Get out of the water!!!!

The morning sun rose high above Mikadzuki Beach.

This would be Kaito's second day there, the first having been a rather eventful one. He didn't expect to have to stay a second day, after all the first time something like this had happened it only took a few hours before he was transported back to Sunagakure.

But this was different.

After his being transported to the beach, assisting with lifeguard duty, and his dinner meeting the day before, he had found that the sun had already begun to set upon the horizon. Being very tired himself, he would take the opportunity to rent out a cabin about two hundred yards from the beach itself and get some rest.

Now with the outbreak of dawn, he found himself waking up in an unfamiliar bed and without his beloved companion Raidomaru. It felt strange, and he couldn't help but be a bit worried about his ninken familiar, but he was sure that the pup could handle himself.

'I'll be back home soon, boy...' He thought to himself as he rose from the bed and walked towards the bathroom to freshen himself up. 'Just hold on a bit longer...'

Upon the counter in the bathroom was an unopened box of disposable toothbrushes and a bottle of travel-sized toothpaste. He would make a point of brushing them thoroughly for about two minutes or so before flossing and allowing himself some time in the shower. He would allow the hot water to caress his body as he lost himself in thought for a few minutes about his meeting the day before. He hadn't seen the individual he had talked with in quite some time, but he was happy that the two of them had met again. It really opened his eyes to some things, and it also gave him a sense of closure that he desperately needed.

After ten minutes, the young and refreshed Uchiha would turn off the water faucets and stop the flow of water above him. He would dry himself off thoroughly before walking back into the bedroom, putting back on the pair of red swimming shorts and a white tank top that he had bought the day before, and walking out into the kitchen. There he would prepare himself some white rice. Once it was done he would remove it from the heat of the hot tray, put it into one of the provided ceramic bowls, and crack an egg on top of the rice before finishing it all up with some soy sauce. He then proceeded to grab a set of chopsticks before sitting the bowl down upon the dining room table and sitting himself down in the chair at the head of the table.

"Thank you for the meal." He said to nobody in particular with his head bowed, eyes closed, and his open palms placed in front of him in a praying-like fashion.

Quite suddenly, just as he grabbed some of his breakfast with the chopsticks and held it to his open mouth, the alarming sounds of people screaming could be heard from outside. Concerned, He would allow the food in his chopsticks to fall back into the bowl before he sat the sticks down neatly upon the table, making sure not to let them cross over each other as per proper chopstick etiquette, and he rushed out the door. There were masses of people seemingly running for dear life away from the water.

What in the world was going on?

Kaito tried his best to stop some of the people running past him to ask what was happening, but nobody would stop for him at all. Finally having enough of it, he grabbed one of the people, a middle-aged-looking man, by the arm and held him in place.

"What in the hell is going on?" Kaito demanded, a hint of franticness and anger filling his tone. The man looked back at him, a few tears in his eyes.

"Sh... Shark!" He choked. "I think it got someone!"

Kaito's eyes widened at what the man had told him. He let the man go, but as desperately as he wanted to run out to the beach, he knew that he would not be able to force himself through the sea of people rushing madly towards him. He also wanted to avoid using his Mangekyō Sharingan as much as possible. If what Kiyoharu had told him a few days beforehand was to be believed, then he would become blind sooner rather than later from overusing it. Looking around him, he remembered that he was in the lodging area of the beach. Bracing himself, he would launch himself high up into the air and land upon the roof of the cabin nearest him. As he did so, he would activate his three-tomoe Sharingan for a better perception of the world around him. Focusing on the ocean, he could, sure enough, see a red pool of water and the dorsal fin of a shark slinking back below the depths of the water.

"Damn! I'm too late..."

As he spoke, Kaito also heard another voice from up on the top of the cabin.

It sounded all too familiar...

Deactivating his Sharingan and looking over to his left he saw him; Naki Choko; another one of Sunagakure's Genin. The two of them had participated in the village's Chūnin Selection Exams together, but they had not seen each other since then.

"So you're here too, eh Naki?" Kaito asked the boy as he walked over to him. He would wait for Naki to reply, and Kaito became a bit more relaxed knowing that another one of his best friends was here with him, but he knew that he still had to make his way to the beach to see if there was anything that he could do to help. " There's a shark out there in the water, and it's got somebody. I'm assuming that they didn't make it considering all of the blood, but we've still got to try and do something..." The young Uchiha held out his arm to the sitting Naki with a look of determination upon his face. "You with me or what?"

Whether Naki would take Kaito's hand or not, after a moment of holding out his hand, Kaito would nod and jump down to the ground below before running at his full speed through the brush and over towards the beach.

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[Word Count (Post) - 1,072]
[Word Count (Total) - 1,072]

Kaito did not make it far at all after he had jumped down from the roof of the cabin and into the brush below. His good old friend Naki was just much too fast for him.

Before Kaito knew it, the older boy's arm flung out before him. The Uchiha stopped, of course, not wanting to break Naki's arm by accident.

"What are you doing, Naki!?" Kaito asked in a slightly frantic tone. "What about tha-" Naki's voice would overpower his own, and it was filled with a tone of seriousness that Kaito had only seen once before. The older boy would look towards the beach, and as he did, Kaito would ball his fists at his side.

He wasn't upset with Naki. Not in the slightest. He was just a bit upset that he couldn't do anything about the situation this time, and he knew that Naki was right. The shark was most likely gone now that it had fed.

'Damnit...'

Naki would turn back around to face Kaito, a look of total seriousness upon his face. He brought up Kaito's actions during the last stage of the exams. Kaito would be the first to admit that he had acted in a rather idiotic way when he was confronted with the seven individuals who had taken the innocent villagers of that area in as slaves. He didn't mean to act in the manner he had, the darker side of his personality having taken over control of his body at the time, but it was still no excuse. He quite possibly could have put the rest of his team and the villagers of the ruined Amegakure at risk, and no amount of points for a silly exam was worth any of that.

Kaito gritted his teeth together sharply as a tear or two dripped down from his eyes, coming to the full realization of his past actions. Naki must have noticed this as well, as the older boy eased up on him a bit and told him that he was only upset because he cared. Kaito looked up, a bit taken aback, and after a moment he smiled. It was still a bit hard for him to realize that there were, in fact, people who cared about him after his parents had passed away, but they were there for sure.

"Thanks, Bro." The Uchiha replied, wiping the tears from his eyes with his arm. He looked back towards the ocean, noticing that the pool of blood was still there but there was also now a crowd of lifeguards and other people standing along the shoreline. It would be too much hassle to go down there directly, and they would probably be in the way anyways, but Kaito had no idea how to proceed. In regards to this, he would look back up at Naki, who stood only a head or two taller than him. "So, how do you want to proceed, Bro? Since I took charge in the exams, it's only fair that you take charge this time, Captain."

With that being said, Naki would take his leave, and Kaito would follow suit.

He followed him to one of the few boat rental stores about a quarter of a mile west. It was a bit shabby looking, to say the least, but it really kept to the general atmosphere of the rest of the beach. Kaito might have actually considered renting a boat from here himself if the shop owner wasn't closing the place up and if there wasn't currently a shark roaming about freely in the open ocean.

The shop owner, however, didn't seem all that pleased with their approaching him. Naki spoke up, and as much as Kaito wanted to interject, he kept a level head and listened as Naki took charge. The mid-life man informed them that this attack was in fact not the first of its kind. They had even given this notorious shark a name; "Bruce".

And Bruce apparently had a big bounty on his head thanks to all of the trouble he had caused the town as of late.

Naki would turn to Kaito and speak softly. He had a plan; to borrow one of the boats and to pursue the shark out to sea. Their goal was to kill it, which Kaito was all game for. He had never seen such a creature in person before, only in books and photographs, so it would truly be a life experience.

"I'm all for it if you are, Naki." Kaito said with a determined smile upon his face. "Anything to save this town and its people."

The two boys would proceed to collect one of the small speed boats from the shop, with the shop owner's permission of course, and in turn, the owner brought them two buckets filled with blood, assorted fish guts, and other extremities. Kaito about puked from the smell, but he would pull through. The owner had called it "chum", and it would surely bring Bruce back out for another mid-day snack. With this in mind, he would help Naki carry everything down to the shore, set it all up accordingly, and head out to sea.



[30 MINUTES LATER...]

The ocean was abnormally calm.

Kaito expected a bit more from nature, considering what they had just witnessed not even an hour beforehand, but he wasn't going to complain.

As of yet, there was still no sign of the infamous Bruce either. Kaito began to wonder whether the beast was still actually in the area or not. Sharks could swim really fast, after all, so he could probably be almost 15 or 20 miles away from the shore by now if he swam away at full speed. As for the two of them, however, they had only boated out about 5 miles. There was little hope that the shark would still be around, but Kaito would not lose hope.

When Naki would ask Kaito to throw some of the cum out into the water, he would happily oblige the request. He stood upright, hoisted up one of the buckets, and threw the contents of it out as far as he could. The scent filled the air, making the young Uchiha gag uncontrollably for a few minutes, but the deed was done.

"Are yo.... Gah! That shit reeks!" Kaito covered his nose desperately before even daring to try to speak again. "Are you sure this stuff will work, Naki?" Quite suddenly the dorsal fin of their guest would rise above the water for a moment before sinking back down below the surface again. The thing was massive, easily standing as tall as Kaito when the boy stood up straight, and he was starting to become a bit worried. "I think we're gonna need a bigger boat..." The shark then decided to ram into the underbelly of the boat, sharking it so violently that the second bucket of chum flew out into the water. Kaito too almost fell out, but he managed to keep a steady footing and held his ground.

"Crap! What should we do, Bro?"

Naki replied in earnest, stating that he would lure the shark out since he had forgotten his sword back on the beach before jumping into the water and walking upon the surface. Kaito watched on with worry, praying that Naki wouldn't get himself killed or mauled, but he kept a vigilant eye out for the creature of the deep. Picking his brain, he quickly came up with his own plan of action as well. As soon as the shark began to charge forward at Naki, Kaito would form the "Ram" hand seal and use his "Body Flicker Jutsu" to appear directly behind Naki. He too kept himself afloat with the "Tree Climbing/Surface Walking Technique", and he held his hands at the ready for whatever it. Naki proceeded to use a few more techniques, the second of which would launch the shark high up into the sky from the water below.

He would then scream for Kaito, telling him that it was now his turn to act.

"Already on it, Bro!" He replied as he hurriedly formed the “Horse” -> “Dog” -> “Bird” -> “Ox” -> and “Snake” seals with the both of his hands. As quickly as they finished, Kaito opened his mouth as wide as he could, and a dragon made of earth-based Chakra would escape from it at lightning speed toward the shark. This would be the boy's "Earth-Style: Earth And Stone Dragon", and it would easily be enough to take care of the water beast above them.

Sure enough, with the shark's mouth wide open and Kaito's near-perfect accuracy, the dragon that he created would expand outwards to roughly two meters and push its way directly into the shark's mouth. With ease it ripped through the thing's body, escaping out the back end of it with the shark still attached. It continued to fly out into the sky at a 67-degree angle for another fifteen meters or so before coming to a stop, dispersing, and dropping the now deceased shark back into the water. He would walk up to Naki and place a hand upon his friend's shoulder; a cheesy smile on his face.

"How was that, huh?" He asked smugly before running out to where the shark had landed. He would form some hand signs to create an excessively large "Water-Style: Water Prison", which collected the shark in its entirety inside of itself. Knowing that other sharks and predators would soon be attracted to all of the blood, Kaito hurried back over to the boat alongside Naki and they made their way back to the shore. All the while Kaito kept hold of his water prison, and as soon as they arrived back, Kaito would allow the water to disperse and spill the lifeless shark out onto the beach for all to see. The people cheered gratefully, and the two Sunagakure Genin were rewarded handsomely for the service they had done the town.

Kaito would accept his half of the reward without question, and as Naki stated that he was going to head back to his cabin to get some rest, he nodded in agreement.

"I'm about to do the same, Bro. And I'll make sure to think about what we talked about earlier."

With the offer of Naki's fist bump, Kaito would accept it before turning on his heel and walking back to his own cabin.

He took his time doing so, lamenting on all of what Naki had said when they first met up. The Uchiha really had messed up during the last test of the exam. He acted out of hatred and spite and allowed his dark impulses to overcome him. Sure, he had been able to dispose of all of the missing-nin that had taken over the ruins of Amegakure, but at what potential cost? His own life? The life of his comrades? The safety of Sunagakure as a whole? It really could have been a much bigger mess than what it had been, and while Kaito was glad that it didn't come to those circumstances, he realized that he still had a lot to learn when it came to being a shinobi.

He soon walked back through the front door of his cabin and back into his sanctuary away from home. Looking around, he cursed underneath his breath as he stomped his way into the dining room. Upon the table stood the rice and eggs that he had prepared himself earlier in the day; all hard and gross looking. He picked up the bowl, scraped out the contents into the trashbin next to the counter, sat the bowl in the sink to be cleaned up a bit later, and immediately go to work on preparing himself another bowl of his favorite breakfast...

[TOPIC EXIT]

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[Word Count (Post) - 1,971]
[Word Count (Total) - 3,043]

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