The Bear Necessities (Private)

The Desert Rogue stretched his arms a bit, over his head, sleeves rolling back as he did--a light yawn as they walked, at this point watching Kai practice the jutsu was repetitive. Maybe this is why Azuma never thought of himself the teacher type...he for sure wasn’t conventional, thats for sure. But if one day Kai wished to learn stronger Raiton jutsu, or even non-elemental ninjutsu, Azuma was there to offer his help. He was more of a ‘in the field’ training type...hence taking Kai along with him for this rather high ranked mission. Normally a Genin wouldn’t be sent to deal with such an obvious threat as multiple bears being territorial over a cave. But Azuma could do this task himself, he wanted Kai to gain valuable experience, and who knew--maybe he’d be a great help. No, he will be a great help.

His attention was drawn back to Kai, taken from his almost absent minded thoughts, blinking as his focus returned to the tall sunglasses wearing man. He blinked a couple more times before it registered what had been asked. Azuma reached back behind his right side and slipped his hand into his hip pouch. He removed a Shuriken from it and caught up to Kai, having still given the man room for practicing jutsu. He handed the weapon off to Kai and then fell back once more, after a slight course correction as he subtly nudged Kai slightly more right.

Nodding to the man as he handed him the shuriken and paying careful attention to where Azuma was moving in terms of direction, Kai would spin the shuriken in one hand as he spoke. “Thank you.” He would say, short, and simple. But at least as he was polite. Spinning the Shuriken on a finger he’d channel wind aligned chakra into the small weapon, infusing it with wind with each passing moment until finally he tossed it up a bit and had it flung off his finger. The weapon would stay in the air, spinning as it hovered in the air around him and spun. He moved it around with his chakra, controlling the weapon as it moved around him and Azuma, being careful not to hit his sensei with the weapon.

“Wind Release: Rotating Shuriken, done.” He would say as he tested his control over the weapon and found he couldn’t maneuver further than 10 meters. Which made sense, he did however wonder if he could fire it from here. Aligning it in front of him, he would launch the weapon forward, along their intended path and the weapon would spin off at B tier speed, impacting itself into sand and sticking out of the desert a ways. Since it was fired in the direction they were traveling in anyway though. It was a simple matter of retrieving it, and spinning the weapon on his finger again as he spoke. “I’ll return it once I’m done practicing jutsu Sensei, I know I’ll be working on others that require a weapon and I’d hate to have to keep asking.” He’d say, hoping the man would understand. In hindsight, it was foolish of Kai to not have brought his own weapons on a mission, but he just didn’t really need them much. It wasn’t an excuse though, for it was always better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it.

The Desert Rogue kept marching on through the Desert--something he’d been so used to over the last few years. He kept an almost lazy eye on Kai, keeping track to make sure they was perfectly on course. Of course, he was still interested a little in seeing what Kai was up to. Especially after requesting a shuriken, it did pique his interest, if only a bit. Azuma was prone to becoming bored on these long trips, but, he was also patient, and wouldn’t let it bug him all that much.

He watched as Kai launched the shuriken via a wind jutsu, an eyebrow raising as he did. The two kept walking on, Kai picking it back up once he caught back up to it, and expressing his desire to keep it for a while for now. Azuma simply nodded, and tilted his neck after, popping it as his head fell to the side a bit and he rolled his shoulders.

Kai would simply nod and move on to the next jutsu. Flicking the shuriken up into the air, Kai would hold the snake seal and focus his chakra upon the throwing star. Immediately it would stop moving within the air and he could control the star by holding the seal. It was both slower and less versatile than Rotating Shuriken, but it did have the benefit of having a much larger control range. Although having to hold the hand seal made this less than ideal regardless. “Verdant Mountain Gale, learned.” He would say simply. Nodding his head as he realized he had only one jutsu left for Fuuton. He’d learned all the C ranks and now a D rank of the element, but he had one more to learn before moving onto finishing off the last jutsu from fire he’d forgotten and then finishing water.

Azuma kept his gaze on his student after he had loosened himself up a bit, watching as he begun using the Shuriken again for another Ninjutsu--applying Wind to it once more it seemed. He watched with sharp amber and white hues as the shuriken would be controlled by Kai, although it was rather slow in a way, but surely would improve as Kai did--maybe.

Azuma looked past his student, and off in the distance, still a number of kilometers out, a ridge was coming over the horizon. This ridge was where the cave the two was heading for was, where a number of bears had been held up for who knows how long, years it seemed. The two’s goal was simple enough...but wouldn’t be easy. But for now they could take it easy, still a while out.

Kai could see the incoming ridgeline in the distance and knew that in a little while they would reach their destination. He’d already learned all his possible fire jutsu, now it was time to finish off the wind ones, which he was about to learn the last one of. The technique didn’t require the use of a hand seal, nor did it need a shuriken. As a matter of fact, it was rather supplementary. He controlled the Shurikens flight enough to return it to him before ending the jutsu and channeling his wind release chakra once more. Then, all at once, he’d release it in a weak burst of wind. It was a low powered pulse, hell, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to knock a person off their feet.

No, the trick with this technique was the sheer range it supposedly had. The low powered pulse was designed to clear settled weather conditions, like vision impairing mist, or even poison gas. While a niche technique, might certainly find use later on in his career. “Passing Typhoon, learned” He’d say simply, nodding his head in satisfaction. “That’s wind and fire, now to move onto water.” He would say as he began to consider his options for water release technique.

‘The Storm of the Desert’ would shut his eyes, activating his Sensing jutsu and opening himself up to the world around him, sort of used as a pulse to make sure no one was around them--only Kai showing up on his ‘radar’. Once more mismatched hues opened and he watched as Kai would release a very weak pulse of his own--of air. It was only really visible by the dust it lifted and unsettled along the Desert floor. Azuma just kept walking, the shockwave of air simply flowing right over him, at best blowing his hair and russling the looser bits of his outfit, fluttering a bit in the wind before settling back down as gravity took over once more.

"While some more Suiton jutsu would be helpful, have you tried any Doton?" Azuma would call over to Kai as him and his student trekked on towards the ridgeline in the distance. "Considering this is about to take place in a cave unless we get them outside--having some Doton techniques may prove useful." he’d go on suggesting. He’d seen Kai perform every other element so far but Doton.

"Maybe try this one, its very useful for anyone with Doton chakra. Concentrate your chakra to the ground under your feet and basically liquify the sand under you, you can sink into it and basically swim underground, pop out when you want. Its called Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage. Its something that can be useful even when you’re stronger...I envy those who can use it."

The tall Genin was about to start channeling his chakra for the Water Bullet technique when Azuma offered a different idea. The usage of earth jutsu was a solid idea but Kai wasn't certain it would be a good idea to try using such things in a potentially unstable cave. One never really knew just how solid things really were in a desert. However it wasn't like Kai was intending to not learn Earth Release. So it was as good an element to train next as any.

'Ten to one odds he just wants to see all five elements get used to confirm the theory.' He would think as he nodded outwardly. "Very well Sensei, I'll try Earth Release next." He would say as he began to channel his chakra into the ground beneath him. It would only take moments but he would suddenly sink into the ground, disappearing from the physical senses. He would remain below for a few moments before returning to the surface. "Earth Release Subterranean Voyage complete." He would say as he already began to decide what jutsu to learn next.

Azuma would notice the nod before he responded, misinterpreting this as agreeing with his sentiment, unknowing to the fact it was Kai figured the man wanted to see if he indeed has all five Elements. There was some truth to this feeling. Azuma indeed wished to know, even if it was 80% confirmed as is. The young man watched as his student agreed and followed his instructions, suddenly sinking into the desert below, causing Azuma to smile at the fact his theory now was 100% confirmed. Much better then the previous 20% from their interaction the other day, teaching the young man a Raiton technique. When Kai surfaced the man couldn’t help but cast a toothy grin Kai’s direction.

"Keep that one in mind for the future, it can be pretty useful for getting the jump on opponents." he’d comment about the jutsu he had advised Kai to learn. The man went back to his natural expression, neutral, as they kept walking. They soon enough would be arriving at the ridgeline, it was only about a kilometer out at this point. Azuma could be there in literally seconds if he wanted to, his specialty being his speed, but he knew Kai would struggle to keep up, and didn’t wish to ditch his student in such a way.

Kai would nod in response to his Sensei's words before considering what to learn next. The Subterranean Voyage jutsu was in fact one he'd researched and intended to learn on this mission. Shrugging his shoulders at the coincidence the genin would decide to continue with his Earth Release jutsu. Another useful jutsu was one that simply allowed him to escape bad situations.

The Hiding Like a Mole technique neither had any hand seals and allowed one to move freely as well, it was almost similar to Subterranean Voyage. Although the techniques had their differences. Nodding at his choice he would channel his chakra into the Earth once more. The ground around him would become...more sand. Who wouldve fucking guessed? He'd use his hands and begin to dig down deeply and maintain the depth for a time before returning to the surface. "Hiding Like a Mole, complete." He would say almost monotonously. The ridgeline was getting closer now. It was looking like he would have to learn the other jutsu later, after they cleared out the cave.

Azuma observed Kai’s nod, it’d seem the young man would be listening, as his next jutsu that Kai would go to use is a similar ability, although with a couple differences. Again the man watched his student as he started digging through the sand much easier then he’d normally have been able to, disappearing into a hole for some time before surfacing, Azuma nodding at the technique. "You did a lot of research, thats for sure. Glad to see you’ve taken this seriously Kai...Hell other then some tactical pointers and maybe teaching you some more advanced Raiton you are already pretty solid man." he’d say to the slightly younger--yet taller student of his.

Azuma turned his attention ahead, at this point--they was nearing the cave. It was time to begin focusing, and the Jounin sighed as his expression shifted, his more lax attitude shifting as he looked a bit more serious. A small squint of his eye would let him see the cave entrance ahead. Time to talk about a plan. "Alright...We’re almost there. So here is the deal...we gotta get them out of there, and they are already enraged and hostile. So elimination is our only option...I hate killing animals, it feels wrong, but I also can’t let them endanger others if we just push them out into the wild." he’d sort of recap their mission goal, it would’ve been something they’d talked about before leaving, but as they neared the cave--building a plan became a solid idea.

"When we get there I want you to hang back, I wanna go in and scope out the situation first. But most likely it’ll be pretty straight forward...once the attack is launched it’ll be a a simple assault and elimination, they’re gonna be aggressive. If you think you can use the jutsu you just learned to get to the back of the cave, I’d like to distract them and see if you and push them out of the cave with either Doton or Suiton jutsu. Maybe Earth Release: Earth Flow River, if you came across that one when you researched all these jutsu? If you can sweep them out of the cave we’ll have an easier time picking them off...unless you just wanna try to use the cave as a funnel, could also work...depends how you feel being in tight spaces with powerful Bears."

Kai would listen to his Sensei's words carefully before simply nodding. "It depends on the cave really, if it's small enough I should be able to send them all to the back of it. But if it's big enough it'd be best to bring them out. Perhaps you should let me scout the cave with that jutsu? I can feel what's going on up on the surface." He would say. Offering a different idea toward the situation. "Matter of fact, if I can track down a cub, I bet I could bearnap it and bring all of them out at once." He would muse outwardly.

"It isn't ideal, I'd rather not kidnap anyone's child, animal or not." He would say, grimacing at the thought but accepting it as an option nonetheless. "I did research Earth Flow River though." He would say as he performed the Tiger seal and the earth in front of him turned into a raging mud river that went back twenty meters, ending abruptly. The river would have some solid power behind it and would be a good way to send someone away. It could also combo off with other jutsu to create devastating combos. "Learned." He'd say simply.

The Jounin watched as Kai would suggest an alternative idea. Sadly, there was no bear cubs to be there--only 20 full grown and strong bears. Thats what the report said, at least. They’d have to see, although Azuma still disliked this idea. "We can both scout out the situation, just want you being careful. This will be a real combat situation, you need to avoid taking any extra risks." he’d go on to say, sighing afterwards.

He’d watch as Kai formed a Tiger Seal after stating he had indeed researched the jutsu, nodding once the river of mud flowed forward, reaching its max distance of twenty meters. This was enough to help push them out, if the cave was shallow enough. If it ran deep and was larger, a new plan would be needed. But thats how Missions go, lots of on-the-fly thinking. "The jutsu you’ve been learning should prove very useful for this and other Missions...You’re pretty much a Ninjutsu multi-tool, having all those elements is a gift Kai...I hope you know that. Its not normal, even among the shinobi of legend only a few have access to all the elements. I do hope you don’t take such a gift lightly." the young Jounin would praise his student, giving him a bit of a smirk as a single edge of Azuma’s lips curled up.

Kai would nod at his sensei and move in with him, it would be simple enough to use his jutsu to escape harm. As a matter of fact, it would be better off if he simply went in with Azuma and kept an eye out. While Hiding Like a Mole did indeed allow him to sense was happening on the surface it would be no replacement for actually seeing what was going on. Now that they were at the cave, Kai would stay near his teacher, moving toward the entrance of the cave, the rancid smell of an animal den permeating from it. He was as quiet as he could be when he went in with Azuma and listened to the jounin explain that we could try to fight them in here but that if it gets to be too much we should bring them to an open battlefield.

Kai would have rathered just led them outside from the get go but he figured his teacher knew best here so he would follow the man’s lead. “How do you want to start?” He would ask, looking at the bears around them, most were watching two adults roaring loudly and fighting, a fight for dominance? Who knew. Some Earth release jutsu would be devastating in here, but could possibly from the cave down around them, which would be bad. So he’d stick to fire and wind for now. The two he’d learned best thus far.

He seen Kai’s nod in response to the idea of them both scouting out the cave, The Desert Rogue soon hearing his response about the ‘gift’ Kai had. This was quickly followed back up with being taken back to the subject of the mission, Azuma nodding in reply while Kai was still talking, quiet as he listened to his student’s other suggestion. ”Thats not too bad of an idea, if they are as rabid as the Mission Request stated, it won’t take much to provoke them. Although if so I’d like you to use your jutsu to get out of there, unless you’re hiding some extra speed I don’t know about, they are likely faster then you. I can’t have a student dying on me in our first mission together you know.” he’d say, before shifting his sight forward. They was there…

The cave entrance was somewhat large but not that big, a simple hole and tunnel in the ridgeline. Azuma approached the cave entrance, taken back almost by the smell emitting from it. Apparently this wouldn’t be the only way in technically, as the air passing through the cave and out this entrance suggested another somewhere else as an inlet for the breeze must exist. This worked in their favor, they was not gonna be smelled so easily by the bears. He’d quietly motion for Kai to follow and slowly enter, making sure to be quiet as he did. It wasn’t to far in it opened up into a fairly open, but still somewhat tight cavern--and spread around it was indeed twenty bears...exactly as described. Two of them roared loudly at each other, some sort of dispute. Azuma silently sighed. ”We can try to fight them in here...but if it gets too much we’ll lead them outside to open up the battlefield.”

Kai would nod at his sensei and move in with him, it would be simple enough to use his jutsu to escape harm. As a matter of fact, it would be better off if he simply went in with Azuma and kept an eye out. While Hiding Like a Mole did indeed allow him to sense was happening on the surface it would be no replacement for actually seeing what was going on. Now that they were at the cave, Kai would stay near his teacher, moving toward the entrance of the cave, the rancid smell of an animal den permeating from it. He was as quiet as he could be when he went in with Azuma and listened to the jounin explain that we could try to fight them in here but that if it gets to be too much we should bring them to an open battlefield.

Kai would have rathered just led them outside from the get go but he figured his teacher knew best here so he would follow the man’s lead. “How do you want to start?” He would ask, looking at the bears around them, most were watching two adults roaring loudly and fighting, a fight for dominance? Who knew. Some Earth release jutsu would be devastating in here, but could possibly from the cave down around them, which would be bad. So he’d stick to fire and wind for now. The two he’d learned best thus far.

Azuma heard Kai’s response, a simple question, how should they begin. Simple, really...luckily bears were dull creatures--powerful, but dumb. Nothing more than a half brained brute. There was no need for overly complex tactics, their task was straight forward. ”I’ll take out the two who are already a bit aggressive as is, this should draw all their attention to me...I’ll likely use my Naginata in this case--its been a while--keep them at bay with its long reach...I’ll try to keep their attention on me, you pick off whichever ones you feel comfortable in taking on. If things get dicey, using Hiding Like a Mole to escape injury. Keep in mind this mission isn’t worth your life...I can probably handle this on my own, but I value in the field experience--thats why I brought you Kai. Just...stay safe, ok man?” Azuma went on to say to Kai in response. He wasn’t a fan of putting anyone into unnessary danger...but he also knew this would make Kai a much stronger shinobi.

He’d confirm the idea with a nod and would slip his weapons scroll from his sleeve, in a smooth movement he’d open it, summon his Naginata, and put it away. The Naginata? Of course...the one Azuma had gained from Kai. A familiar weapon to the Genin. He’d go ahead and step out quietly, positioning himself in a good place to strike from. He held his weapon and sighed quietly, letting his Raiton chakra fill into the weapon. With a chirp, it lit ablaze with Lightning, looking almost like a Chidori Katana. But no--this was Raikiri Nami...the man would take a few quick steps before leaping high into the air, with two sweeps of the blade, he launched from the Naginata two crescents of Lightning, a literal ‘Raikiri’ flying through the air. Each hit their mark, bisecting the two bears. He’d come to land right between the split bears, mismatched hues glancing about...picking another target, he launched the last of the man’s three uses of this technique. This would once again hit its mark, the man’s blade cutting them down in a second from afar--now lost of its Lightning energy. Three down, seventeen to go.

Azuma would lay out the plan and Kai would nod in confirmation of the man’s words. He had learned a great many jutsu so far but there were still two elements he hadn’t gotten finished yet. So he would focus on using his water techniques, and learned more of them in an attempt to master more jutsu. Not only that, but due to the cave he couldn’t risk fire or earth anyway given that he might accidentally cause a cave in upon their heads or cause them severe smoke damage. So he would turn toward the bears as Azuma unsummoned the very weapon he had given him. The man would leap into the bear den his glaive cackling with electrical discharge as he sung crescent arcs of lightning into the unsuspecting bears. Bisecting three total, Kai would nod at his Senseis handiwork. Then he would proceed to flip through a few hand seals.

Tiger, Ox, Tiger, Rat.

As he performed them he would knead the chakra within his stomach and then expel a large quantity of water in the form of a torrent that hurdled toward one of the bears and slammed into it, throwing it violently against the wall of the cave and in a perfect location for Azuma to finish it off if striking the cave wall so hard hadn’t done it already.

As the man handled his own business, it seemed Kai was on the attack too--as hoped--the Jounin watching as his student used a Water Bullet to send one of the bears crashing into a wall in the back of the cave. It didn’t quite finish it off, Azuma pulling one of his Kunai and launching it towards the bear--a direct hit between the eyes ending it. Azuma took a large leap, backflipping in the air as he did, the Jounin landing ontop of the dead bear him and Kai had combined their efforts to deal with, retrieving his Kunai as he did.

Azuma took a moment to charge chakra into his arm, cocking it back and priming it to fire--once the chakra had been molded and shaped into his arm, the man flung it out, releasing a torrent of Chidori senbon into the crowd of bears. It likely wasn’t enough to kill any, but, would hit them, hurt them, and hopefully--slow them down. With a loud roar one charged towards The Desert Rogue, but would be quickly dispatched with a single swing of the weapon used. Azuma managed, although his movements with the weapon wasn’t what one would call smooth. He still needed a bit of time to get used to the Naginata made by Okane originally for Kai--now wielded by Azuma.

Once Kai had set up the bear to be killed Azuma was swift in finishing it off. Sinking a single kunai between the eyes of the creature and retrieving the weapon with equal haste. Then his sensei would begin to charge chakra into his arm before throwing out what looked like countless chakra needles off into the group of bears. The needles struck the bears but the beasts didn't go down from such an assault and one roared, bellowing it's echoing rage throughout the cave before charging at the Jounin. Right before it was dispatcher by a single swipe of the Naginata Azuma wielded.

Kai himself would begin to channel his chakra in his stomach, churning it into water as he formed the Tiger seal and began to fire off multiple bullets of water at some of the bears. The bullets would strike with bone crushing force and divert some of their attention from Azuma and onto Kai. The bears would turn toward the tall genin who would stand stoically and ready his next jutsu. The bears would charge and Kai would utilise the Syrup Capturing Field technique he'd demonstrated earlier and capture a few of them into a group before flipping through a few more seals and having arcing bolt of electricity upon his fingers. Then he's thrust the hands forward and a crackling storm of electricity would strike the bears and the field. This would spread the damage amongst them and fry out their insides cruelly.

It'd seem Kai had been able to take care of a number of the bears they had remaining, using water bullets to crash into and getting their attention, before trapping them and using Lightning to take them out. Basically a combo like Kai had used earlier when Azuma had to dodge the oncoming attack. Azuma himself would go ahead and rush through any of the remaining bears, the blade of his weapon slicing each one as he zipped by with fairly impressive speed, the man beheading most of them, and if they hadn't been beheaded--the wound would still be nearly instantly fatal, usually a cut to the back of the neck.

It wasn't too long and they had taken out all twenty of the bears they had been tasked to eliminate and remove from the cave. With a nod towards Kai for a job well done, Azuma would go about and use the same jutsu he usually did to dispose of their bodies, each one burned up by a burst of chakra. Azuma would motion for Kai to follow him, the man starting the journey back towards Sunagakure.

[Exit]