Spoiler:

Tomohiro had been notified that he was to undergo another mission. Though, he wasn’t sure why so soon. Maybe, the new Raikage just enjoyed punishing his underlings. He didn’t really think that was the reason. It was probably that they did so well on their last mission. Zeref would also be joining him on this mission. Well, they both were on the same squad, so it made sense that they would go on joint mission. If they kept going on at this rate, he would enough money to buy a new sword. He started to get attached to his current blade even though it wasn’t anything special. The rusted blade that hung from his waist was old and used. He had bought it that way, but he figured that it would be time to at least buy an additional blade.

The young Nakir walked to the outskirts of the village and waited for Zeref before he got too far ahead to their destination. He stood watching as some merchants every now and then passed by. A few families went back and forth, but not too much activity. He thought that the large boar attacks weren’t so out of the ordinary. The piggies usually weren’t a threat unless provoked, but they seemed to multiply lack rabbits in heat. They also seemed more aggressive and tougher in the Land of Lightning than they were in other countries. Well, so he heard. It had been a long time since he last tasted boar. The wild ones had an explicit gamey taste to them which he didn’t mind too much. Living off of nature wasn’t that thrilling to him, but he did enjoy the meat that mother nature provided.

As he waited, he remembered that wild boars typically would eat anything. They were like the garbage disposals of the mountains. He figured that he would need to find bait to bring the boar out. Tomohiro searched a while before finding some wild blackberries. They smelled quite nice. The berries had a prominent sweet scent to them. He figured that it would only take a few berries to draw out the pack, but he grabbed more than what was necessary. He wasn’t sure of how many were in the pack that they face. Though, he knew that large packs of twelve had been seen before, but was a rare event. He hoped that the pack would at least be smaller. It’s not that he would have the couldn’t deal with them without a bit of help. The fact that he was a bit lazy today and didn’t feel like stressing himself out too much. He placed the blackberries in his weapon pouch and continued to wait for his squadmate.

He adjusted his kasa as he kept his eyes peeled. Boar weren’t the only things to worry about out here. Bandits and thieves were a problem, but he wasn’t quite that far out where they shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It was seemingly bright today. He despised thieves and didn’t care too much for bandits. They usually caused too much trouble than they were worth. This mission shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. The young Nakir was just glad to be doing a mission that didn’t require him to fix roofs or chase down someone’s pet. Pet missions had to be worse. He couldn’t stand little critters. They made him feel uneasy. The little buggers would try to cuddle and roll around you. Some even smelled funny when wet. It was too much for him. He refused to take missions that revolved around someone’s pet. Him and pet’s always had a strange relationship. He didn’t like them, but a lot of them seemed to enjoy his company.

646

Zeref sat on his roof in a cross legged position, his sword laid across his lap. In one hand he held a sharpening rock, in the other a rag with polish on it. The sun still was below the horizon, he wasn't to meet Tomohrio till after sunrise for their boar hunting mission. Zeref would slide the blade across the rock, and then use the rag to apply the polish and get rid of any small shards from the blade. Zeref would repeat this a few more times until he was satisfied, once he thought the blade was sharp enough he stood up and held the blade out in front of him parallel to the ground, looking down the edge to check for imperfections. The sun reflected off the polished blade a signal that it was time to leave.

Zeref walked out of him apartment, his sword on his back, his kunia hanging on his hip, three on each side, and his gauntlets on his hands. His attire did not match that of a shinobi, but of a mercenary, of a born killer. Although he looked out of place, the villagers paid him no mind, some even waving to him, he has made himself known with in the village, taking on missions, and joining a squad, word has spread of him quickly. To Zeref it was only a matter of time before he caught the eye of the kage, a genin who was quickly moving up through the ranks. In the less than a month Zeref was mere days away from becoming a chunnin without the need of the exams.

Zeref could see the village gate now, just out side it he spotted his teammate, Tomohiro. This would be their second mission together, the last one was taking out a few thugs, they completed that one with little effort, this one would most likely be the same. Zeref walked through the gates, giving the guards a slight nod as he passed. "Hey Tomohiro, good to see you. You ready to go on a hunt?" Zeref smiled slightly, his tone was as friendly as ever, but it was simply an act. "Are you good with tracking animals? Or is this your first time dealing with woodland creatures?" Zeref didn't know Tomohiros history, but he was trained since he could walk to track and hunt, his father going as far as leaving him in the forest when he was eight and told to survive for a week on his own.

Post w.c- 420
Total w.c- 420
Mission- 420/1500

“Zeref,” he greeted with a forced smile and a slight bow, “I don’t have much experience with woodland creatures outside of what I have read in books. Though, I did pick up some bait, which should draw them out fairly quickly. I have been trained to track people not so much in the way of animals. Let’s get going. I rather not linger much longer.”

Tomohiro was getting a bit antsy and was ready to go ahead and take on his targets. It was almost like he could taste the wild boar on his tongue. The anticipation to fight was also boiling within him. This was going to be a very interesting mission to say the least. Both him and his squadmate had been tasked with fighting multiple targets as was the same for the last mission. It almost seemed like they were some genin hitsquad. Tomohiro actually enjoyed eliminating targets or at least subduing them. At least this time, he wasn’t going to be held back by a handicap. Not being able to kill the bandits didn’t leave him with a lot of breathing room with this fighting style on the prior mission. This mission seemed to be catered to his skills quite nicely.

The young Nakir began walking down the road toward the location of the last possible attack that had been reported. It was supposed to have been a rice paddy field. He was slightly familiar with the fields from his early genin days. The image of a much smaller version of him picking rice for a mission sunk into his head. He didn’t care for the image of a much weaker him. Tomohiro had come a long way since those days. If he was too ever face his old self, he would dominate that version of himself. The days he was completely worthless and useless were over. He sighed at the fact that he still had a long way to go as far as training. There was still a lot that he wanted to learn and techniques that he needed to completely develop.

Tomohiro walked until he saw the rice fields. They were quite large and seemed to be inactive. It was probably due to the weather and the boar attacks. Looking closely from a distance, you almost see where the boar had damaged the ground spreading the mud all over green rows in certain places. Last time Tomohiro checked, rice paddy fields were supposed to be primarily green not randomly spotted with mud. It was the nature of boar to tear up things they got close to. Rice fields were no exception in this case either. He sighed before attempting to turn to Zeref. Zeref’s plan seemed to go pretty smoothly last time. The last plan made him wonder if Zeref had any insight on how to approach this.

“How do we want to approach this? I think we should spread the bait out in a single area and wait for something to happen. Hopefully, we draw all of them out and hit them all at once. That’s how I would go about it.”

The plan was generally how he had read in books to draw out boar and other creatures. The time it would take for this to happen may have been a bit time consuming, but it was no telling how long it would also take to track the pack. Tomohiro slightly licked his lips as the taste of boar that he could taste and smell in his mind. He also partly licked his lips from the cool weather drying his lips out.

607/1253

As they walked Zeref kept an eye out for any signs of the boars they were hunting, it wasn't until they got to the fields that the tracks and damage was easily spotted. The crops were torn up, either from the boars eating, running, or from them rolling in the mud to cool their bodies down. Zeref walked away from Tomohiro after he spoke of having bait and wanting to wait, Zeref didn't have that kind of temperament.

Zeref knelt down near some destroyed plants and touched the tracks that were there. It was easy to spot the tracks, a hog’s prints are nearly square in shape and typically shorter than a similarly sized deer track. If the tip of the toe is blunt, a hog likely made it. Zeref knew why crops got destroyed, they don't really like the tops but rather the roots. Hogs rip ground to shreds wanting the tender roots and any grub, worm, or acorn they turn up at the same time. Zeref moved some of the destoyed crops away from the ground to see how wet it was. His early years taught him that the relative moisture of a rooted area is a good clue to its age, but hogs roam far while feeding and he knew not spend too much time watching a feeding area. Zeref touched the ground and felt the wetness of it, meaning it wasn't that old.

Zeref stood up and looked around slightly, and moved to the wood line without saying a word. Once at the wood line he looked at the trunks of the trees, spotting rub marks from the boars. "This way." Zeref looked back at Tomohiro before entering the woods, taking slowly, soft steps. What they needed was a wallow, with the day heating up the hogs would most likely be found laying around in one. Zeref knew of a dried up river bed not to far from the crops, it was the best chance they had, it provided a good nesting area, and wasn't far from known food. 

After walking a few hundred yards Zeref stopped walking and jumped into the tree tops, landing on a branch. "It'll be easier to spot them from here, and will limit our chances of being heard or them catching our scent." As Zeref moved branch to branch he would glance down, after a few minutes he stoped and pointed down at a heavily traveled trail. "There, hog trail. Hogs like to keep to trails like that." Zeref was kneeling on the branch scanning the area, it was weird to be using the skills his father taught him for a mission. "There should be a river bed up ahead, it'll be our best bet." Zeref stood up and started to leap from branch to branch again. "Watch out for their tusks, they may just be boars, but they can gore you and gut you like, well like a pig." Zeref landed on another branch and stopped pointing ahead. "There." About a hundred meters ahead of them, were five boars, a few laying in a mud pit, others digging up the ground near the plants.

Post w.c- 533
Total w.c- 953
Mission- 953/1500

Tomohiro watched Zeref carefully trying to see if he could learn anything while watching him. Though, he couldn’t really figure out what exactly he was looking for. Tomohiro figured that he had been checking the tracks just in case. He remembered reading that you could check the damage done by an animal to verify which kind it was. That’s the only thing he thought that his partner had been doing. Zeref then said a simple, “This way.” Tomohiro followed quietly behind him. Tomohiro thought that he would sit back and let Zeref kind of takeover. He did prefer people who did more action than speech after all.

They eventually made their way to a dried riverbed. He didn’t remember the river being dried up before. Tomohiro wondered what could have caused it. It was probably a clog somewhere. He figured that he would inquire the Raikage’s office about it later on about it. That’s if the hogs weren’t primarily the problem. They then continued to walk a few hundred yards before his companion would stop. Tomohiro followed him as he jumped into the trees. They went a ways for a few minutes before he pointed the boar trail. These boar were no joke. The damage they had done started to make Tomohiro’s appetite increase. There was nothing like a good challenge to start the day off. They then

Tomohiro did originally have a plan to take on the boar with his sword, but thought otherwise. The boars’ tusk looked pretty thick like they had some age on them. The young Nakir licked his lips. He then knelt down on a branch analysing the pack. He figured that using the Misty Flame Dance would work well in this situation. Though, he wasn’t sure if it would rile them up for make them just extremely suspicious of their surroundings. They currently had the upper hand and he didn’t want to ruin it. He would need to take them out at once if he could. Either that or at least try and damage them. Somehow or another, they would need to do as much damage as possible. Tomohiro dumped out the bait he used. It was pretty worthless now. Plus, it would give his position away if he went too close.

“I’m going around to flank. I will stay within the tree line and try and find a space to use my katon and do as much damage as possible. I’ll stay downwind from them.”

Tomohiro went off while keeping his distance far away from the hogs. He watched for awhile as they grazed about. He wanted to make a move, but figure he would continue and wait awhile before he would do anything. There was no way to know how high those things could jump. Taking them all at once if they noticed him wasn’t going to fly. He knew if he went at this alone, there would be some consequences. Though, he did have the range advantage that the piggies didn’t. He moved in closer as the boar still didn’t notice him. This was a good opportunity give them hell. He moved in closer trying to not make any noise. He was about thirty meters out, which was close enough for what he needed.

Taking out one or two of them would work in their favor. He took a deep breath while forming the tiger sign. He released a giant grey fireball toward three boar in the mud pit. The grey fireball sped toward the hogs. The crackling of the flames caused a few of them too look up to see what was happening. The fireball struck them head on. Tomohiro then drew his sword. He knew that the attack wouldn’t be enough to kill them, but it should have slowed them down and made their movements painful. Though, he did remember from his reading that enraged/cornered animals could be the most potentially dangerous. He then moved around the tree line to get another angle.

680/1933

Chakra: 135/150:

Zeref nodded as Tomohiro went around to flank the boars, keeping his eyes on the boar below he started to form a plan in his mind. The main thing was to keep them from running away or scattering, it would be a pain to hunt them down one by one. Zeref unclipped four kunai from his belt holding two in each hand. The boar still hadn't noticed him or Tomohiro which was a good sign. Tomohiro launch a fireball down at the boar engulfing them in fire, Zeref taking the chance to catch the boars even more off guard throw the four kunai toward the boar. Two kunai embedded themselves into the one boar killing it, the other two stuck into the ground halting the fleeing of the other four.

The Kunai then melted away forming pools of Koton, after a second and a few hand signs, five steel wolf pups form out of the pool of Koton. The wolf pups start to bite, and scratch at the remaining boar. Even as the boar gore, and destroy the steel pups they simply reform and continue to attack. The boars would try to flee after knocking a pup off, but another one would be right there, heading the boar towards the center of the small clearing. One of the steel pups jumped on the back of one of the boar and turned into five steel balls which then exploded sending shrapnel in all directions. The boar the pup jumped on fell to the ground dead leaving three remaining and very injured as the remaining four pups continued their assault and herding. 

w.c 271/1224

Chakra 125/150:

Tomohiro thought that they made a sufficient team at least. The boar were being overtaken by the two experienced genin. Tomohiro was interested in finishing the remaining boar off. They moved slow enough that he could probably take them on with his blade. It was a good time to strike his targets with the vengeance of the Nakir clan. It was too good of an opportunity to give up. He knew that it would take more than one strike in the same place to take the boar out. They did have extremely thick skin that was worthy of being sliced in the kitchen that mother nature provided. He would used the distraction and hearing of the steel pups to take out at least one of the boar.

The wind seemed to be cut as Tomohiro moved through the tree branches. The boar head would be an excellent addition in his apartment. He did need to spruce up the place a little bit. His apartment looked bland. The dull wooden walls at least needed some paint. It was something he hadn’t bothered with or felt truly necessary, but this boar would be excellent. He leaped at the moving boar with his sword drawn as he focused katon chakra through his blade. The weight of his body and the weight of the sword came crashing down on the boars neck. The boar fell to the ground with a searing wound. Tomohiro then jabbed his sword into the beast’s neck to finish it off.

There was one left, and he followed after it. He began lessening the distance between him and the released a slash of katon chakra toward the boar’s little pegs for hind legs. The slash caught the boar from behind dropping it. The boar’s large body rolled a couple of meters before landing into a tree knocking it unconcious. Tomohiro took his katon laced blade and slashed the boar’s neck twice. The beast lie dead before him. He smiled a bit at their success. There was one left, and figured that he would leave it for his partner since he took down two of them. He then heard a little Oink Oink. He turned around and there was a small piglet that approached. It looked harmless. The first thought that came to his mind was “bacon.” He kicked the piglet and launched it at a tree. The infant hit the tree and fell limp. Though, he heard a large squealing coming from the last remaining boar. He reversed the grip on his sword as he stood ready for anything. The squeal seemed angry and he wasn’t sure what to expect.

446/2379

Chakra:110/150:

The steel pups fell to pools of koton, and then reformed into kunai after a few seconds. Zeref gathered them up clipping them back onto his belt as Tomohiro went after the remaining boars. Hearing a few death squeals allowing Zeref to know there was only one left out of the pack they were hunting. For a C ranked mission it was fairly easy, maybe that was because it was assigned to two people, or maybe it was just that the village thought it was harder then it really was, either way it was about to be completed. 

Zeref jumped into the tree tops once again and went towards the direction Tomohiro and the boars took off in. He caught up to them after a hundred yards or so, Tomohiro had just disposed of a small piglet, when Zeref heard the sound of the remaining boar charging. Drawing his sword from his back Zeref simply stepped from the branch and landing on top of the boar digging his blade into the back of the boars neck. "Mission Complete." Zeref pulled his sword from the now dead pig sheathing it on his back. Zeref looked at Tomohiro before speaking again. "Lets head back and hand in the mission so we can get paid." Zeref without saying another word, turned and headed back towards the village. He didn't care about using the boars as food, or getting their hides, that wasn't what the mission called for. With this mission completed it marked Zerefs second c ranked mission, he only needed a few more tasks until he could request to be placed at chunnin level and skip the exams.

278/1502
Mission completed.
Thread exit.

The remaining boar had been disposed of as Zeref jumped on it. He mentioned about turning it in, but Tomohiro would wait a bit. Tomohiro waved Zeref on to head on without him. There was some things he needed to gather before he would head back. Leaving a couple of the beast to rot in the woods would be a waste in perfectly good meet. The skin maybe beyond edible, but it looked too tough to eat to begin with. At least he would take some of the meet home. The skin of the pork would work as a good makeshift sack to carry the meat. The meat would at least feed him for a couple of weeks. He enjoyed good meat and would too selfish to share.

Tomohiro started cleaning a couple of the beast as he made sure to preserve the one with the largest tusk for his wall. It was a good haul of ryo and meat. He took note of missions that required hunting animals would be a good priority. It would keep him from having to shop for meat at the butcher’s shop. His fridge was quite empty as it was. He even skipped out on his morning meal to begin the mission. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to take this missions like this alone yet. This mission would also be a good training experience, so he thought. Missions that put your life on the line were sometimes important to build character as well. He wondered what it would have been to take on the beast from the start. Tomohiro just saw his body get skewered and cast of the thought. The mission was now complete that he had significant amounts of food. Tomohiro was quite proud of himself, but knew that he could have done better. His blade wasn’t adequate enough kill the large boar. The money would definitely make it so he could buy a better weapon. A weapon that didn’t threaten him getting tetanus. Now that he thought about it, he would need to cook the meat longer as a precaution. When he finished, he hauled the large sack of meat and his trophy head toward the village.

[Exit Thread]
369/2748

2748/1500 [Mission]

1248 words remaining after mission
1200/1200 words [Maximum payout of +300 ryo]
48 words unused