Making Amends To Inazuma (Arc 4/4)

Mission:

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     As Oda began to run he heard the telltale sign of metal cutting air and a kunai hit him in the knee. He screamed and tumbled, looking back at the burned leader as he laughed one final raspy and mocking laugh at Oda before dying.

Oda shut his eyes tight and bit down on the cloth of his vest before pulling the kunai out. Giving a muffled scream. He tore a sleeve off of his shirt and crudely bandaged his knee.

He got up and tried to run, limping so severely that he fell down again. He punched the ground in rage, how was he supposed to make it back to warn anyone now?He kicked himself for letting his rash decisions ruin the mission, at the very least he stopped them from hurting Furaibi.
It was during that thought that Oda heard a grumble echo from the cave, he saw its eyes first, beady and determined. He could’ve sworn they flickered like flames. As the beast exited the cave he forgot about that, instead he was overcome by awe at the size of the creature. It must have been 10ft tall and 1000 lbs at least. It stood in front of Oda expectantly and stamped its foot, lowering its enormous snout to the ground.

When Oda didn’t do anything it nudged him with its large tusks until he was upright and standing, albeit using the tusk to lean on. “Alright alright I get what you're sayin” Oda said as he climbed atop the massive beast, struggling briefly and almost losing his balance.  

As soon as he was settled the boar began to sprint.Its tusks seemed to slice through the foliage, creating a path in front of them. It took everything in Oda’s power to hold on, and as he laid his face against the rough bristles of the boar he could swear he saw orange and yellow chakra lighting the ground up beneath its hooves. It looked like fire as the massive beast carved its way through the forest leaving a trail that glowed briefly with the illumination of chakra. The sun began to rise, the start of a new day. Oda was too filled with adrenaline at this point to feel any tiredness.

The boar moved at incredible speeds, and in no time they were at his reading spot, he moved to hop off but the boar gave a disapproving grunt and shifted its weight to keep Oda on its back.

“Ok ok jeez” Oda said in reply.
It gave a bizarrely cute squeal in approval.

“Uh… Oda?” The voice said from the tree line, clear surprise in their tone.

“Oh! Hey bossman, alright so here's the lowdown.” Oda described the scene and what he had gathered back at the spirit's den.Only pausing briefly at his own shame for his rash decisions.  As he neared the end of his debriefing the hog began to move, but not sprint, almost as if it was waiting. “...And now I believe there is a second spirit, Inazuma that's- woah he- HEY.” The boar began to sprint off, and Oda tried to get it to stop to no avail. Maybe the boar sensed their time was almost up, he couldn’t know for sure. He held onto dear life as the boar raced towards the now deadly looking storm. He could only hope that his mysterious mission giver had been given enough information.

Lighting strikes began to hit trees around them and Oda could feel the wind and rain pelting him at incredible speeds. Even the air felt different, pressurized by the storm around them. He swore he could hear the roar of a jungle cat with each lightning strike, but it was hard to tell in the chaos of the wind and rain. Oda didn’t even know where they were going, but he had to trust in the spirit of Furaibi.  

The boar finally slowed a bit as they approached their destination. The wind whipped at Oda’s face with ferocity, and at this point tree branches were breaking and leaves were being flung in every direction. Lightning seemed to strike every other second, and the thunder felt more like a rolling barrage, it took everything for Oda to even hear himself think.

And then, nothing.

       The Boar had stopped in the middle of another clearing, Oda looked up. They were in the eye of the storm now, the air sat still in this clearing, and the silence was eerie. At the center of the clearing was a massive tree, it was at least 4 times bigger than any other tree, with branches that snaked and wound around each other in a tangled and confusing maze.

     His fascination with the eye of the storm had briefly distracted Oda, his face was a mixture of fear and wonder as he looked up at the ominous circle of blue sky above him. That look changed quickly, paling at the sight of the numerous bandits strewn about the clearing. Their blood made sickly flowers in the grass, it was obvious some ran, some froze in fear. But, they were all dead. At the base of a tree was a man in a black trenchcoat, coughing blood and moving slightly. Oda ran up to him quickly, he turned briefly to make sure the boar was ok but it had disappeared.

     Oda approached the man slowly, he was talking out loud to nobody, staring up at the tree. He seemed delirious, and Oda couldn’t quite catch what he was saying. As he got closer the man heard him approach and looked at him with crazed delirious eyes. “Did you talk to Akuma? Was he successful?” he asked, clearly not recognizing Oda’s ninja attire in his delirious state. Oda remained silent as he approached. The panther could still be here and he was in a heightened state of awareness as he approached.

The man rested his head against the tree, his abdomen a slowly spreading sickly red. By this point Oda had reached him, and he gently kneeled down without saying anything.

“We thought we could have the world at our fingertips, you know?” He coughed up some blood. “We…We just wanted to be masters of our own destinies.” He spat at the ground in contempt “Not be at the whim of these great shinobi villages, with their secrets and their gatekeeping.” He groaned in pain.

“Where is the beast?, what happened here?” Oda asked

“We- It happened so fast, it just appeared from the shadows. It- It cut us down before the minute passed” He gave a slight laugh “I’m gonna kick that scientist's ass when I find him” He clenched his teeth in pain as he shifted a bit, more blood leaked out of the cut in his abdomen and his face grew paler. Oda made a mental note to find that scientist, kicking himself as he realized what a mess he had made of this whole mission.

Oda grabbed the man by the jacket, remaining gentle but keeping him focused. “The panther, where did it go?”
“It went towards that small village to the east, it seemed… angry.” He panicked “Oh god what have we done? It's going to kill everyone”. He struggled to get up before falling back down in pain.

In that moment Oda was caught off guard, this was a good man. Misguided, but he wasn’t evil. He felt brief pity for the man as he lay dying at the base of the tree.

As he thought of him in a new light he was suddenly grabbed by his bloody hands, clawing at Oda’s jacket. “S-save my brother… save…Aku..m” The man's last words whispered out of his mouth, weaker and weaker as he talked. Oda was grateful for his delirium, grateful he didn’t have to break his heart in a second way that morning.

He got up and stared at the clearing, the grass blowing in the wind. He was never a tracker, his parents were merchants. He was hoping there would be some sort of pathway the panther had created, instead there was nothing.As he looked across the clearing for any clues his eyes widened.

It all happened in a few seconds, A massive black blur, Inazuma. It zig zagged and moved erratically across the field towards Oda. Before he could even respond, the Panther was on him, briefly stopping and roaring at him. He couldn’t even really process anything other than it was big, and it was hurt in some way, it was acting panicked. And just like that it was gone, the only clue of its existence being the moving of leaves and grass as it ran by them. He tried to follow that, but was quickly losing the trail in the shifting winds.

Then, Oda knelt down and he could see the faint charring on the tips of the blades of grass, like they had been burnt with electricity. He followed the path of the charred grass until coming to a pair of paw prints in the mud that led further into the jungle.

He stood there, staring at the wailing carnage of the storm on the edge of the eye. For the first time in a long time Oda didn’t know what to do, he had always had a confidence that everything was going to work out. And he approached life without fear. Now for the first time, fear gripped his chest, and he doubted his own ability to see this through.




Oda’s sudden vivid memory of that time was interrupted by a strong and warm breeze, it was strong enough to push Oda to the side, it was as if an invisible force had rushed by and shoved him. Oda, confused, looked around for whatever the source of it was before catching the glint of a piece of paper as it drifted impossibly across the clearing towards him. Oda was too stunned to do anything as this small piece of paper floated to him, landing at his feet.

It was instantly recognizable to Oda, and he shakily picked it up. The paper was still crisp as the day he wrote on it. The red and gold borders forming intricate and vibrant lines on the edges, he opened it and read it, tears coming to his eyes in a mixture of shame, disbelief and realization.





Oda stared at the piece of paper. This was impossible, he thought. And yet, here it was.

        His fear and hesitation didn’t melt away, but that didn’t matter. He was going to see this through to the end. He put the piece of paper in his pocket and briefly tightened his headband. Staring into the chaos of the stormy jungle, he limped forward in resolute determination.

As the trees whipped around him in a frenzy it took everything for Oda to concentrate and follow the massive paw prints of the beast, he fell multiple times, cursing his knee. “Fall down Seven. Stand Up Eight.” he would repeat to himself as he fought through the jungle, at this pace he was never going to find Inazuma. He thought back to what he knew about the panther. It was the spirit that guided lost souls in a storm. Perhaps he could use that. How does one just…get lost on purpose though? He limped for a few more minutes before coming to a stop and giving a deep sigh. He was not going to like this. He closed his eyes and spun himself around before bolting in a random direction, only opening his eyes after a few seconds of painfully running into branches.

He briefly thought about stopping before gritting his teeth and continuing into the maelstrom. As he ran he was pushed to and fro by the gusts of wind, lightning struck around him and leaves cracked from the forces. Oda was now completely lost, and he stumbled through the woods hunched over and limping, calling out to Inazuma.

Oda fell again, his leg falling at an awkward angle and catching on a log. He heard a slight crack and screamed in pain. His screams went from painful to angry. And he looked up to the sky in defiance, the rain pelting his face.I.Cant.Give.Up He thought as he grabbed a nearby tree and pulled himself up, now able to put only a few pounds of pressure on his leg. He stopped to breathe for a second, staring into the dark depths of the jungle in front of him.

If it wasn’t for the enormous crack of lightning he wouldn’t have seen it. It was only for a split second, but across from him about 10 meters away, a massive panther, standing 7 ft tall at the shoulder with fangs the size of kunai. Its sleek body had an almost blue sheen to it from the lightning, and its fangs were a vibrant white with cracks of glowing blue tracing around them in erratic patterns. It didn’t look like it was hunting him, it looked hurt and skittish, and it favored its left paw. Oda might have only seen its body for a split second, but its eyes told a story of fear and trepidation more than anything. They remained in the dark after the light of the lightning strike faded, floating in the shadows and staring at him.

He took a deep breath and limped on one leg closer to the beast. It gave a slight warning growl in response and Oda stopped in his tracks at the power of it, it shook his chest and rustled the leaves.

He put his hands up and spoke in a soothing tone. “It’s ok bosscat. It’s ok. I’m here to help.” He inched closer, and the Panther responded, getting close to Oda in the blink of an eye. He stumbled back a bit from the surprise of its speed but kept his balance, now that the panther was closer he could see a katana lodged in its paw.

“I’m sorry they did that to you…” Oda said quietly as he slowly knelt down and got closer to the paw. It recoiled slightly on instinct but Oda’s slow and deliberate movements soothed it, Its paw was massive, and he strained for a second to get a good angle before swiftly pulling the sword out. The Panther hissed in anger only briefly before reacting to the relief. It licked its paw a few times before standing up to its full height and staring at Oda silently.

Oda could only stare back in silence, as this ancient and powerful creature bowed its head slightly and shot off into the dark and stormy jungle, leaving a trail of bright blue chakra in its wake. Already the storm was beginning to die down and within minutes it was hard to tell there had ever been a storm at all. Oda looked up into the bright blue sky and smiled, the echoes of a squealing hog resounding through the forest. He promptly passed out from exhaustion.

Oda awoke in a hospital bed later that night, his leg bandaged and hanging up to reduce blood flow. His head ached and he felt like he had been hit by a truck. On his nightstand, a reward for a mission well done and a note that simply said “Thankyou”. Oda laughed and looked out the window from his hospital room at Tsukigakure. “Yeah sure, no problem boss.” He smiled before his face changed in concern and he reached for the piece of paper. As he pulled it out a calm came over Oda. "Fall Down Seven Times. Stand Up Eight."

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Claims:

Oda Terumi wrote:

Mission:

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Claims:

Approved