Swiftly sprinting across the rocky terrain the earth country provided, Kazu would make his way doing a parameter check of the Tsuchi no kuni border, the mission scroll held tightly in his left hand would explain his peculiar mission of animal mutants? The mission was bazaar and Kazu truly thought the mission was a hoax or a test within a test to see how we'd go. It was also apparent to the black hooded chuunin that the latest kage had been doing mission to test shinobi, secret little objectives or other Iwagakure shinobi interfering in missions to see reactions. But surely Kazu hadn't been sent to the border of Tsuchi no kuni to simply be interfered by a hoax. No, it couldn't possibly be, Kazu would spinet through the desolate plains of the earth country, his left hand would loosen allowing the scroll to be tossed in the hot air the skies provided. The sun as usual would make sure everyone was aware of it's presence as heat would practically singe the earth below it. 

"Mutant animals... pfft whatever." Kazu murmured as his pace began to pickup as he really felt the need to get the mission over and done with. With all the years he had lived out in the wild in Uchimagi Kazu had never seen mutant animals, what even where they supposed to look like? "Cat's with three eyes? or a bear with ten legs?" A snigger would follow after his slight jest over the matter before his speed would yet again begin to pick up. His body keeping up with the strong winds that pushed him closer to his objective around the border, the young shinobi would begin to squint as small figure's would take shape in the distance affront him. Where these other shinobi/villagers/people or were these animals? Keeping his constant speed Kazu would begin to get closer and closer till more defining silhouettes would begin to take shape. Horns would be seen on a standing bear, arms could be seen on a bird, and even a mouse was the size dog, what the hell was going on here.

362/2000

His presence would protrude across the empty wasteland, his mission was to dispose of mutant animals which had wreaked havoc across Tsuchi no kuni an these animals from afar truly did look the part. The closer he got to his prey, the more detail would be visible, unusual traits would appear on the animals, and now five would be present, the bear with horns now had spikes sticking out from it's torso, most likely to aid it's 'Bear Hug.' Just the thought made Kazu cringe as he analysed the second creature, a beast with rabbit legs and a crocodile torso and head, to be honest a land crocodile with jumping qualities seemed like a dangerous animal, next would be the eagle with four arms (including it's usual talons) the beast could be seen as a deformed mythical creature (the griffon) but besides the extra arms it didn't seem like such a big deal, the last two animals were both large mice, with crooked sharp fangs capable of tearing through flesh with ease. 

Kazu's mission was really set out for him, how did these creatures act? Where they selfless or act like a team? Orchestrated or wild and abrasive? Whichever the case was these beasts were no ordinary mission. If anything this mission had just deemed closer to A rank, but he'd have to see their fighting capabilities to be sure. As Kazu brought his presence closer to the group of mutant animals they all became aware of him and soon alerted each other. The five began to spread out, formatting into a single line that would slowly close in on the sides in hope of Kazu running through the middle of the pack. But Kazu would not follow to their plan. His body would remain it's consent speed whilst his hands would dance affront his chest in a quick successive manor. Chakra would begin to boil viciously within his body whilst Kazu would knead the chakra to his lungs and along his throat, circling the chakra across his entire oesophagus until it became flooded completely. A nice dense jutsu would make a great start to the battle, especially one with a wide array of offence and utility. "Fire style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu." Immediately the chakra that cased his lungs would abruptly expel from his lips, transmuting instantly into twenty balls of flames, the flames would separate into groups of three, each group of 4 would aim for a different animal thus providing a higher chance of striking his foes. 


Just to his expectations his jutsu was a success as the animals would attempt to dodge, but the crocodile and the bear would be struck by the flames, small burns would begin to form across their bodies whilst the mice and burns would dodge the baton jutsu just barely before sprinting at Kazu. Their counter attack was timed to the utmost, as the mixes began charging whilst the bird began to make it's way from behind in hope of attacking his blind side. But to Kazu's dismay he would begin to flip backward in hope of separating the distance as only 20 meters would separate him from the mice. It was obvious what he had to do, he had used the same tactic on some rookie bandits as of late so it was time to defeat some mutant/durable animals without being harmed. His hands would clap together whilst summoning yoton chakra to his hands. Before long vulcanised rubber would excrete from the pores across his hands, moulding into a large rubber orb around him, rendering taijutsu efforts useless. Due to the thick nature of the rubber his entire vision was obscured but at least it was enough to keep away from the beasts onslaught. 


The mice would start their attack first as they jumped atop the rubber orb and began to scratch and slash vigorously across the thick rubber layer surrounding Kazu. The bird would attack next with it's large claws and quick speed allowing the bird to slash at the rubber orb with terrifying speed. But Kazu would begin to input chakra constantly through the jutsu allowing rubber to constantly add to the orb. Next would be the crocodile it's large teeth would begin to chew on the rubber ball whilst twisting it's body in hope of tearing the damn thing open. The four animals together were quite useless against Kazu's jutsu, that was until the bear came along, the bear would slowly walk up to the rubber orb, it's dark blue eyes glaring directly at the rubber ball itself, the bear would wrap it's large arms around the rubber orb, allowing the spikes across it's torso to dig straight through the rubber executing whatever was left inside Kazu's jutsu. FInally the animals could cause some damage to the rubber jutsu as they clawed their way inside the jutsu. But to their surprise it was empty. Where was Kazu? 


The black hooded shinobi would emerge from the earth as he grabbed the first mouses legs and pulled it into the earth leaving only it's head atop the earth. Kazu would emerge from the ground yet again but this time his body would spin into the air, chakra would begin to mould around his hands before four shuriken would emerge made from pure molten rock, his arms would thrust forward allowing the small ninja tools to glide through the air before landing on the bird and the other mouse. But unlike most kunai these in particular would begin to melt down and revert to lava, as the animals faces were now burnt, disallowing them to see ever again. Sight was a key factor to birds thus disallowing the bird from flying ever again, the bird would roll across the ground whilst screaming in agony. The bear and crocodile were quick to react as they both began to charge at Kazu. 


998(1360/2000)

It was finally time for Kazu to use his tajutsu, it was practically unused in his arsenal as it required his physical body to interact with his enemies, whether they had any diseases or had some condition damage relating to poisons or minuscule sickness's, no matter the person he was fighting you really couldn't know what your opponent has without serious analyzation. The young chuunin would brace himself for impact as the crocodile was first, it's jaws would unclinch providing a wide open snapping motion with it's mouth.

 But Kazu would keep his calm, his arms would linger behind his body before snapping forward aiming for the tips of the crocodiles mouth (the tip of it's nose and the top of it's chin). The strike was enough to keep the beast at bay as the beast and Kazu would hold at a standstill, but this would provide the bear with an open attack as he swooped to the right of Kazu bringing forth it's right arm to swing at Kazu's rib cage. A plan Kazu had failed to think about the young chuunin would move backward thus getting struck by the bears claws. Unlucky for the crocodile as it's momentum was moving toward the elusive Kazu it's jaws would strike the bears claw, creating a 3 inch deep gash on the bears forearm. The bear would cry out as the two beasts collided the fact that Kazu was fortunate to only gain a 2 inch deep cut. 

He would quickly backtrack 5 meters away from the beasts as he needed a new plan to take action to survive. All he knew was that he needed range, he had one mouse beast in the ground, two beasts blind, and two others (who seemed like the pure powerhouses of the group) who had partial burns and minor cuts (except for the bears 3 inch cut). A plan would quickly arise to Kazu's attention, it was simple and was used by him prior against some foolish bandits. Kazu would begin to create a string of hand signs before slamming his palms across the earth below him. Along the earth (except for where he was standing) would begin to crack and split creating long lava veins. These lava veins would fall directly below each animal, disallowing their movements and burnings their feet. The bird and both mice would be burnt completely as their bodies were completely on the ground. Three beasts had been destroyed in one jutsu, it was finally time to get rid of the other two. 

These individual beasts were more stronger than the past three, so more care needed to be implemented. Kazu would again begin to create hand signs whilst chakra would knead across his lungs and upper throat. Without a moments notice an abrupt cloud of molten ash would protrude across the landscape, consuming the two beasts left, burning their skin and causing even more vicious scars across their bodies. It had seemed the beasts were getting cooked alive as Kazu now began to realise as the two beasts would collapse with each other. But to his surprise the beasts were still alive, as their torso's would inflate every time they took a breath, it was now time to put them out of their misery.

Kazu instantly began to create hand signs, chakra would knead across his throat before expelling into flames. A dragon would take shape from the flames and expose of the beasts body, burning their flesh and internal organs. Kazu would go back to each animal and tear out their heart. It wasn't like it was completely normal to do it, but against mutant animals? It seemed perfectly normal, who knows if they could somehow revive. And with that the black hooded shinobi left the singed bodies and disposed of their hearts. Recognising his good work the young shinobi would leave to return to Iwagakure. 

662(2022/2000)