Maikeru was waiting near where he was once attacked by the malicious mutant goat. Maikeru was going to keep this a bit of a private matter since the sake of Iwagakure wasn’t threatened, though he knew he needed some help with his investigation. He was waiting for Tenjin, a Genin who recently became Chuunin. He had done a mission with him not too long before. Maikeru sat on the ground, and yawned. He looked up into the sky, and began recognizing shapes clouds were making to pass the time. It wasn’t long before he heard the sound of hooves. Loud ones. Angry ones. He shot off the ground to look behind him. There it was. A large, muscular, angry eyed goat. He backed away carefully. “It began to rev up its right hoof, bowing its head. It charged directly at Maikeru, who barely had enough time to react. He jumped out of the way. And began to form hand sighs. He threw up a slew of mud, that formed to create a three mud wolves. “Attack!” The all went after the large creature. It was bigger than a moose. Noticeably bigger. It’s muscles were bulging. “You work out bro?” The Ram utterly destroyed the wolves by simply swinging its head from side to side. Very very violently. Its large, horn wrapped head. It ran towards Maikeru with greater speed. The Genin ran in the other direction. It took almost no time for the goat to close the gap between them. Realizing this, Maikeru jumped up to try to evade it. However, the goat was fast enough to catch his foot, knocking Maikeru off balance, and flipping him in the air. He landed on the ground. The Ram spun around to look at Maikeru once more. “Ow…oh no.” it ran once more, Maikeru struggled to get up, panicked, but he was hit strait on his butt, and flew into the air and landed on the ground. “Ow…my ass.”

332 WC

It was Tenjins goal to become chuunin, he is glad to have done so, and it was early in the morning, so early that the moon was still out and the sun was just barely getting into the picture frame known as the sky and the birds were still asleep. The nocturnal animals were getting ready to prepare for the next night as they went into their dens and other things that signified how early in the morning it was. Tenjin was requested by a friend to take part in a personal mission, and now it was time to set off into the night and head to Iwagakure mountain ranges, the destination he was sent too. He thinks that Maikeru may have be there by now too and they will eventually meet each other there in order for Tenjin to have more details on this endeavour. Anyhow, Tenjin would begin to dash through the ground of Iwagakure no sato which was pretty tiring to the legs at first, but after a couple of minutes of doing this it seemed his legs had gotten used to the Iwa dirt and he was able to pick up his speed shortly after. Along the way he was able to see new things, it felt good to be out in the outskirts of village once again after the trip to Kumogakure. Tenjin began thinking about the fights he witnessed while in the exams, including the exhibition matches which provided a great deal of information in regards to the power scale Tenjin was up against in the future. All of these things ran through his mind as he continued his travels now in some different rocky landscape that gave Tenjin fond memories of training in the past.

He might have been this way once or twice because Tenjin liked to train in far locations. “This mission sounded like it was going to be fun.” Tenjin said as he continued to run across the rocky plain. Along his way the mountains began to get quite vicious making Tenjin’s legs feel as though they were jello, he had to take a quick break realizing that he had to prioritize his health more than anything while on this mission because he could encounter some trouble that would want to that might want to hurt him for the very most kill him. He was no pushover though so he took his seat for around a couple of minutes and then got up to go continue his travel inside of the borders of the land of stone, something he hadn’t done in awhile. Tenjin was already within the rocky mountain ranges, where a little bit of trees and shrubberies flourished throughout.

Tenjin felt as though he was getting closer and closer to his destination so he picked up the pace once more with his legs getting accustomed to the terrain he was essentially climbing. From afar around 15 to 20 meters away he could see the faint outlines of what seemed to be Maikeru, and better yet, an outline of a creature chasing him down.’What could be happening here?” Tenjin said to himself as his run turned into a walk as he knew he was getting close to his destination, and as a matter of fact he was already there. He was well within a good range of Maikeru, but he did little to interact yet trying to observe what was happening. Seeing a large ram, charging at Maikeru, Tenjin has deduced that the animal had a speed and reaction time equal to that of a top genin recruit [D 3], he also saw the strike toward Maikeru’s bottom, which Tenjin deduced to have needed a great deal of strength [D 3]. Tenjin noticed Maikeru on the floor while the ram charged once more at him. It was then that Tenjin reacted, creating the Monkey → Horse → Dragon → Tiger → Ox → Rat → Snake hand seals, he created the Temporary Paralysis Technique which caused the ram to trip and slide just inches away from Maikeru. This is a technique that physically restrained the ram, as if the animal had been tied in invisible steel ropes. It debilitated the ram for a short period of time by binding and chaining its legs together, which allowed Tenjin the opportunity, to quickly create the ram hand seal and body flicker to the side of Maikeru and again utilize the same technique to appear a safe distance away from the ram before it released itself in a few moments. Hiding behind a large boulder, Tenjin would ask. “What is that?! I’ve never seen anything like it. Is this why you called me up here?”

TWC 784

Maikeru continued to hold his breath, even after the creature had been subdued. There was still fear on his face, and he was shaken, after his brush of death by the hands, or horns in this case, of a large mountain goat. Maikeru took a deep breath to calm himself down. He frantically moved to his feet, with a Kunai in hand, and shoved it deep into the monsters neck. He took another deep breath, dusted himself off, and finally regained his composure. He turned to Tenjin. “Yup. This is exactly why I called you out here. I was attacked by one of these a while back, but it wasn’t this big or this strong. It would have been nice to do a more thorough investigation on this one while alive, but seeing how dangerous it is, unfortunately that isn’t possible.” Maikeru took out a slit of cloth, and whipped the blood off the Kunai, placing it in a small plastic bag. He placed it in his pocket, and continued. “Okay. I will do an anatomy check on this beast! I did some research on goats and sheep. Which are two different animals. The last encounter was a goat. This however is a sheep. Also known as a ram, because, as you can see, it has male genitals. Most likely, it wasn’t always this big. Something mad e it this huge. The muscles got so big, it tore out of the skin and fur. The eyes are….very black. With no pupil, and a thin line replacing the iris. So, in conclusion, something made this ram monstrous. Or possibly someone.” Maikeru stood up. “I think we should-”

Maikeru was stopped by the sound of hooves pounding on mountain rock. Lots of hooves. He turned around and saw a bunch of goats. Their horns were long and thinner, so they definitely weren’t sheep. The pounded at the sight of Tenjin and Maikeru. He turned to him. “Run like hell, man. RUN LIKE HELL!!!!” Maikeru darted off in up in the mountain, in hopes to outmaneuver them. He pushed a bunch of rocks behind him, in hopes of catching one of them with it. They continued to chase after him, as if they were holding a grudge. He looked back to see eight of them. Smaller than the ram, their muscles still ripped through their skin, and their horns rockier, stronger than usual. “We have to lose them! We can’t fight them! They are too powerful! What the hell is going on?!”

425/757 WC

Tenjin witnesses as Maikeru slit the throat of the animal that was attacking him, and it dawned on him, that the animal must have attacked due to it feeling safe around this shinobi and his explosive personality and demeanor. Tenjin quietly watched as this Otsuka wiped his kunai clean, leaving the rad stained red with the blood of an innocent animal, and placed in a sealed bag. Of course this animal was entirely innocent, attacking Maikeru and all, but animals that live entirely on instinct, Tenjin believes should have the benefit of the doubt. Humans in the other hand, with free will, can be judged and thus punished accordingly in regards to their actions, which is why Tenjin would like to join the ANBU and hunt down missing ninjas and even kill those that that threaten Iwagakure no sato. Hearing Maikeru story about the attack that he was victim of by a wild ram got Tenjin thinking, ‘where could these things be coming from?’ he thought. Pondering what Maikeru said, it was certainly possible that something must have mutated these animals, ‘maybe the drinking water around this environment?’ Tenjin again thought, but he didn’t have enough information to come up with such a vast conclusion. Tenjin wondered what Maikeru meant as to the fact that maybe someone must have down this, as what could be the reason? But people have done worse for the sake of research, so that is also a possibility. After Maikeru spoke about the next step to this unorthodox mission, his sentence what cut down short due to sounds galloping animals.

It was a herd of goats no less, and luckily these animals didnt appear as strong as the ram Tenjin and Maikeru took down, but what they lacked in individual power, they made up for in collective strength. Tenjin took Maikerus advice and began to run, and because of Maikerus head start, the Otsuka was ahead of Tenjin; and as Tenjin kept up with his pace, he was caught off guard by the rocks pushed in front of him. Tenjin was able to dodge these rocks near flawlessly, and the goats did nothing but ram through the hurdle as if nothing was there. The rocks did have some effect though, as it made the animals angrier as they chased the pair of shinobi much more vigorously. After hearing Maikerus frantic words, Tenjin came up with a plan. While the paired continued dashing forward. Tenjin began to calmly speak. “I’ve never seen you like this Maikeru. These animals must have traumatized you huh.” Tenjin joked a bit, but he was somewhat serious as Maikeru was considered to be more cynical last time they have met. It didnt take a sec before Tenjin continued, “There is a fork in the road that splits in two, and meets up a few meters ahead. I say we split up, I’ll go through the right side and you take the left. I believe it’ll be easier for us to take down four each or do our best to weed down the numbers.” Tenjin would wait to see what Maikerus response to the plan would be, and if he agreed he would proceed to split the heard in half by going to his side of the fork on the road.

WC 549
TWC 1,333

“I am acting this way because at the level I am, they could kill me and not give a damn afterwords. These aren’t normal goats and sheep.They are monsters I tell you. Its why I brought you along. Since you are stronger than me and all.” Maikeru listened to his plan about the Fork in the road. He looked behind him once more. “Okay you break left and I break right, ready? GO!” Maikeru ran off, the movement confused the goats. They stopped in their tracks and looked both ways. Maikeru was getting tired of running up the rocky mountain. As he continued to move, he eventually was able to meat with Tenjin on the other side. “Thank the Sage. We lost them.” Maikeru had spoken too soon, as they the trailed behind them. "Ah dammit. I think we might be screwed. It was nice knowing." Maikeru was about to say his prayers, before a group of mutant Ram showed up behind them. "Looks like we are stuck between a goat and a ram place. What a way to die. The goats and rams went insane, baah and maahing ferociously and furiously." Wait a second..I think they don't like each other..."

Maikeru jumped on a ledge, as the two groups of animals started to charge at one another. The disgusting sound of cracks and breaks of horns and skulls consecutively filled the air. The confrontation was violent, and they all ignored Maikeru and Tenjin,as if they didn't even exist. "Um. Okay. They don't seem to like each other." Maikeru watched as the brutal brawl started to degenerate into dirty fighting, goats and sheep alike biting at the land down under. Maikeru helped Tenjin up, whispering to him. "Let's get out of here. We can continue to climb up the mountain and watch from a far." When they finally got to the top, Maikeru spoke. "This fight could last for hours. In the mean time I can catch up on some dirty reading." Maikeru opened a book with three Xs on it. "Oh yeah. Good stuff."

353/1110 WC

Tenjin was rather remissed to see that the pair of mutant animals were warring against each other. Tenjin didnt like to see the herd of goats up against the flock of rams, as their problems didnt necessarily come from their own doing but most likely a symptom of their mutation. Tenjin, before trying anything rash, decided to sense his surroundings in order to determine if there would be any other new surprises in regards to more mutated animals coming to crash the battle. With one finger to the ground, he was able to utilize his newfound technique, the Seismic Wave Sensing. Tenjin with direct contact with the earth, utilized this technique to sense at a range of 150 meters around the current mountainous location. If a mutated animal steps on the earth, within its range, it would generate a seismic wave which would radiate away from the point in which the animal stepped, like waves in a pond. The wave in the earth's surface would propagate away from the source at fast speeds. The possibility of Tenjin sensing utilizing this method depends upon the nature of the wave, and thus the elastic properties of the Earth.


The size or magnitude of the wave increases with how much mutated animals are within the techniques range, letting Tenjin sense the exact amount of shinobi present. And because Tenjin can detect and measure these vibration waves with pin point accuracy, he can determine the animals within his ranges weights. There was no other mutated animals coming this way, and it appeared as if the rams were much heavier than the goats, but the goats were apparently much faster as he noticed them dodging the rams strikes with ease. Tenjin then told Maikeru, “These appear to be the only mutated animals within a 100 meter range.” Looking to the side, he noticed Maikeru reading a more or less explicit book of some kind. Tenjin didnt judge, as people needed to get their rocks off in one way or another in the Land of Stones, Iwagakure no sato. Tenjin was the complicit in Maikerus demands as he decided to not intervene in the attacking animals actions. This is afterall, a mission that Maikeru summoned Tenjin for, and Tenjin wondered what Maikeru was actually going to get out of it, as he was not truthfully intrigued. Tenjin left all of his books on particle physics at home, so he could read more on his particle release. Meaning that instead of reading, Tenjin decided to pass his time by laying flat on his back and staring at the blue sky watching the clouds stroll by. Tenjin was rather relaxed, the only distraction was coming from the cries and grunts made by the animals down below as they fought vigorously against each other. Tenjin wanted to intervene, but thought that Maikeru has something else planned, and because bringing Tenjin here was his doing, he would rather let Maikeru see it threw in a way that he is satisfied with.

WC 501
TWC 1,834

Maikeru sat and read his dirty book. A bit too intensely. "Ah yeah I know you love it. That's some really dirty stuff." He book marked the page and stood up. He looked up to see that the animals were completely decimated. They were still fighting. Surprisingly. More than half of them were dead. More than half on each side. hhe remaining ones limped, and continued to bash heads. The sick cracking of skulls never stopped. "They must hate each other really badly for them to go through such lengths to want to kill each other this much." Maikeru watched as the remaining two, one goat, one ram, continued to bash their horns and sculs together. Then they both fell to the ground. Maikeru hopped off the ledge." They all had so much adrenaline on top of their stamina. And now look at them. Down to their last breath. I wouldn't be surprised if most of them are dead." Maikeru jumped off the ledge.

"Welp! Cross that off the list. Now. There is something else we have to do. Something else that I have been investigating. A cave. I want to say it has a Genjutsu linked to it. But I feel like...there's more to it. I feel like...I don't know you have to see it." Maikeru led Tenjin along the rocky mountain side. It was getting dark, creating an atmosphere of unwavering ominous. The clouds were rolling in, and the soil began to smell of moisture. A storm was coming. The clouds started to strike lights. Maikeru gestured toward the cave. An abyss to all who see it from the outside. Maikeru activated his Sparkler Jutsu for light. They shuffled through the cave. The blue light from the Jutsu was a great help to their vision. Maikeru felt a heavy atmosphere descend on him. He felt a since of dread. A sense of sorrow and anger. "I get the feeling we shouldn't be here. But at the same time I get the feeling I am supposed to be here. Like. I have a mission." The Genin continued to look around. The cave was narrow. Maikeru felt his heart skip a few beats when the light had engulfed a girl who stood in front of them. For a long time he stared at her. Her clothes were torn, her complection pale, veins were viable. Maikeru opened his mouth to speak. "Do you need he-"
"Hey you have to come quick! Please hurry!" It was as if the lights were turned on. Her facial expression changed from aloof and drained to alive and panic. Maikeru chased her, attempting to keep her in the light. In a split second she was gone. She had left the proximity of the light. The patter of her feet on the cave stone floor dissappeared. "Dammit. Hello! Where'd you go!?" Maikeru shook himself. "It could be a Genjutsu like last time. But I can't take any chances." He kept running. It was a narrow cave with nowhere to go but straight, she couldn't have gotten far. She shouldn't have. Just then, Maikeru found her. She was up against the wall. The end of the cave. Her hands where covering her face and body, a defensive position. "No...please....don't." Her face was filled with absolute terror. Absolute horror. She was shaking. "I'm not gonna hurt no."
"Please. I'm sorry. No... Don't...NO!" Her chest pumped, and she spontaneously started bleeding. She was grabbing onto the air. As if oomething was there. Then, her stomach area was punctuated. She was being stabbed. And finally, the Sparkler went out, and only a darkness. Total darkness.
Maikeru frantically ignited his sparkler once more. He saw the girl. It was a skeleton. On the wall there was an incomplete Kanji symbol, written in dried blood. It trailed down, trailing towards her finger. "She was murdered here...and she wants us to find who killed her."

670 WC

Tenjin snapped out of his mild meditative trance to hear Maikeru say, and I quote, ‘Ah yeah I know you love it. That's some really dirty stuff.’ Tenjin honestly didn’t even want to imagine what the Otsuka was looking at in his private magazine. Tenjin witnessed Maikeru bookmark his magazine, and stand up to see the progress of the war between the mutant goats and rams. Standing by Maikeru’s side, Tenjin saw the brutality caused by the herd of mutated mammals. Tenjin and Maikeru stood atop of the mountain side, with the sun shining behind the pair, it would’ve been difficult to see who the two shinobi standing seeing this fight were. Tenjin felt bad for the innocent animals being corrupted by their mutation as they bashed each others literal heads in, it was a truthfully horrific sight. Once the fight was near its completion, the pair of shinobi decided to get closer to the fight. Tenjin listened to what Maikeru said about the adrenaline the animals possessed and the fact that most are most likely dead. Tenjin agreed with this statement but didn’t say a word, only nod his head while looking throughout the battlefield. Maikeru then told Tenjin about this cave that he has been investigating. Tenjin was not necessarily familiar with genjutsu techniques, so he began to get cautious with the idea of taking this task head on. Tenjin cautious demeanor was multiplied ten times when the sky began to darken in the middle of the day. Clouds began grinding against each other causing light to flash around the horizon, and closing into the area. Maikeru pointed toward the cave, and Tenjin got the signal and headed toward that direction. The cave was pitched black, and Tenjin was thankful to see it lit up with Maikerus technique.

Tenjin heard Maikerus statement on his feelings of not belonging, and honestly speaking, Tenjin felt that feeling as well, but he was unable to reciprocate the feeling of belonging here due to a personal mission. Tenjin followed the Otsuka as the cave appeared to be getting even more narrow, and it didnt take long for the pair to witness a young women in the cave. The women appeared more or less like the walking dead, and Tenjin was little prepared to see something like this. The women then began to speak, "Hey you have to come quick! Please hurry!" The women ran, and before Tenjin was able to warn Maikeru of his suspicion on the matter, the Otsuka ran after this women. Tenjin dashed off, chasing his teammate in order to be by his side in case danger befell him. It was as if she was a ghost as she disappeared before both shinobis eyes Maikeru was again speaking, warning Tenjin now about the possibility of this being a Genjutsu, and Tenjin agreed with this, saying, “Yeah…” and before he was able to finish, Maikeru mentioned not being able to take a chance. Tenjin pondered leaving the cave in case there was someone outside casting this genjutsu. The pair could very well be falling into a trap. But he decided to again follow Maikeru until he witnessed the women appeared to have been getting stabbed right in front of Maikeru. It was a horrific sight, until light shun over the body, and a skeleton appeared pinned to the wall. It was then that Tenjin was assured that this was definitely a genjutsu. Tenjin responded to Maikeru’s last statement, and said, “I believe you should attempt to figure this case out Maikeru, I will wait outside in case this is a trap. Unless Maikeru had any objection, Tenjin was able to utilize the body flicker technique to move in high speed out of the cave. By using the Body Flicker Technique, Tenjin was able to move the distance travelled at an almost untraceable speed. Tenjin would wait outside of the cave, seeing nothing suspicious until Maikeru came out. After which, he would ask Maikeru what happened in there, and request further explanation on a trip to Sunagakure.

[EXIT]

Training:

WC 676
TWC 2,510

Maikeru took a deep sigh. After Tenjin had departed, he had began his investigation of the girl. He had gone to archives. He had went through whatever he could fine until the afternoon. He hadn’t been able to find much. Maikeru looked to find out that there was a few numbers of missing girls. The most recent went buy the name of Hanakei Kanao. She along wither her father had disappeared five years ago. It was sudden and out of nowhere. No one was alerted that they were going to go anywhere. The father and the daughter had been missing for so long that they were presumed dead. Maikeru continued forward with the investigation, by asking a few presumed friends and acquaintances of theirs. He went to a rather elderly woman, who worked with Kaiyo, Hanakei’s father. “He had partnered with me and my husband to combine our large stands. Me and my husband owned a very large stand, that would sell food. He did so too, and it rivaled us in size. We came together, and created a store as a joint venture. He didn’t come in one day, and I figured that he needed a vacation. Things were getting pretty hectic.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“People became very attracted to our store. They loved the quality of our meat, fruits, and vegetables. Everything being natural and organic. Because he wanted to show us kindness to our old selves, he was the front line manager. He had a lot of responsibilities, and I am afraid he may have overdid it, unfortunately. Some of the customers began to get very rude. But things had calmed down some before he and his daughter had disappeared. It was odd.” Maikeru added everything she said to his notes. Everything important anyway. Before he left her home he turned to ask a question. “Do you know anyone who would have wanted to harm him? You know. Any enemies of the sort?”
“No not at all. He always did his best to be likable.”
“Thank you ma’am.” Maikeru looked into him some more. Nothing of any importance. It was a hard case to crack, but the Genin was determined to crack it. Looking further into it, Maikeru decided to see if Kaiyo was a man of vice. He was able to obtain a picture of him. He went to some rather unsavory parts of Iwa, asking around in bars. That’s when he found someone. She was an “entertainer.”
“Yeah I know him. He was a real character I tell ya. He was into some strange things. He was as much of a masochist as he was a sadist. He would ask us to do some wild things, and he would do some wild things to some of our girls who were strong enough to take it.”

“Things like what?”

“Beatings. Burnings. We have trained females here who used to be ninja, so it was nothing they haven’t been able to handle before, or anything they couldn’t patch up. Pretty simple stuff. And he was very violent. He would get into fist fights with some of the other patrons. It got worst when he drank. I remember how he would raddled on about his ex wife. He would talk whit so much venom and hatred in his voice when ever the words had anything to do with her. Akiko. I remember that name because he said it so many times, haha.”

“This wife of his. Where does she live?”

“Konohagakure. I don’t know why they split. It was pretty odd. He would say such awful things about her everyday, but never gave the reasons why. Not much a listener.”

“Thank you. That’s all I need.” Finally something substantial. Maikeru had decided to make one more stop at their abandoned home. It was pretty small. Understandably for two people. The atmosphere had felt heavy. Like someone else was in the room. Maikeru made one more step on the wooden floor board, crashing his foot in. “Dammit!” He pulled his foot out and noticed something a book. He reached through the whole and picked it up. He stared at it. The atmosphere got heavier. The genin opened the pages. It was a diary. Full of hundreds of entries. Maikeru looked in awe. He had to began reading at once.

What he had deduced from the reading is that the victim’s father was an awful and terrible man. When he got drunk he would yell and beat her, calling her by her mother’s name. He would often yell at her. The only reason he took her during their parents split was because he wanted to spite her mother. Maikeru sighed. The only place he could go to now is Konoha. He closed the book and left the house.

[EXIT]

812/2646