Unlucky Bandits

Mission details::

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a fiery glow over the rugged landscape, Jun prepared for his nightly hunt. He knew he had to be cautious. The mountain goats in these parts were known for their elusive nature and keen senses. They could vanish into the rocky terrain at the slightest hint of danger. Jun's worn leather boots crunched on the gravelly trail as he made his way deeper into the mountains. His senses were heightened, a testament to his ninja training. He relied on his sharp senses only, as he was avoiding using his mighty Tengan, for skills honing purposes, and his nimble ninja movements to approach the elusive creatures unnoticed.

His senses caught the faintest sound of a bleat echoing through the rocky crags. It was a signal he had been waiting for. Jun crouched low and moved stealthily along the rocky outcrop. He could see the silhouette of a mountain goat perched precariously on a cliffside.

Jun's heart raced as he closed in, his nimble fingers reaching for the kunai strapped to his thigh. He needed to make this shot count. With a silent prayer to the gods of the mountains, he launched the kunai with deadly precision. It struck true, piercing the goat's heart. The creature let out a final, mournful cry before slumping to the ground.
Jun approached the fallen goat with a mixture of gratitude and sorrow. He knew that taking an animal's life for sustenance was a part of the cycle of nature, but it was never a task he relished. He thanked the goat for its sacrifice and set to work field dressing the animal with the efficiency of a seasoned hunter.

By the time the moon had risen high in the sky, Jun had a fire crackling, and a skewer of goat meat sizzling over the flames. He would have food tonight, but he also knew that he had to preserve what he couldn't eat immediately. The mountains could be unforgiving, and a good catch like this could mean the difference between life and death in the days to come. As the meat was being slowly roasted over the bonfire, a typical Kumogakure messenger raven approached the Shibasaki clansman from the village’s direction. It landed nearby where Jun was sitting, waiting for his dinner to be done, and dropped a well-known mission scroll, before flying once again back to the village. “A mission, huh? It’s been a while…”.

Jun swiftly opened the scroll, and he was indeed right. Apparently a group of bandits were terrorizing a mountain town in an area close to where Jun was, so the Sun Mage was tasked with dealing with those bandits. The scroll also contained an map, where Kumogakure’s intelligence pointed out the area where the bandit’s where camping, in the Charred Remnants of the Black Forest. As much as Jun was eager to once again see some action, he was absolutely starving. He learned from his late father that “a warrior with an empty stomach is a weak warrior” so the bandits would have one last peacefully night at their camp, before the next morning, when Jun would visit them for some…chatting.

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WC: 530

Jun left his improvised camp before the first sunlight the next day, eager to get back to action after a long hiatus. This could be an opportunity for the Young genin to test some of the news skills he honed during his training in the mountains.

He decided to go straight at the area pointed in the map where the bandits camp supposedly was, deal with them swiftly and return back to the cavern he was staying to savor the rest of the goat he cooked the previous night. The small villages after all hired the Kumogakure shinobi to the job, not a super hero group. They did not need to know their “savior” nor did Jun needed the spotlight. He just wanted to feel that rush again, that feeling of battle, of having his life threatened and having to fight for it.

But he was well aware that most likely those bandits would be no match for him, so as he neared the Charred Remnants of the Black Forest part where the bandit camp was at, his excitement progressively toned down. “Better not get too excited, because this bandit thrash will most likely disappoint me…”

Ah Jun got even closer from the pinpointed area, he decided to activate his Tengan in order to scout the region ahead. With his mighty doujutsu, he was able to detect the thermal signature of things much further than his regular sight could reach. And indeed, Kumo’s intelligence was correct: Jun detected a large concentration of heat signatures in and area about 95m ahead, down a small hill in the very heart of the destroyed Black Forest. Jun could count 23 of them, who where mostly sleeping. There were lookouts all around the camp, so they were at least minimally organized and had some tactical knowledge.
In the past, Jun would elaborate a plan to stealthily take out the bandits in the most efficient way possible. But not today. Today he was feeling like going through the front door and making an impression. So, he calmly walked towards the bandit camp, without caring about hiding and not being seen.

As he approached the camp, Jun had some flashbacks of his first kills. It wan in a bandit camp kind of like this, while also in a mission to deal with some outlaws. He remembered using his Laser Eyes technique for the first time in battle… and he obviously remembered the outcome: pure carnage and body parts flying everywhere.
Jun was close enough now to be spotted by two bandits guarding the perimetes. One of them shouted upon spotting the Shibasaki clansman:

- Oi, get lost, shithead!

- Don't you worry, I’ll be on my way pretty soon… - Jun replied, with a large grim smile on his face, as his Tengans started to shine.

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WC: 470
TWC: 1000

The job descriptions was pretty clear: “There are outlying villages within the country that have been experiencing attacks from bandits for quite some time. Sometimes it is a raid, other times it is kidnapping and even worse…but these smaller villages have had enough. They have hired shinobi to find the bandits camp and liberate their people and to kill the bandits as a warning for any future would be scum that might try and prey on the villages.”
Those were evil man, who raided, robbed and murdered people of the small villages of the Lightning Country. Perhaps the old Jun would have shown mercy to those criminals at the camp, many still deep in their sleep. But the Shinobi world forged Jun into something else.

- What the hell is wrong with you eyes, bo…

Before the bandit could finish his sentence, Jun’s eyed glowed even stronger, almost blinding the pair of outlaws before he fired his most powerful jutsu, Laser Eyes, shooting from his mighty Perfect Tengans a giant beam made of pure solar chakra, with about 10m in width. The two goons were the first two victims, being absolutely disintegrated by the immense heat of the beam. The jutsu continued to travel through the camp, pretty much erasing everything it found in its path as it lit the whole camp as if the Sun itself was there, leaving behind a trail of scorch, smoke and pure destruction. Screams could be heard before being silenced by one of the supreme Shibsaki techniques. After it was all done and the smoke settled, all that was left was havoc.

There were limbs of the ones not entirely caught by the beam lying on the floor, there was a trail od fire left behind by the jutsu and there was panic. The few survivors started leaving their tents in a hurry, without understanding what just occurred. Some would stare at the scorching path left by the Lase Eyes, as the camp was just sliced in half by a kind of power that those bandits were unfamiliar with. It almost all over before it even started. Of the 23 members of the group, only 8 were able to survive the onslaught, and they tried to regroup in order to fight back the aggressor. They formed a circle, looking at all direction and trying to find the culprit of such destruction.

From the middle of all the dust and smoke caused by the Sun Release technique, one of the bandits saw two small orange glowing spheres that appeared to be getting closer, as little by little its shine got stronger. He pointed out to the other goons, so they were all now facing the mysterious light source. It got stronger and stronger, approaching from the middle of the smokescreen, before a thin, young and blond shinobi emerged from it, revealing that those bright spheres to be actually both his eyes. He seemed to be walking casually towards the remaining criminals, who watched the scene in awe.

- No way it was this kid who murdered our brothers and destroyed our camp. Tell us where your boss is, or we will make you suffer!

- Time for round 2, bakas.

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WC: 535
TWC: 1535

- Round two? What the…. You are delusional, boy. Let’s get him, fellas.

The bandit group swiftly surrounded Jun, with swords, axes and maces in hand. By their agility and discipline, Jun could tell that these were low level criminals, who stood absolutely no chance against the Sun Bender. Probably they didn’t even knew how to control and manipulate Chakra. Even though his Laser Eyes were still cooling down, Jun had more than enough techniques that could deal with those goons, and he already knew which one he would use on this kind of situation.

The bandits started closing the siege little by little, approaching carefully the young Shinobi, as they were uncertain about the mysterious assailant’s powers. Suddenly, a more courageous criminal took the initiative, rushing at the Shibasaki clansman, encouraging other to do the same almost simultaneously. As they got closer from Jun, his whole body started to shine very brightly, before he released from his positions a huge shockwave of sunlight, utilizing his Nikko Basuto technique. And just like that, after just a flash of light, it was all over once again. After the bright light disappeared, all that was remaining were dismembered body parts and pools of blood all around Jun, were the bandits previously were. No one survived, not even a single body was left in whole.

The shockwave force pushed all the bandits or what remained of them far from Jun’s position, so although he butchered a whole bandit camp, there was not a single drop of blood on his clothes. The Sun Mage casually took from his pocket the mission scroll, wrote his report and summoned his Gryphon summon Gankirama, tasking him with delivering to Kumo’s higher-ups.  His time at the mountains were still not quite over.

He returned to the cave his was camping at before noon, and he eat the roasted goat he left there, before resuming his training. He was now trying to, via Nature Chakra Proficiency, extract a primordial part of the natural chakra composition, which perhaps Jun could use in conjunction with his kekkei genkai: Solar Nature Chakra. He felt he was almost there, so he climbed the mountain he was at until it’s very peak, and there, under the harsh sun, he resumed his meditation.

A few day passed by and Jun kept on his routine: work out, meditate and practice. He found out a way to separate Solar Nature Chakra from Natural Chakra composition, but he now had to find a practical way to harness and store such new form of energy. He would try utilizing his Tengan, who worked kind of like a Solar Chakra reactor. One random night, while he was preparing to sleep after another hard working day, another Kumogakure raven came flying through the cavern’s entrance. “I hope it’s not another boring mission…”.

The raven dropped the scroll right at Jun’s direction, who caught it in midair. He swiftly opened and started reading, and he was actually pretty wrong about the scroll’s content, after all, he wasn’t tasked with an easy, boring mission. Instead, he was being summoned to the Raikage’s chambers for a meeting with the mighty Ichigo Sato. It was time to finally return home

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WC: 535
TWC: 2070

[EXIT]

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