Mission: The Terror of the Mountains (Fenn)

Mission Details:

A slight chill ran down Akihana's spine as her golden eyes scanned towards the mountains not too far off from the village gates. Despite the weather being reasonably warm and her own ability to control body temperature to survive in even the harshest conditions due to her being a medic, Akihana couldn't keep the shiver down as she pictured what could be waiting for them only an hour's hike away. When the kunoichi had first seen the mission details, a summon gone wrong which had resulted in the kind of monster that could only be described as a resident of nightmares - of both young children and their mothers alike - the blonde had managed to keep a straight face. The ANBU mask wasn't the only one in the kunoichi's arsenal, she had learned to wear a mask ever since she had first seen Arata cry for no other reason than seeing his mother upset. It had been a hard driven lesson in the young woman, children judge the severity of anything by how their parents react to it. The first time Arata had fallen down when he was just learning to walk, Akihana had seen the look of silent puzzlement on his chubby little face. Instead of contemplating the pain, his dark gaze had looked up to her, wanting to see how mommy reacted. If mommy showed signs of alarm, the baby would begin to cry, knowing something was wrong. But if mommy simply patted the ground and told him to try again, then the injury wasn't so bad.

And it was this mask of optimism, good cheer and encouragement that Akihana wore more often than the ANBU one which Arata played with at home. It was this natural mask which she had worn throughout her mission briefing with the new Raikage. There were no corner cuts on this mission. And more than the monster roaming around the mountains, Akihana was upset that they had to kill it. Simply end its existence. If they had been asked to send it back to the summon world it had came from, the blonde might have Thoroughbred a bit of hope but as it was, the instructions were clear. Find, kill, report.

And she knew there was only one person she could ask to accompany her on this mission, perhaps the only one who would understand her reluctance and dilemma at ending the life of even a monster. Because when all was said and done, it wasn't the beast's fault. Akihana couldn't imagine being trapped in a strange world, scared and confused and being hunted. The medic closed her eyes, trying not to over think this. Shinobi were tools, she reminded herself. Their job was to carry out tasks. That was the harsh reality of life.

Even with her eyes closed, Akihana could detect Fenn's chakra anywhere. A soft welcoming smile graced her face as her chakra sensory picked up her old partner. It had been a while since they had done a mission together and truth be told, she had missed him sorely. Both their careers had advanced in such a way that they had not had enough time to hang out, so much so that Arata had begun to worry where his big brother was, leading Akihana to assure the boy that his Fenn nii-san was a very important shinobi and therefore a very busy one too.

"Hi," she greeted him as she felt him land beside her, looking at him through soft golden eyes. Dressed in her usual ninja attire of shorts, a red vest over her mesh shirt and tough brown boots reaching almost up to her knees, Akihana almost felt like her old self, though the kunoichi suspected this had less to do with her garb and more to do with the teen currently beside her.

Flipping her long blonde braid over a shoulder, she asked "So, we ready to go?"

654/3500

Fen was sitting in a meditative state of mind, seemed to float in emptiness, which he was doing really, and suddenly something began to tug at him, and as he opened his eyes, he could see like a form beginning to meld in front of him made of his own chakra, and as the form began to grow and take shape, fen grew weaker and weaker, until suddenly, a demon would have formed out of it, and the demon would introduce himself “Greetings, I am Yoko Kurama, and I will be taking over your body whenever I please, it has been a Pleasure to meet you and assimilate your body Fenikkusu” The Demon gave off a Devilish smile as he stared at Fen, Fen would look at the Demon as if they were crazy, this demon looked like him at this moment, but with white hair, and a white tail, and don’t get him started on this demons ears, Fen would begin to laugh at this demon who called himself Yoko Kurama, and Fen had high disbelief this thing whatever it was, was going to try and take him over, but fen had never had a dream like this before either, though fen had no idea this was a dream….or was it?
The Demon would smirk at Fen as they would hold their conversation, According to this demon, it was created out of fen’s fears and was summoned due to fen’s helplessness, this Demon even said he would strengthen fen and throw fens fears and helplessness out of the window and out of fens mind, but as fen showed him more and more resistance to what he said, he would sigh and transform growing bigger and uglier, towering over Fen and starting down at him. After it had changed its form fully, it would ask in a much deeper voice then it had before “Are you ready to face your fears, fears of loss and lost, fears of things beyond your control, fears of dying and fear of facing a foe so much stronger then you that you have lost all ability to do anything at all” The Demon smirked down at him
The Demon would be standing in front of Fen, standing a good six foot almost seven foot, laughing evilly as Fen stood there, trying to be intimidating, would it be strange to say that the face of the demon looked an awful lot like Navi’s, even though fen only knew him as the man from that one day he lost something important to him, maybe that is his demon he wanted to conquer in life, but at this moment it was lost to Fen as this being only a dream, Fen would try his hardest to attack the demon with everything he had, but no matter what the demon either never went down, or never even seemed phased by it, till eventually Fen gave into the fear, started to cringe and cower, and then that’s when the demon began to beat on him mercilessly, kicking him around like it was nothing, and appearing behind him to catch him with another hit of either a punch or a kick, Fen felt helpless, and this demon had the upper hand, after a good while Fen laid in front of the demon, broke, battered, bruised, bleeding, and the demon stood over Fen laughing as it would say to him in a deep voice “You think a weakling like you can do anything to protect the new found people in your life, PATHETIC” and as the demon shouted the last word, kicked Fen across the emptiness they were standing in, like a soccer ball, as the demon decided to walk over to Fen now, just laughing and building the suspense, then as it got about five feet away it would stop and begin to speak once more “If you can never defeat me, You will never defeat your opponent, and if you can never defeat your opponent, you can not protect those you hold dear” the demon would sneer, fen at this point did not know If the demon was trying to be helpful in building him up, or hurtful with all the pain he seemed to feel, The demon would continuously beat away at Fen, till at the moment Fen Felt like he was going to die from all the pain he was receiving, he Awoke…
The Day starts with fen awaking from a dream, but it had felt so real to Fen, he did not know how to act, he was in a cold sweat from it, maybe it was not as much of a dream as it was, he had issues deep down he really needed to face, and one day he will, but today did not seem like the day, today was a day for training, fen would slowly pull the covers off of him and immediately got a chill, the sun was not even up yet, Fen would sigh as he sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed his face, since he had been promoted, his house had been fixed up, the leak that let in water and wind was now gone, the squeaks in the floor was still there though, that could not be helped, but everything else was practically brand new, even the cloths Fen wears are new, especially when compared to the cloths he used to wear, this new life style and dress style he owed a lot of it to Akihana, if it was not for her, he probably would have stayed living like he was poor, let alone with no fashion sense to boot, Fen in some ways was just hopeless like that, But his Teammate Akihana helped to combat that, today he went to the closet, and put on his Phoenix Armor, during training he may have to head out or something, who knows, maybe even have to head out on a patrol or something, one would never know, So fen would get out of his room, on his arms was Gilgamesh, on the low of his back was his heavens sorrow ninjato, the pouches on his legs held the kunai, and his other gear and equipment he received from his ninja starting bundle, he even put his books of jutsu encyclopedia, and his book called Human body, Ultimate machine, this book was rather handy, thank to it, he has been able to pinpoint peoples Pressure points and exploit them to his advantage, and with his jutsu Encyclopedia it allowed him to have a great knowledge of jutsu, so he could better predict his opponents movements, and then in his pocket, something still that was getting used to him, the soul amethyst in his pocket, he could feel the gem in his pocket trying to mold with him, get used to him, study and read him as best as it could, this thing he had read about, and found very useful, well worth the money he spent on it, fen looking very much like a ninja cross bred with a cyborg or something, his outfit was red and black, the power gloves on his arms was silver and red, both items have proven to be useful in his career, he knew he would never leave home without them, so he decided he will eventually buy a couple of scrolls to keep ready, so he could summon them when he needed them, Fen went into the kitchen, and grabbed for a ramen cup, he wanted something rather simple this morning, plus it already had vegetables in it, so he did not need to worry about getting some nutrients from it, but he would add in a few slices of the pork he had the night before, to add in protein to the meal, this should give him the energy to get through the day, at least he had hoped so, when fen was done with his pork ramen meal, he would throw the cup away, put the fork in the sink, and would wash it, and dry it, then put it up, he would then walk out of the door, into the fresh air, by this point in the day, the sun was beginning to raise, today also was a day free for Arata, no academy on weekends, and today was a Saturday, So Fen would stop by Akihana’s house before she left out today, and he took Arata to the training grounds today, and he would set the picnic basket that Akihana seemed to have prepared for them, woman seemed to know when he was going to do something with Arata, and knew they were going to be out till Lunch , Fen chuckled and shook his head, the picture of Akihana still in his head, having Arata ready with the picnic basket, and telling fen to make sure to take breaks for lunch, and to make sure Arata did not get hurt, Fen would give his word to her and would take off with little Arata.
They would arrive at the training grounds and Fen would look at Arata “Ok Arata, first thing that is first, will be warm ups, so let us start, do as I do” Fen would then stand straight up and would bend over at the hips, his left finger tips meeting his right toes, his right hand was sticking up into the air, as his feet was a shoulder length apart, he would stand back straight up to see Arata had done the same thing as he did, and then he would bend back down, his right hand would go to his left foot, the tips of his fingers touching the front of his shoe, his left hand now up in the air like the right hand was, and then he would straighten out once more, just to see Arata had been keeping his eyes on Fen and had done the same thing, Arata was always a quick learner, Fen remember teaching him how to throw a shuriken and how one of the shuriken Arata threw almost hit him in the head, as it landed in the door jamb above both him and Arata’s mother Akihana, that was a fun day, and the day he played horsy with Arata, while he ran to meet Akihana at her work, cause he was late, yet again another fun day to remember that was, He remembered a time training with Akihana, and Arata was there cheering them On, this kid really has made an impact in Fen’s life, and fen could not stand the thought if anything would happen to this kid, let alone to Akihana, fen knew he had to get stronger so nothing would ever harm either of them, those two men he met, Kuro was it? And Yaju? Yea those were their names, those two men where powerful, he would seek out their help, Yaju was also the man who was once Raikage, and made Fen a member of the ANBU, Fen would need to see if he could help at all, either with training or with getting in touch with the man named Kuro, so maybe Kuro could teach him and help him become more powerful, Fen would snap back to reality to see he spaced out, but could hear Arata counting “Fourteen…fifteen…sixteen…seventeen Come on Fen-san your falling behind” Fen would smile softly and chuckle, he would then begin to continue his warm up, counting up from where he left off “three…four…five” Fen could feel the breeze on his face, and see it pushing Arata’s hair from his face “six…seven…eight” Fen watched as the clouds in the sky moved across it like giant fluffy Marshmallows “nine…ten…eleven” Fen would see Arata had been finished and now waiting on him to complete his set of these “twelve…thirteen…fourteen” Fen felt bad now for not paying attention like he should have “fifteen…sixteen…seventeen” fen was almost done and Arata looked like he was ready for the next set “Eighteen…nineteen…twenty” Fen was now done, and he looked at Arata and smiled “Now for the next one, Sit ups”
Fen would lay down in the grass then crossed his arms across his chest, he would pull his legs up and had his knees bent, he would then begin to do sit ups, he would Tighten his abdominal muscles gently by drawing in his belly button to his spine, Keeping his heels on the ground and his toes flat to the ground, slowly and gently lifts his head first, followed by his shoulder blades. He Focus's his eyes on his bent knees, all the while gently contracting the abdominal muscles. Pulling up from the floor until he is at a ninety-degree angle, or when the elbows are on, or past, the knees. He would hold the position for a second. Slowly bring the torso back to the floor but trying to keep it slightly elevated off the ground. This means He does not place his back flat to the ground but to keep a slight, yet relaxed, arch. and fen would repeat this process over and over, counting as he did his sit ups "One, Two, Three" Fen would continue to do the sit ups, at least now he could see the sky, watching the clouds move and the birds fly over head as he went onto his back and back up to his knees, While he was at his knees he could see Arata across from him, doing the same thing he was showing, he was proud of this little guy, and he knew Akihana is proud of him as well, still counting out loud "Four, Five, Six" He would note shapes of clouds as he would continue the sit ups, seeing a few animals and a couple of shapes, He would tell Arata about them as they were doing their sit ups “Seven, Eight, Nine" Fen's sit ups would continue to Tighten his abdominal muscles gently by drawing in his belly button to his spine, keeping his attention over at Arata, the boy was doing the sit ups faster than fen was and was at an even higher count then fen, so fen would continue where he left off at with his count "Ten, Eleven, Twelve" Fen's sweating grew more profusely, the sweat was now able to reach his eyes, giving them a slight sting, but he would continue through it , Fen could see the sweat on Arata’s brow too, after this exercise it might be time for the pair of them to take a small break " thirteen... fourteen...,Fifteen" fen would shake his head to get rid of the sweat, his hair sticking to his face, and matted down all over his head, the sit ups would still continue, he could see Arata standing and looking at him waiting for him to finish his set of sit ups " sixteen…Seventeen... Eighteen" Fen's breathing became even louder, taking deeper breaths in through his mouth and then letting them out through his nose, keeping it in rhythm of his sit ups" nineteen...twenty...twenty one" fen would get a little slower with his sit ups as they got a little more strained to do, feeling the burning sensation in his abs " twenty two, twenty three...twenty four" fen would begin to hum a song in his head to keep him going, giving him the strength to keep going " twenty five... twenty six.. twenty seven" fen would continue the song in his head forgetting what number he was one, beginning to sing the song out loud," twenty eight... twenty nine...Thirty" Fen would now stretch his muscles out before he stood up and looked over at Arata.
He had started doing push up, and he could hear under Arata’s breath, him counting out the push-ups, and when Arata stood up Fen would smile at him and would say to him “Alright time for the next thing, Im going to help you to learn the four jutsu for the academy exams, that way you are ready for them when it is time to take them” Fen would smile softly at Arata as he would shout out “Yes Fen-San, Thank You so much fen-san” his smile big as his eyes lit up, Fen would nod and form the first set of hand signs slowly for Arata to learn them, and Fen would say “Clone Jutsu” and two clones of Fen would appear, now him saying the jutsu out loud was just his way to let Arata know the name of it, and Arata would then follow the hand signs and did the same thing as Fen did, and two clones of his own would appear, and then as he lost concentration from being excited, he would lose the two clones and he jumped up cheering, then fen would clear his throat to get Arata’s attention focused back on him, and Arata would stop doing whatever it was he was doing and would turn and look at fen, fen would then begin the following speech “Very well done Arata but don’t let it go to your head, cause the next three are not as simple” Fen would show him the hand sign to form and then tell him “Concentrate your chakra to the soles of your feet, then try to climb up a Tree, will even allow you to walk across water” Fen would then begin to walk up a tree and would turn around and look down at Arata, then he would flip off the tree and land on a puddle of water that was deep enough it should have went over his feet, but instead he just stood on it, he would step off the Puddle and would watch Arata give it a try, and before he took off running, Fen would throw a kunai at Arata’s feet and told him “When you reach as high as you can reach, mark it off” and Arata would take up, he would get about to five feet off the ground before arata would fall down from the tree, Arata would stand up and try once more, this time as he ran up the tree he would make another mark at the eight foot mark, and as he started to sleep, he would flip off the tree this time and land on his feet, Arata would hit the ground and once more would try again, this time he got to the twelve foot mark and flipped off the tree, and land on his feet, then he would look up at fen and fen would nod, telling him basically he had gotten the basics of it, then fen would show him the next one, with the hand signs completed slowly so Arata could repeat them, he would say “Transformation jutsu” and would disappear in a puff of smoke, as the smoke cleared, he would appear in front of Arata looking identical to him, then he would explain “You have to get every detail in your mind about who you are wanting to look like, then at that moment you release the hand sign, and you will take shape” Fen would then go silent as he waited for Arata to get a thought in his mind, and then would disappear into a puff of smoke, then as he appeared from the smoke, he looked like he had become Fen, and fen would chuckle as he released the jutsu, becoming himself and Arata doing the same, releasing and becoming himself as well, then fen said, “The last one is going to be a little dangerous, but excellent to learn Fen would form the hand seals and then looked up at Arata “Throw the Kunai at me, At first Arata would be hesitant to throw the first kunai, but he had to see how the jutsu worked So Arata would throw the Kunai, and as he did, when the kunai would hit fen in the dead center of his chest, Fen disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a log had taken his place pierced by the kunai, a piece of paper on it saying “Substitution jutsu” and then Arata would hear something flying from behind him, and use the same hand signs Fen did, he would throw his chakra at the log in front of him, so when Arata would be hit, him and the log switched places, the log taking the Kunai instead, Fen would walk out of the tree line that was once behind Arata, clapping “excellent work” as he was getting ready to start the next bit, a crow would suddenly appear, and gave Fen a mental message, seemed he had another mission to go do, he would look down at Arata and tells him “You should go home buddy and enjoy the lunch your mom made, I need to go do a mission really fast, we will continue this when I get back, if I am back soon enough” and with that, Fen would form the hand sign for his body flicker.
He would receive the mission brief and told Akihana was already out there, and informed he would be sent out as back up, so he would go to the rendezvous point after he checked to make sure he had all his gear, and then he would arrive next to Akihana, knowing she would have sensed him by this point in his traveling, She would tell him Hi, and he would look at her and smile “hey Aki” Fen looked four years older than the last time she had seen him, he was taller, his hair was longer and kept clean now, he would nod at her question and would reply with “yeap lets go Aki” And then Fen would launch himself off into the mountains, on the lookout for this summon gone rampant, assured that Akihana was behind him, Fen would keep his senses on high alert as they would search for it, assuming Akihana would eventually see it or sense it in some way, Fen would take whatever route she told him to, following her directions, upon catching any sense of the monster Fen would take off after it, the monsters speed seemed to be faster then something he could keep up with at this moment, as he was not going full speed, but now he knew Akihana could track it thoroughly and would stop and give her the sign to stop and would turn to her and ask her with a soft voice “So Akihana, assuming you can follow it now, Ready to make a battle strategy to catch it and take care of the poor beast, hopefully we can think of something better than just killing it, if not then you can go somewhere else if you needed to, and I will handle it” then Fen would sit on the branch he stopped on and would wait for Akihana, both to catch up if need be and to hear her answers and tactic ideas for how this should go down, and then Fen would nod and follow her plan if he thought it sounded good enough, if not then he would offer up a different idea and hoped she liked it enough to go with it, Now fen just had to think of a good enough plan, just in case he needed to throw one out there to tell Akihana

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As Fenn agreed to her question, already hurtling out towards the mountain areas where the beast was, Akihana followed in close pursuit. She was, she had gotten a lot faster recently thanks to all her training and assignments. But there was never any competition between the two of them. Fenn and she were partners and when the time came for her to take the lead, he would understand and slow down. As it was, she kept pace with him, her light colored eyes scanning the distance for a sign of the alleged monster.

Fenn reminded her of Arats in a lot of ways, the kunoichi reflected, a small smile touching her features as they traveled. Both young men definitely shared the same level of enthusiasm, though she supposed Fenn wasn't so young anymore. Ever since his promotion to ANBU a change had taken place in her partner, one she wasn't entirely sure about but that didn't worry her nonetheless. As long as he was happy, she was too. Even if he no longer looked like the blind little boy she had first met and felt the need to protect. Now he had shot well past her own height, surprising her when she had to look up to meet his gaze, surprised at the finely chiseled features that now dominated his face and the new confident air in his gait that he seemed to have amassed almost overnight. She supposed it was because he was happy. Or determined. She hoped he was both.

Signs of the summon's rampaging became cleared as they traveled deeper into the mountains. claw marks on rocky outcrops, the sparse greenery uprooted as if by a powerful force. It seemed the creature they were hunting had certainly been here but he light patterns around the area were still, signalling that it had either moved on or settled down somewhere to rest. Again, a small clench of sorrow twisted the kunoichi's heart at the idea of the creature that had found itself into their world. Something the redhead beside her must have guessed as his next words confirmed what she had been thinking. It was just like him to spare her the pain of watching it die. But she was a kunoichi, she was a ninja of kumogakure and worst of all, she was a medic. She had to learn to deal with death and she had to start now.

"I'll be okay," she assured him, a shaky smile on her lips but her eyes told the real story. Glittering gold as they scanned the distance, they still bore the predominant color of sadness at the thought of taking a life, any life.

"It's not moving," she added, averting her gaze from Fenn's to look out for their prey once more. "The light patterns are still, it might be hard to find it like this... unless." Bringing her hands up to form the appropriate jutsu, the kunoichi blinked and a moment later, two other Akihanas flanked her, all holding out their palms together to cast a triple Hikariton Blinding Ball. The light would attract the beast and bring it to them as opposed to them having to waste time looking for it.

She three blondes launched the joined dazzling ball of light into the sky, the clones disappearing immediately after, for a moment making the whole place awash with a soft golden glow. Nowhere near as bright as the sun, the sky still looked as if it was populated by hundreds of softly twinkling golden stars which burst into light to rain down from the heavens.

"Not subtle," the medic admitted, a sheepish grin on her face as her eyes reflected the beams of bring light raining down on them. "But it will catch its attention."

No sooner had she said the words than her chakra sensory tingled, making her turn serious once more. Her eyes left Fenn to scan the distance where light patterns were moving, and moving vary fast.

"It's awake," she warned her partner, her stance battle ready as her hands flew to her side in preparation. "And it wants a snack," she added, swinging her golden braid over her shoulder as she focused on the distance and the thicket of bushes the summon was about to burst through in a few seconds. "Be careful, Fenn."

1375/3500

Fen would notice his partner was able to keep up with his speed now, that was excellent to see, it gave Fen hope that she would very easily be able to handle herself when he had to leave, he did not know why, but there was this tugging at his soul, telling him he needed to go spend a little time away in the Black Forest, little did Fen know, that was where the majority of his destiny laid rather he knew it or not, as they closed in on it, he could hear Akihana say something about it not moving so he would stop and looked over at her with a puzzled face, then she explained everything after some time of her playing with her light release techniqes, the complete opposite of his Darkness release it honestly was, in so many ways these two where polar opposites, but they worked as what seemed like an unstoppable team, fen would also know she lied earlier, maybe Akihana could sense this change in Fen that was seemingly happening and maybe she was scared to ask Fen about it, Fen would shrug it off as he waited for the results, Fen himself was currently scared of it as well, but he could feel the possibility of power behind the change, and even though it seemed dark, this power was something he could tame and control to protect Akihana and Arata, that was a worthy enough cause in Fen's eyes, fen had watched Aki's complete display of the light jutsu she knew, it was a rather intelligent way to do things, and then she said something that caught fen's attention, "Its Coming" At these words, Fen would draw out his Heavens Sorrow Ninjato, and then would head underground, with the ninjato in his mouth, and while underground, Fen could sense its location, and he would form the hand signs for his jutsu, Antlion Technique, this was a jutsu he learned for the soul purpose of eliminating entire villages in one go, He knew Akihana could out run it as he saw how much faster she was then him, and Fen of course had hiding like a mole jutsu, so it was just perfect, for one hundred meters, the earth began to sink in towards the sink hole of where fen just entered the ground, the beast getting caught in it would be unable to break out of it with any sort of ease, and was being swept up to the location fen was at, and as it was beginning to be sucked into the ground, Fen would spring forth and as the beast passed him, fen would take the Ninjato in hand, and put the beast out of its misery, then he would follow the location he would have seen Akihana take off in, after awhile he hoped she eventually stopped but no where near the one hundred meter mark, fen upon finding Akihana would smile at her with that, everything is ok now , smile and would tell her of the completion of the summon being taken care of, Fen would then slide his hands into his pockets, and begins walking off, his head held high looking up at the sky, missions seemed to get easier to him, and this one was really kind of no different then most of the other missions, but it seemed to go quicker, must have something to do with the power he was obtaining, Fen would begin to hum to himself as he walked for the village, upon returning to the village, fen would turn in his report, collect his reward, and tonight he went over to Akihana's place, it had been quiet some time he spent any sort of time with them, and seeing as his need for being alone and facing his demon was coming soon, now was the best time to visit during dinner, as this was his chance to talk to akihana about everything that was going on and what he felt he needed to do

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As soon as the beast was near enough to hear, and hear not just by her extended sensory abilities but by both her and Fenn, she felt him slink underground in a combination they had practiced to perfection by now. When they had first started out as a team, it had seemed unlikely that their combination of attacks and elements would work together, which just proved to show how wrong everything technical written on paper had the potential to be. Light release worked against darkness release, or so they said. Technically speaking, Fenn and Akihana would have cancelled each other out in battle. What no document mentioned was that darkness provided a cover under which the smallest ray of light could be sneaked into any situation. Darkness blinded people just as much as an onslaught of light did and  with both of them ensuring their elements neutralized each other, there was no way they could lose. Wise versa, darkness could never be used as a weapon against this duo because there would always be that small spark of light, whether it be a jutsu or simply the golden glow from Akihana’s eyes If their jutsu combined blinded an opponent, it also gave her an advantage, her bloodline being able to see through anything save pitch black, and pitch black was not happening with the redhead by her side, this much she knew. I

It was Arata that came to mind as she ran towards the beast, feet channeling chakra to match its speed. Usually the kunoichi would have sent another explosion of hikariton towards its eyes but that seemed… unfair. The thing was already confused and afraid and in a strange place. The last thing she wanted was to add ot its hurt. And yet there had to be a way. Concentrating, the blonde focused on her newly mastered water element. There hadn’t been much time to practice new jutsu with it and she had been trying to learn one one particular but now seemed as good a time as any to try it out, if for no other reason than to attempt to communicate with this summon gone wrong. Trying to speak to it would yield no results. It was far too massive to take notice of her as was. Hurting it would send the wrong message and anger it further and that certainly was not an option. If it was up to her, the beast would be lulled to sleep and then killed in its sleeping form. There was no point in hurting it more than they had to, and what was more the kunoichi would never taken joy in it. Needless pain, she believed, should be avoided at all costs.

It sometimes scared her to know Arata would grow up in this world, in a world where pain was caused far too casually and with little to no remorse. One of the reasons she herself made sure to inflict as little of it as possible was out of some blind faith in karma. If there were gods – and with what she knew of the ninja that resided within her own village, let alone around the shinobi world, it seemed unlikely there existed a god who’s power exceeded that of shinobi – and if karma existed, than Akihana would hold on to the hope that everything good she did would be reflected in the world’s treatment of her little boy. So many children in this world grew up without love, care and warmth, turning into cold individuals who had forgotten how to be human. It wasn’t their fault, it was the circumstances they were dealt. But that didn’t stop her from praying that her son would never find himself consumed by darkness. The irony was not lost on the blonde, her own creation trapped in darkness. All the more reason she resolved to never let it happen.

Forming the seals more from memory than anything else, Akihana channeled her chakra into the jutsu. The few practice turns hadn’t done it much justice save for creating a little gnome like creature that Arata had found a friend in. Her beast, much like her, had been a friendly sort, its main uses being to splash Arata and play water tag with him. But it had taught her control over it. Though it matched nowhere in size as what the scrolls she had studied indicated, Akihana nonetheless had used to practice precise chakra control, something she was already decent at but believed in improvement of. She could now make it run around where hse wished, expel jets of water from its mouth and, if need be, hunch down to let a small individual climb on its back, given the individual could master surface walking and water walking which Arata seemed to have done that very day when he was out training with her partner. How he had managed to make her nearly six year old learn all the basic jutsu required to graduate to genin level, Akihana would never know,. All she knew was that between  Fenn, Yaju, Odin and all the people who offered to help with Arata, the little boy was progressing faster than she could have imagined. It might also be the reason why he was no longer being bullid at the academy, though the blonde didn’t want to think that her son inspired fear in people. No, Arata was a good child despite his slowly increasing skill. At least he seemed to not have any lack of friends from what she saw when she dropped him at the academy very morning and picked him up every evening. His group may have shrunk to include only four or five children at one point but her son had returned to being Mr. Popular by the end of the very same week – something she was both proud of and surprised at. Not that the boy wasn’t harming, but she was a mother and her opinion was bound to be biased in his favor.

The water beast that emerged from her jutsu at this time was the largest she had been able to summon yet. It stood at seven feet tall and roughly taking the form of a bear with large tusks protruding from its mouth. The kunoichi might have placed it as a walrus had its sheer mass not indicated to the contrary. But whatever it was wasn’t as important as what it was doing. Slowly, the beast inched closer to the summon, its movements not threatening but more curious as it was guided by Akihana’s intent to communicate with the sad being they had been sent to dispatch. A war between two beasts seemed unnecessary what with Fenn already deep underground and getting ready to make his move. The blonde could just feel his preparing his chakra, her own sensory picking up both her partner and his desire to finish the animal off quickly and without any excess cruelty. Probably for my sake, she admitted gratefully to herself. Everyone knew Akihana needed to harden her heart and become strong but few people were as considerate about it as the young man currently biding his time underground. Fenn has never been above giving her a talking to when she needed it but he also realized the part of her humanity she was always trying to protect for turning into the mindset of a callused, unfeeling shinobi. In a way, her partner was one of the few people who saw the need to change her but at the same time didn’t seem to mind the current her, just as she was.

With her water beast now fully communicating with the summon in wide swooping gestures, Akihana felt the earth rumble beneath her feet, a sign of Fenn getting ready to make his move. Blinking in concentration, the kunoichi released the jutsu, turning her beast into a tidal wave heading straight towards her with her own booted feet already coated with chakra. No matter how fast her speed, it would not beat water being flung in the opposite direction from a sinkhole that would  be forming in the ground shortly from the redhead’s jutsu and Akihana planned to ride the miniature tsunami to safety out of the technique’s range. Never having tried this method of escape before, the kunoichi had little choice but to hope her calculation was on par as the wave of water swelled as the ground beneath it shuddered, the rocky foundation shifting. In one smooth, graceful leap, the medic rose to the crest of the wave, balancing herself and her chakra to keep the water moving forwards as the ground she left behind continued to sink with the summon’s mournful cry tearing into the night. Lit by the blue glow of chakra used to maintain the wave, the blonde stood her ground – metaphorically – atop the wave, her blonde braid flying behind her as her golden eyes pierced the darkness ahead, searching for a safe place to stop the wave that was currently her mode of transportation.

It was over in a matter of minutes. Finding a place to land was easy enough, a flat expanse of rock about a hundred and fifteen meters away from the jutsu range meant Akihana would be safe from both the beast and her partner’s attempts to subdue it. However landing with a considerable body of water also meant getting completely drenched when the jutsu broke all over her in waves, completely soaking her from head to toe as it rushed to convert the area around her into a small pond. The kunoichi spluttered, eyes watering despite her still clear vision thanks to her bloodline limit and coughed out water before gathering herself enough to turn towards the direction where she had just came from. All seemed quite which could only mean one thing: Fenn was victorious. In no other mindset or universe would she think that her partner her failed. If things were quiet, it could only ever mean one thing - that the redhead had succeeded because that was what he did. He prevailed no matter what the odds. The blonde knew that with every iota of faith in her body.

And sure enough her faith was proven as a few minutes later, that was how Fen found her, still thoroughly drenched with her gold hair clinging to her forehead and neck but eyes sharp out and anxiously waiting for his return. Looking at him, she knew he had done what she hadn’t even asked. He had given the beast the burial it deserved and made sure its end was not any more painful than it needed to be. The kunoichi said none of these things as she saw him though, only greeting him with a grin on her face and a word of praise on her lips. “Well done,” she spoke, her glden gaze scanning him automatically in case he was hurt. It didn’t appear as though he had suffered any injury fighting the summon and she was glad for that much. “I’m proud of you,” she added, falling into step beside him as they headed back towards the village. “Now we have to find a way to make this story tame enough to tell Arata,” she managed a shaky laugh.

The rest was fairly easy, heading back into the village to explain that they had taken care of the beast, also to explain how there might now be a giant hole in the ground and a brand new small pond as a new feature of the mountains. Overall no one seemed too concerned with the pair rearranging the geography of the area a little bit as long as the summon was taking care of and no longer terrorizing anyone heading into the mountains. The next step was collecting their reward which they both did upon showing their mission scrolls and proof of completion to the chancery at the Raikage building. The head of chancery already knew Akihana from having worked in the same building so obtaining their Ryo was a fairly short task. After chatting with him for a few minutes and inquiring after the health of his newborn twin girls, the duo was given the money and permitted to leave.

“So, dinner at my place?” the young woman asked as they exited the building, waiting for Fenn to nod before they headed together towards the labyrinthine streets of kumogakura to her tiny second floor apartment. She had left Arata with Lilia and the cubs so she wasn’t worried about the boy but Mrs. Yoshino had promised to keep checking in from time to time too. “I’m thinking of making steak,” she added, knowing both her boys had ravenous appetites. It was the least she could do.

[Exit Akihana]

WC  - 2127

TWC - 3502/3500

Claiming 8 AP
Claiming 3500 + 500 = 4000 for Water Release: Water Beast
Claiming 8000 Ryo as mission reward

(Exit)
Claiming Ten Stats
Finishing off Jeet Kune Do 3487 previously 2513 word count finishes it up
2060/6000 to Antlion
8k ryo

Approveed