A Poultry Task

Spoiler:

Inpei was hunched down low, bent at the waist as he slowly circled closer to the flock. “That’s it, just keep backing up,” he said, holding his left arm out wide while he pulled the cage along with his right, the chickens lazily keeping out of his reach.

I’ll show you who’s the genius here, you…chickens…I need to wrap this up before I lose my mind.

He’d been looking all over the trade district for the escaped fowl, following the signs of feathers, poop, and chaos until he found them. He had counted 6 – they seemed to have stayed together after the farmer’s other cage broke. They were jumping all around, flapping and pecking at people as they fled in terror.

At first Inpei jumped into the fray and tried to grab them, but the feathered nightmares were embarrassingly quick – the young shinobi had fallen all over himself trying to grab even one chicken, coming up empty every time as they squawked and flapped away. After some struggling, he was forced to recalculate.

Inpei stopped for a moment to look up at the alleyway he was herding the chickens towards. The trade district had several like it in-between its buildings and this one, like all the rest, consisted of unpaved dirt. He grinned to himself as he began moving forward again, shifting slightly to the right to encourage them back in the right direction.

I’ve been working on this jutsu for a while, but I didn’t think THIS would be how I’d use it…

One by one, the chickens allowed themselves to be funneled into the alley as Inpei set the cage down on the right and moved left – making the choice to move further inward rather than walk directly into the cage or into the tall boy’s clutches. He smirked as the chickens moved further into the alley to avoid him. Inpei began focusing his chakra, deliberately making the hand signs he’d been rehearsing for weeks. “Ox, Serpent, Monkey, Dragon…” he spoke quietly along with his hands before releasing his chakra into the ground in front of him…and nothing happened.

Inpei’s smirk fell. “Nonononono what’d I do,” he said grabbing his head and looking nervously up at the chickens. He quickly rehearsed in his head the hand signs and realized he was missing one. “Oh no, what is it?!” he shouted as he tried to shuffled to block off the alley from the chickens. “Boar!” he shouted with sudden realization and began to focus his chakra again, flashing through the hand signs a bit quicker this time. “Ox, Serpent, BOAR, Monkey, Dragon…?!” Once again he slammed his palms into the ground – only this time, a massive wall of earth erupted in front of him. Inpei winced as he heard the hard earth scrape against the buildings on either side as it rose to block the chickens into the alley.

As the wall reached its full height, Inpei reached over and grabbed the chicken cage from beside him. Focusing more chakra into his feet, he jumped up onto the wall and clung to it – walking to the top and hopping down into the alleyway below. Landing in a crouch, he laughed to himself as he looked up at the chickens who stopped and silently peered back at him.

“Nowhere left to run,” he said, sliding up the door to the cage and cracking his knuckles. The chickens stared up at them, ceasing their clucking as the gravity of their situation set in. “You’re mine now!” The chickens waited for a beat before frantically clucking and running around the alleyway, but they were no match for Inpei in the enclosed space. He lunged at the closest one that was pecking through the garbage, distracted – scooping it up in his arms before walking back and gently depositing it into the cage.

Inpei knew he only had so much time before the jutsu ended, so he picked up his pace – trapping chickens between him and dumpsters, walls, anything else in the alley that would prevent them from escaping. Their beaks and talons opened up wounds up and down his arms, new cuts joining old scars from a much more dangerous encounter.

Eventually, only one chicken remained – this one had moved all the way to the back of the alley, watching as Inpei had scooped up the others. As he approached, cage in his arms, the chicken didn’t move – it was almost ready for him. The shinobi looked down his nose at his adversary. “You can come peacefully,” he said, plopping the cage down next to them. “Or we can do this the hard way.”

The chicken cocked its head and scratched up the earth for a moment before leaping at him with a defiant cluck. Despite himself, Inpei let out a shout and held his arms out to block the assailant. The chicken’s well-aimed lunge put him directly in Inpei’s grasp, and it immediately settled down – clucking contentedly in his arms.

“Oh,” he said, looking around to make sure nobody saw him be scared by the chicken. “Well, in you go then.” Inpei deposited the last chicken into the cage, closing the latch and securing it. He wiped his brow before scooping up his adversaries in his arms and leaving the alleyway.
[Exit]

WC: 879

I'll be putting 767 words into Rank C of Hiding Like a Mole to bring it up to 1000 total, and the other 112 will go into Rank C Rock Pillar Spears

Stat-wise, I'm looking at 3 SP into Speed and 5 SP into Vigor.

Mission reward is 1000 Ryo / 5 AP.

Approved