Salamander My Buddy ol Pal

Hunting Strange Beasts: Salamanders antidote

Akarui started his day with his usual routine. Skipping breakfast he went for a 10km Jog around the same route he had been taking for a couple of years now. It took him around the village and up to his favourite spot on top of the Hokage monument where he would stop to do some stretches overlooking Konohagakure and beyond. If he felt down, it would be here he would come. Returning home, he cleaned himself up before changing into his mission gear which as usual consisted of plain black pants and a one sleeved lucky coat he had since he became a Genin and possibly before then. He strapped his Katana to his waist even though he hadn’t used it before. Something about having a weapon on his hip gave him comfort. Besides, having a weapon on hand is just down right useful.

Gathering his equipment and performing a final check, Akarui made his way to the balcony where he without hesitation step off the ledge landing on the cobbled streets below. With a nod and a wave to the neighbours he started towards the Hokage building missions office. He had been going well lately and hadn’t visited the missions board much. The lower end missions just didn’t catch his eye at the moment. He needed to get stronger and doing low ranks missions wasn’t the way to go about it. Experience with harder missions was what he required and the payout wasn’t bad either. He covered living expenses and more with what he was getting right now. His luck was on the rise. Akarui could feel it.

It was a short walk to the missions office so it didn’t take long for Akarui to arrive in good time. The missions office was not very packed at this time of the day. Akarui would often come here at this time to not have to deal with crowds or fight fellow Shinobi over a mission they wanted. It hadn’t happened to Akarui before but he had heard about it happening to other Shinobi he knew. If he could avoid that occurring, he would.

The Chunin behind the desk beckoned Akarui over to stood before him which Akarui complied with. Upon reaching the desk Akarui asked to see the days missions for C rank. “Hey there, I’d like to take a C rank mission please. Solo if possible.”

Hearing this, the Chunin nodded and handed over a folder full of C rank missions he had for the time being. Every day there would be new missions as well as repeated old missions or ones that weren’t completed yet. In short, there was no shortage of C rank missions to do. Akarui had a look through the folder weighing each pro and con to missions that caught his eye. Thinking carefully Akarui chose a rather strange request to acquire a salamander of all things from a foreign travelling doctor. It said to be a rare and quite illusive. He figured it should not be too hard to pull off. He may not have any Doujutsu but he did have good old fashioned searching methods and a keen eye. Undoubtedly it will put Akarui’s skills to the test, this was exactly what he was searching for. It also mentioned it was drawn to water and blueberries which was Intel to keep in mind.

Accepting the mission, Akarui set out to the forests of Konohagakure straight after double checking he had everything which he did. The trip was rather lack luster with Akarui not seeing many people on his was into the forest. It gave him enough piece and quiet to come up with a plan. Knowing the salamander liked water Akarui made his first priority to find water. Then He could lay in wait after finding some blueberries to use as bait. His water whip technique would be ready to snare whatever came into the trap he would lay. Hopefully Akarui would be lucky and the salamander would just waltz up for him to catch. But he doubted it.
 The moment he entered the forest, Akarui surged his chakra into his feet. With a mighty push, he launched himself into the air towards a tree appearing with a light flash of smoke before jumping tree to tree going deeper and deeper into the forest at a decent pace as silent as he could be. After only just entering the forest did Akarui start to see wild life all around. A few times he spooked birds when he leap onto their branches causing them to cry out in alarm. Other than a few different kinds of squirrels and other reptiles. It also was rich in bugs much to Akaruis discomfort. He wasn’t scared of bugs but he didn’t like them either. He avoided gaining more altitude since he knew water always flowed to the lowest point to settle. That was the area Akarui presumed the Salamanders would reside.

It didn’t take long before Akarui found his first small stream running softly through the trees. It look like a good spot to stop and check for any signs of the Salamander living in the area. He set to work immediately observing from a small distance away as not to disturb anything near the stream. After waiting a while to make sure it’s clear he approached the water and checked the rocks around the place as well as the trees surrounding it. ‘Nothing that points to a salamander living around here.. maybe they live deeper in. It likes blue berries right? Perhaps I can find a Bush near the water. The odds of a salamander being there are quite high compared to a normal stream like this. Okay, let’s check the next one.’

Akarui checked thoroughly before deciding to move on to another water source. He also speculated that running water wouldn’t be ideal for the Salamanders. Still water would be easier to hide. That isn’t to say salamanders don’t live near streams but it just is a lower possibility. Akarui came across a few more tiny streams repeating his previous routine just less wait time before heading in. The quieter Akarui could be, the easier it was to sneak up on the streams. At one he scared a boar that charged him when he appeared close to it drinking water. That taught him to move as quiet as possible to diminish the observation time. If he kept that pace, he would be out here all night as well as all day.

Most of the day passed like this for Akarui. Hunting this salamander was trickier than he imagined. He came across 2 blueberry bushes that looked relatively untouched. He grabbed as many as he could carry in a pouch he had handy. ‘That should be plenty. Damn salamanders have been giving me the slip today. I’ll set a trap near some water and wait. I’ll leave the blue berries in a snare made from my water whip then catch whatever decides to take the bait. If not, I’ll need to call it a day and come back tomorrow. What a bother.’

When he was deep enough into the forest, Akarui found a sufficient pond of still water to set up near. His hands blurred as he made the appropriate handseals to create a long flowing rope of water. Being a new Jutsu Akarui recently learnt, it took a bit more focus to get the shape and length he desired. Making a loop and laying it under some leaves and dirt, the trap was set. So he added a small handful of berries in the middle and retreated a safe distance away to still control the water rope.

The next couple of hours were slow to Akarui while he waited. Twice he had to reset the berries due to a group of birds that found the blue berries quite enticing so as to start stealing them from the middle of the trap much to Akarui’s annoyance. Eventually he had to throw a few rocks at the birds to get them to depart. Replacing the berries, he would start again. This time, nothing came to take the berries but they were still gone. ‘Odd, I didn’t see anything take them.. did I miss something?’

Then it clicked. The salamanders Akarui was chasing, could turn invisible. Of course he didn’t see what took the berries. It was invisible! Akarui was a fool! This meant that the prey he had been searching for was near at hand. He needed to think of a way to neutralize the camouflage. What could he use to do so though? He didn’t know any area of effect Jutsu as he was a Taijutsu specialist. ‘Wait, the answer is at my feet! Dirt! If I can toss dirt onto it, won’t it become semi visible? Yes! Now I have a course of action. Let’s wait and see if it shows again.’

Replacing the berries, Akarui jumped back to his position. Picking a handful of dirt from the ground, he waited. And waited. Suddenly a berry disappeared so fast Akarui thought he was seeing things. After another berry did the same he knew he wasn’t seeing things. Waiting for the right time Akarui raised his hand full of dirt ready to throw it. Another berry disappeared and Akarui acted. As fast as he could he tossed the dirt at the trap which hit with a small cloud showering everything with brown dirt. Not letting the cloud deter him for long Akarui flicked the water whip loop up and clenched to pull the loop tight catching something in the loop.

When the dust cloud settled, it revealed a dirt covered figure of a lizard about a foot long squirming to get the water rope off to much success. Noting the dirt covered lizard was just about to break free, Akarui surged Chakra into his feet and flickered towards the dirt covered reptile appearing next to it in a flash making the dust stir again. Seeing Akarui suddenly appear caused the Salamander to struggle harder to escape. Though, After all this trouble and a whole day trying to find this Salamander Akarui was not going to let it escape. With a wrench of his hand holding the water rope Akarui pulled the salamander towards himself while his other hand created a Tiger seal causing his chakra to pulse as he drove that hand into contact with the salamander rendering it paralysed like it had steel wire wrapping around it.

“Haha success! I finally got you! Haha Cough, cough. I should get out of this dust.” Walking from the dust Akarui celebrated over subduing the salamander before picking it up with the water whip still tightly around it’s leg. Peering into the Salamanders eye, Akarui started to chat to it like he tended to do with every animal like they were people too. “Now I don’t think I need the salamander but rather it’s poison. I won’t kill it, I should take the whole thing back, that doctor can decide what to do with it. My job was to get it.”

Deciding this, Akarui emptied out most of the berries in the old sack he brought along and stuffed the Salamander into it with a bit of protest from the paralysed reptile. His task complete, Akarui made his way out of the forest as it turned dark with more speed than he did coming in now he didn’t need to keep an eye out. By the time he reached the village it was fairly dark already so he made haste to the missions office to turn in the requested target. The same Chunin from the morning was behind another desk shuffling papers when Akarui approached. The Chunin was also a little surprised to see Akarui again today as all the others he had sent on this mission took days and still came back empty handed.

“One rare camouflaging Salamander as ordered.” The sack on the desk started to wiggle and squirm as Akarui placed it down with a grin. The bemused Chunin checked the sack and nodded and handed over a completion form to fill and hand back in. Satisfied after a long days work, Akarui headed home.
(WC 2040)
Claiming:
5 Chakra (2000/2000)
C-rank Mission 5AP
2000 Mission Ryo + 100 Genin Salary
+1000 Water hiding Technique (1000/1000)
+500 Chakra Anesthetic (500/500)
+500 C rank Nukite – Spear Hand (500/500)
+40 Chakra Body Clean (182/250)