliage, resting its eyes on hanbei who had found the cub. Bearing its teeth, but now far more carefully, it would slowly eb closer and closer, ensuring not to make sudden moves in case the human harm yet another child... But hanbei spoke. To the spirits chagrin.
"Hey, hey, I'm not going to harm her. " Hanbei Surrendered, to the beasts joy as it moved closer with sharp teeth and a deep growl."Nonono, look, I didn't know about the girls' mother. none of us knew, the ninja who hurt her other child, murdered it, did something unforgivable. And it cannot be undone. I avenged people her mother killed defending her, and nothing else, and for that, I am deeply ashamed. But, allow me to make it up to you, this one no longer has a mother, and will die out here without her unless someone does something. I can take her to a place where she will be safe, and grow strong and be well fed so that she may then roam the forest. I can guarantee her survival, to atone for what I've done. I am deeply, deeply sorry. I do not expect forgiveness, but just to show you, that I intend to stand with honor. not out of fear for my life, but in fear of the cycle of vengeance that death could create if this were allowed to continue.
Please, honorable guardian... let the killing end... ... ... " Hanbei bowed low, placing a hand on the cubs fur. The spirit paused... then... retreated, looking back at hanbei with one more steely glare... a warning. Hanbei nodded sternly, as the beast faded into fog. Sighing, Hanbei looked to his cub compatriot, and with a single motion, led the obedient lonely cub home with the promise of food and shelter, taking care of its wounds as he did so. The battle for the heart of the forest was over. Hanbei had barely made it, his arm broken from the blow and his ribs bruised deeply, he was lucky this time... he likely would not get this lucky again.
It didn't take long to rehome the cub with the local fire temple, and with the act he could feel his soul at peace. Returning to town he would retell the tale of the fight to the exhillerated ears of those who listened to the girl they assumed was a genin who performed an amazing feat, all that was left, was to get paid.
2008 / 1500 Mission complete.
Hokage: 
Kazekage: 
Raikage: 
Tsuchikage: 
Mizukage: 