The forest around INC was thick, inhabited by a lot of wildlife and fauna that would not be found in many other areas outside INC territory. The smell of wet grass and new bark filled the air at all times, this was definitely a place where things were growing all the time.
Tsu stopped just within the forest, looking out into the green scape in front of her and waiting for her boys to arrive beside her.
Hinji pushed the brush infront of him to the side with his staff as he walked through. "May we ask what it is that we are supposed to be hunting Sensei?" he asked as he walked up next to her, brushing a few leaves off his kimono.
Tsu paused, letting the others land as well, then nodded and smiled at the group "We are hunting a wild boar. A very rare. Very valuable... and very protected wild boar. We are not allowed to kill it, hurt it... or disrupt it's habitat. You're going to have to be very very sneaky for this one lads..."
"So we have to catch a wild boar without hurting it?"
Kano asked, just to be sure of their mission. There was nothing that would stop the boar from hurting them though...
"Aaaand... milk it" this was the part that
Tsu had been keeping secret from them "So we're going to need to not only capture, but restrain it enough that we can milk it." Her grin was a little too happy to be considered nice.
El arrived on the branch just then "Milk what?" he asked when he recovered from nearly tipping over from the weight of his guitar.
"A wild boar. That we cannot harm"
Tsu said simply, smiling in all innocence and almost breaking out into a fit of giggles. This would definitely be an interesting mission.
"I'm sorry, I thought we were ninjas and not milkmaids."
Hinji said with a very sarcastic tone.
"Do you not believe this to be a worthy challenge?"
Kano asked Hinji curiously. "We are to capture and subdue a rare wild beast, and then obtain something to prove that we have done it."
"There will be times in your future when you might need to capture something without hurting it, then either find something on their person or hold them captive for a period of time"
Tsu tried not to think about the ways she had done that herself. "This is a very special task, considering what the milk will be used for, and it should also show you that you start at the very BOTTOM of ninja training. Now, be nice, don't complain, or you'll be milking it."
"Why would I do something myself that my shadows are perfectly capable of doing for me."
Hinji thought to himself as he looked into the woods.
"Perhaps if you are drained of chakra?"
El offered. He was wondering how they were going to succeed at this mission but he understood the lesson behind it.
"Are we all done muttering under our breathes?"
Tsu asked, leaning in closer to the boys and batting her massive eyes at them "Because we've got a walk to go before we get far enough into the forest to find this beast. Now be a good little group and maybe I won't sit on your backs while you run."
"Haven't I heard a story of an old sensei doing that before? Old wrinkled guy...really powerful, talked weird too."
Kano replied with a smirk, wondering if the others understood his little joke. He shrugged though he was ready for the hunt, eager to prove himself as always
Tsu shook her head and tutted at Kano... she was sorely tempted alright. "Lads, just follow me alright?" She nodded to them, then took off into the trees, making sure to be slow enough that they would stand a chance of keeping up with her.
El took off behind her, taking the moment to gain an extra branch or two.
Hinji kept pace with them, keeping his staff out infront of him to bat away any stray branches or any animals that may get into his way.
Kano brought up the rear, keeping his spear at the ready. For all they knew this wild boar was already hunting them, despite the fact that they were not yet very far into the woods. Boar tended to be territorial, and it probably already had a sense they were coming.
Tsu kept running, sticking high in the trees so they wouldn't leave a scent trail behind. Luckily very few creatures were disturbed by their process, leaving only a faint flutter behind them as they darted away from the humans. Tsu stopped finally, this time so deep in the forest that they couldn't see the village, or anything around them; it was just trees in every direction. "Alright, quick quiz" Tsu was perhaps abusing her power as a sensei... but it was all for a worthy cause "How can we tell we've entered boar territory?"
"Scat?"
El asked tentatively. He could have said poop or dung but he chose scat.
"Rubbings on the tree bark and possibly on the rocks, if this turns out to be one of those rare giant animals I've heard tales of."
Kano suggested as he came to a stop
"If it is a large creature then the damage to the local fauna would be substantial and easily spotted."
Hinji said as his education kicked in. "Boars are notorious for using their tusks to dig under the ground and trees to get to food."
"Nice to know you know about this stuff"
Tsu said with a small grin "All three of you, well done. We're in her territory right now" she patted the tree behind her, it had scour marks in the side and there was a distinct lack of moss where it's back had been rubbed hard against the tree. The tusk marks were a good four and a half feet off the ground... not the most comforting sight in the world.
Kano was really hoping he was wrong about it being one of the rare giant animals...the sight of the tusk marks was not very heartening.
Hinji stared at the marks on the tree in disbelief. "This looks like its going to be much more interesting."
"I do not know much about swine, especially giant swine..."
El said "But I do know that they frenzy at the scent of blood. It would do us good to stay unwounded, our mission could become more difficult otherwise."
"Not only ours, but it's own and most creatures"
Tsu said gently "So that is why we must not harm it in any way. If it attacks we would either have to kill it or fall back until it became subdued again. Now... I think it would be wise to get into the trees."
With a nod,
Hinji was in the air. He used the trees to get higher as he lost momentum.
Kano quickly ran up the trunk of a nearby tree, grabbing a hold of a branch and swinging himself higher. He was used to hunting, but something as large as this boar would have to be, given the scratch marks, he had never come across before.
El wasn't nearly as graceful as his friends as he journeyed higher into the trees. Heights were not his forte but he managed to jump from branch to branch, staying lower than everyone else, just in case he lost his balance.
Tsu was already up there apparently, gazing down are her students with a wide grin on her face "Alright, so we should stay off the ground, out of any possible paths. But we've got to find the boar. That's your job right now, find the boar or it's den, come back here where I'll be staying and I'll gather everyone up in a flash."
With a silent command and a nod,
Hinji's raven took the the air soaring gracefully in between the trees and branches. He watched as the bird took off and then he got comfortable on the branch and waited. It seemed as if he was determined to prove that his shadows could do anything he needed.
Always eager to prove himself, often getting himself in danger to do so,
Kano surged from the others, heading off to find the boar. Sometimes the best way to find an animal was to become prey for it, the thought crossed his mind, making him want to drop down and make enough ruckus that the boar would seek him out. But he pushed the thought away for now, he saw the markings, he had no desire to be hunted by such a large creature. At least not yet.
El was a bit reluctant to depart from the group but he did as Tsu bade. He made sure not to get too far however, every so often he would tap the shell of his guitar, reading the vibrations threw the trees, making sure he knew where the others were.
The boar was near the center of the territory, a few echoes from El's guitar easily bouncing back to him off of the boar's thick hide. It was easily big enough for Hinji's raven to spot as well, as trees tended to shift when it trundled through the forest. As for Kano... well he just had to make sure he didn't run into it with the direction he was going.
Hinji heard his raven's caw that it had found it and was quickly on his feet and leaping from branch to branch working his way quickly through the woods. As he went he tried to decide what would be the best summons to use.
Being an experienced hunter,
Kano was following the trail of the boar by the shavings it left on the trees, not to mention the enormous hoof prints it left behind as well. He heard the caw from Hinji's raven and cursed quietly. He didn't find it first. Looking up, to see if he could spot the raven, he changed direction slightly to move toward where the sound had originated from
It took a few extra seconds for the echo of his thumps to reach
El's ears again. at first he thought he'd found a large rock formation as large as the thing felt. But as he got closer, and he thrummed his guitar a few more times he could tell the thing was moving. He wasn;t close enough yet to see it but he was sure he was on the right track.
They were getting closer by the second, the boar sniffing the air as new smells entered it's territory. It trundled along calmly... until a figure swung up onto a branch just about it's head. The boar sniffed, standing perfectly still, raised it's snout to Kano and blew a large cloud of foul breath from it's nose up at the unfortunate ninja. It was as big as they'd thought, it's tusks five feet off the ground and and it's massive curved back pushing up to seven feet, a wide, fat body parted the trees on either side and a large pair of eyes rolled this way and that in their sockets as they tried to find the intruders.
The breath itself knocked
Kano backward, off of the branch. He acted quickly and grabbed hold with the bottoms of his feet before he fell all the way down. Hanging upside down, he stared at the creature. "Whoo Boy! You're a big one, aren't you?" He asked it, rubbing his nose, trying to get rid of the stench
El felt more movement threw the trees and picked up speed. He truly hoped that music might sooth this beast they were after.
Kano suddenly found a nose being stuffed in his face, a large amount of snuffling going on as the boar sniffed him; it had no reason to be afraid, it was the largest thing in there. Right now it was just trying to find out which one of the three F's this creature in front of it fell into.
Knowing full well that any sudden movements would certainly startle the creature, being this close and all,
Kano decided it was best to remain perfectly still and allow himself to be sniffed
It took
El a moment to realize he'd overshot Kano's location but he quickly doubled back when he felt the vibrations behind him. His eyes widened when he saw the massive thing sniffing Kano. He looked around for Hinji but he supposed he wouldn't spot him any way, not with his ability to manipulate shadows. Tsu Sensei was nowhere to be seen ether. Well... considering Kano wasn't being eaten yet he supposed he'd keep his distance for a few more moments.
Hinji was in fact melded with the shadows as El had thought. He had figured it would be better to keep himself hidden in case the creature deemed it needed look up. He was about ready to drop his shadow vine summons card when Kano appeared, so now he waited till the right moment presented itself.
very slowly a tongue came out, licking across Kano's entire body, tasting him to see if he fit into the eating category. Kano had to decide, sit there and possibly be eaten by a boar, rely on team mates he didn't know were there, or run away.
Hinji had a feeling he knew what was coming next and wasn't about to sit and do nothing. With a quick movement he plucked a card from his hat and bit the tip of his finger, drawing blood. As he tossed the card down to the boar he smeared the blood on it. The card hit the ground and was sucked into the dirt, a few seconds later dark shadowy vines burst from the ground and wrapped around the boar and began trying to pull it over onto its side.
The boar's nose was incredibly sensitive, and in the middle of sniffing and searching Kano it had picked up a new scent. A bad scent... blood. Kano could see it's eyes, they were staring at him with the kind of fury only animals and berserkers knew; when the vines came out of the ground it let out a loud snort of anger, immediately bucking up, ripping at the vines and kicking out to smash the trees behind it to timber.
Kano nearly shit himself from the look the boar gave him. He shrugged and smirked, releasing his chakra hold on the tree limb and dropping like a rock to the ground, just in time to see the massive vines shoot up to ensare the beast
Oh no...
El thought as he saw the boar's mood change. He had seen his uncle's swine with that look in their eyes before. Blood had been introduced into the air and the giant pig knew it. He was not comfortable being up here in the trees but he certainly wouldn't let himself get trampled on the ground. he had no idea how he intended to attack but at least if the thing attacked Kano he might be able to protect him.
The boar was bucking wildly, the more it flailed the fewer vines were trying to pin it down. It was strong, too strong to be pulled down while it was in a blood rage; right now it wasn't fueled towards anything, but soon it would sniff out the boys and hunt them down if they didn't run.
El didn't know what to do so he acted on instinct and began playing the lullaby his mother had sang to him as a child. He really hoped that the lulling music would sooth the beast and make it forget about it's blood lust.
"Hmm, unexpected reaction."
Hinji said as he watched the boar slowly destroy the vines that were trying to pull him down. His mind began to race as he tried to think of a solution. He heard El's guitar playing and decided to wait a bit to see if it would work.
Kano jumped backward to avoid the wildly thrashing hooves of the boar's tantrum. He was about to unleash his fiery hell, when the sweet lullaby of El's guitar floated soothingly into his ears. He shook his head violently to fight off the sleep that the beautiful music was trying to lull him into
It was around then that the wild boar let out a scream; it cut through the beautiful music like a tusk through flesh, pigs can scream at 115 decibels and this was like a jet engine to the face. It flailed, kicking, screaming, plowing it's tusks and head into the trees where sound was coming from and kicking out at anything around it.
There was a frantic blurr, a moment of crowded speed, then the three boys found themselves face down in a pile of dead leaves. "I said!" it was
Tsu and she sounded annoyed, in fact she was fighting the boar for the loudest thing they had heard that day "To come back to ME once you'd found it! You know why? CAUSE IT'S DANGEROUS AND WE'RE NOT MEANT TO HARM IT
OR IT'S SURROUNDINGS!"
"We apologize Sensei. In our excitement it seemed we forgot part of our orders."
Hinji said as he stood up, knocking leaves off him gently and fixing his hat.
"It was sniffing Kano."
El said "I was afraid it might eat him."
"I hadn't exactly done anything wrong..."
Kano said quietly. "I was simply looking at it. If it hadn't been for Hinji and El, the great beast would probably have eaten me."
"You find it, you run back to me"
Tsu said with a soft groan "If you were hanging around long enough for it to try and eat you then you were there too long." Tsu sighed again and rubbed her head "This thing is huge, and dangerous, and rare, it's not something you can take down with no planning and one man beneath it's foot. And Hinji... seriously... we discussed moments before that ANY blood would send it into a rampage..."
"I apologize again, I was sure that I was far enough away."
Hinji said with a small bow of his head.
"Normal boars can smell truffles underground through rotten leaves and animal trails. This one can probably still smell us... it's just too mad to go after us"
Tsu sighed, shaking her head and looking back the way she'd dragged them. "They made this our mission for a reasons, wanted to make it difficult for us. Kano can't go over the top with fire in the forest, Hinji will enrage it whenever he uses summoning and if El strains his fingers and cuts them then not only will the boar have blood in the air, but something bloody to follow."
"So in other words, damned if we do, and damned if we don't. Yes?"
Kano asked, leaning back against a tree in disgust
"Damned if you do certain things. Not damned if you don't. You've got to come at this from a certain angle, this is why I asked for this assignment. Brute force won't work, you cannot pummel it down with fire or shadow summons"
Tsu looked over to El "Even you can't strum a lot. So you have to be sneaky, use your cunning."
As Tsu spoke he quietly sent his raven out to keep track of the boar to make sure it didnt get away.
"Will genjutsu work on it?"
El asked. He wasn't exactly adept at genjutsu. His power lied in the destructive or protective force of his music, but his father had tried teaching him a melody for one. The only trouble was that he needed to make eye contact and the tune was too complicated for him to remove his eyes from his strings. Still, he would try if it might work.
"It's mind is simple"
Tsu said with a gentle nod "Genjutsu should affect it well, but we'd have to trust it not to be snapped out... and how long do you think it would be under your control?" She didn't like the idea of him playing his fingers to shreds, then having to run because of the smell of blood.
El had been keeping his hands wrapped since their last trial at the council. His fingers would be fine for a while yet, his calluses were forming nicely. "That depends on how well I play." El told her. "But the melody becomes much simpler once the affected person falls beneath it. Or... pig I suppose..."
"The main problem will be making it stay around long enough and not bother you while you're trying to put it's lights out"
Tsu said before turning to the others "Which is where you two are going to have to come in."
"So we get to be the bait?"
Kano asked with a smirk. He could get into that role quite well. Of course, not being permitted to burn down the forest with it, made things much harder
"I don't know about that, being bait might make it vicious, and it's difficult to take down an enraged boar. Anyway, you don't have to be there, you could just set a trap that means it can't leave for a little bit, giving El time to work"
Tsu hoped that she wasn't going to have to do everything for the boys, she encouraged them to think for themselves.
"Here."
El said producing a few balls of cotton from within his poncho. "It is possible that you all may be effected if I am able to perform it correctly."
Hinji reached out and took two of the cotton balls and inserted them into his ear. "Is it common practice for sound ninjas to carry cotton balls? Or is this just a personal requirement?" He said, wondering if they would catch his joke.
Kano chuckled softly at Hinji's joke as he too took hold of the cotton balls. "Hey Hinji, would you be able to grab me with a shadow thing and pull me back before the boar were to step on me? I mean just in case..."
El chose not to comment. He felt as if he;d been made sport of and on top of it, he hadn't gotten the joke.
"I would be unable to summon anything without drawing blood which, as we have already seen, will do nothing but cause the boar to rage."
Hinji said.
"Well there goes that idea."
Kano replied, kicking the dirt lightly. "I was just hoping that I'd have a quick way out in case things got out of hand."
"Don't give up straight away"
Tsu had moved a little bit back, watching the three as they thought; she hoped they could come up with something good by themselves. They needed to work together, and she was going to encourage this by only stepping in when needed.
"Oh I am not giving up, Master Tsu."
Kano assured her, "I was just hoping the easy way would be, well easy." He smirked and shrugged as he thought some more. Being the distraction to the beast suited him perfectly, but Hinji's assistance would be rather limited given the boar's ability to scent blood so fiercely. Strategy wasn't exactly his strong point, he and most others from his village were the hit first and ask questions later type.
Hinji thought furiously, trying to come up with a way for him to contribute. "What if we laid a trap for the beast, using myself as bait?"
"What about a substitution?"
El offered. "So we can all stay at a safe distance?" He thought the trap was a splendid idea, but what if something went wrong and Hinji and Kano found themselves caught up in the middle of it?
"I guess that would work. I only know the tree trunk substitution though."
Kano stated, "You know, the one where a hunk of a tree takes your place at the last second?"
"I know it."
El told him. "Let us place the substitution atop the trap. This way Kano is at a safe distance when the trap springs."
"You would not have to worry about me as the bait."
Hinji said, seeing his trap idea take off quickly. "There is ample shadow in the forest, so if the beast draws too close I could vanish and reappear in safety. I also know a shadow substitution that I could use."
"So what kind of trap are we thinking of springing?"
Kano asked them both. He was really not used to this sort of strategy
"I believe we should play on its basic needs by luring it with food."
Hinji suggested. "We will have to get the most irresistible item for it though to lure such a large creature."
"In my home the swine find corn and truffles most desirable."
El offered "But they will eat nearly anything."
"So we're supposed to lure the massive animal with expensive chocolates?"
Kano asked curiously. "I don't know about you, but I don't see a candy store."
"Truffles are under developed mushrooms."
El told Kano. "It is only coincidence that the name is shared with a confectionery.
"
"Oh. Well then, where we gonna find an under developed mushroom big enough for that beast?" Kano asked instead
"There has to be a reason why the creature stays in this area." Hinji said logically, "If there werent a large enough food supply for it in this area it would just leave. So there must be large ones or large quantities of it here."
"We must look for patches of mushrooms." El said. "It is there we are most likely to find truffles."
"Seriously? You guys really think this massive boar eats little under developed mushrooms?" Kano asked, he himself couldn't believe it. The creature was huge, it just had to be eating something other than truffles
"Well we dont know of any other thing it eats so we dont have anything else to try." Hinji said with a shrug.
"Sounds good to me." Hinji said as he wondered what kind of trap they would use that would restrain the creature but still allow them to milk it.
"Then let me seek out the bait and you two set the trap?" El suggested, always careful not to demand. They were a team after all and if Kano had a better idea he was willing to hear it. But he added, "It will better save time and I am no good for setting traps."
"Ok, so Hinji, your shadow vines thing worked pretty well, except for the boar freaking out because of the blood...I don't have any rope, how are we going to restrain it? I could cast a fire around it, to restrict it's movements, but that's gonna make it go nuts at the same time." Kano told them. His flames could limit the creature's movements, but it was no way to restrain it in a manner that they needed to touch it
"I will try my genjutsu." El said. "It is not perfected but it is not as hard to bewitch an animal as it it a person. I am confident that I may put it to sleep."
"That may be our only option as I cannot use my summons anywhere near this creature." Hinji said as he mulled over the plan. "So El will find the bait and be the trap while I lure the boar to the trap. I believe that will leave Kano available to milk the creature."
Tsu had, while they were talking, crawled up on of the trees, settled on a branch above their heads and slowly curled up and attempted to sleep while listening in on their plan. She peeked down at them, grinning toothily, they had some good ideas but how well executed would everything be?
"I'm milking it?" Kano asked astounded. He hadn't counted on that part of the plan
"At least it will not be awake at the time." El said with a smile.
"Very funny dude. You just make sure you get your genjutsu right. The last thing I need is for it to wake up with my hands on it's teets." Kano told him sharply
"So are we all agreed on this plan?" Hinji asked, eager to get this done with.
"Don't really have much choice seeing as it's the only plan we've come up with." Kano said truthfully and bluntly
"I shall be off then." El standing from their huddle. He straightened his sombrero and took stock of the surrounding area, looking for sign of mushrooms. "If I do not find the truffles I shall seek out another possible bait. Wish me luck." He vaulted into the tree above their location and set off in search for what he hoped would be an abundant supply of truffels.
Hinji watched as El left before turning to Kano. "So, shall we search for a good spot to set up our trap?"
"An ideal location would have a wall of rock on one side." Kano told him matter-o-factly. "El's genjutsu can echo off the rock wall and should be intensified that way, plus it closes off an entire side as a means of escape for the boar."
"That would be a good idea, but is there a sheer cliff face anywhere in this forest?" Hinji asked.
"There's only one way to find out." Kano told him with a smirk. "We have time before El is ready, it's our job to find the place to set the trap."
Without another word Hinji mumbled something to his raven which took to the sky. "The search has begun."
Kano nodded and jumped up into the trees to look for himself. He hated just standing around with nothing to do afterall
El spiraled outward with his search, keeping a sharp eye on the ground for any signs of bait. Truffles were perfected but he was sure he'd find a place where the boar had been feeding.
The sun was beginning to move towards the horizon as Kano and Hinji finished up their trap along the rock wall.
Hinji saw the trap's completion and unsummoned his shadow creature from inside the trap. "Now we have but to wait on El."
Tsu had been watching, silently, just observing the boys as they worked on the trap and the preparation. "This looks good" she muttered from her perch, looking at the contraption "Lets see if El can find some good bait... and doesn't become it himself."
As if sensing the completion of the trap El came swooping down threw the trees using his hat as a parachute. In his wake were several incredibly large mushrooms, all being held aloft on a current of sound since they were much to large for El to carry on his own. "There is quite a bounty several miles north east of here." He said once he touched down. "More will not take long to procure if this is not enough."
"That should be enough" Tsu said with a grin, watching as the boy came back with the largest mushrooms she had ever seen "Thank goodness you found them. I'm sure the beast will come over here looking for the lost food."
Hinji admired the size and quantity of the bait brought. "You did well." He said as he hefted one of the mushrooms once El got on the ground.
El smiled brightly, glad that they approved of the bounty he had brought with him. "I only hope he is not angry when he sees how much is gone."
"If she is, then she'll be coming right into our trap without thinking. Which may be a good thing." Kano pointed out
"Now the question, should we change our plans to see if it will come to us or stay with our original plan and bring her here?" Hinji asked.
"It could take a long while for her to reason that she has food missing." El said "Perhaps we should lure her here."
"A trap like this needs the prey to come to it" Tsu said softly, she didn't fancy the boys to set all this up only to fail because of over eagerness. "Alright boys, into your places, I'm sure the boar will smell El all over her food and come after if just to teach him a lesson for going in."
Now that Hinji's part in the plan had been outsourced to Mother Nature he wasnt sure what he was going to be doing. So he leapt up to a nearby tree and set his raven to patrolling the area to alert them for the approaching boar.
El placed himself hidden in the brush behind the trap. Once it was sprung it'd be his job to put the beast to sleep, or at least to his best to lull it. Hidden in the brush he practiced, mimicking where he would need to place his fingers to perform the jutsu correctly. He got a third of the way threw and realized he'd forgotten where to go so he pulled out a sheet of notes from inside his poncho and continued to re-familiarize himself with the song.
Kano found a place to hide easily enough, but he chose to hide in a place where he could be center stage if the beast was coming in angry. He was going to be the target, if one was needed. He was sure he could take just about anything that the boar could dish out. He was more resilient that most
It was easy to tell the boar was approaching, even without Hinji's bird giving a warning cry, because it rustled through trees at a pretty disquieting pace. It was getting closer fast, until they could hear it's breath as it snuffled along looking for the food. Finally it was out in the clearing, sniffing hard, small piggy eyes rolling in their sockets as it searched for the food.
Hinji watched in silence as the boar approached the trap. That was when an alarming notion caught his mind. "What if there are more boars this size?" he thought to himself.
El waited with bated breath as the boar searched for it's missing food. Just a bit closer and the trap would spring. He hoped Hinji and Kano had done a good job, if this all went horribly wrong they could be out here for days trying to milk this thing.
The boar was on top of the trap now, nose dug into the food and sniffing it inquisitively. It was trying to figure out who had picked it up and what had happened to it before it would even think of eating.
Kano had never known such excitement before. They were on the verge of capturing a massive sacred beast. Sure what they were going to do to it after they captured it kind of disgusted him, but still! What a story this was going to make, especially if they left out the milking part...
El had stopped breathing all together as he watched the boar try to sort things out. Had they made the trap too sturdy? Shouldn't it have sprung by now?"
There was a quiet snap and the trap released. The ground beneath the giant boar gave way and the colossal animal fell into the hole. They had lined the bottom with soft leaves and grasses as to not harm the beast when it fell.
Hinji's heart raced as the beast finally fell into their trap. Now all they had to do was hope that El would be able to do his genjutsu on the beast.
El took a deep breath and sat down on his tree branch with the sheet music in front of him. He hoped everyone had the cotton he'd given them in their ears. He began to play, focusing his chakra into the music. He watched the notes on the page without looking away, this song was complicated, most that dealt with genjutsu were and they weren't his strong-point. Still, his fingers flew across the strings of his guitar, plucking and strumming the complicated tune.
Kano had not forgotten El's warning, and quickly put the cotton balls into his ears. He was ready in case the genjutsu didn't hold entirely. All he was able to do would be to encase the beast in a flaming ring, not exactly something that's suitable for the landscape or the situation, but if need be, he could do it at least.
The boar started to squirm at once; if the pit had been wider it would have been able to just jump out of it, but through sheer luck or skill they had made it slightly too small. This meant the legs were trapped beneath its own body weight, rocking and squealing in surprise; its ear cocked as El started playing, but it was still squirming about, trying to get free.
El doubled his efforts and pored more of his chakra into the strings. So far he'd not screwed up any of the notes, but the soft lullaby was growing more complicated and if anything distracted him, he was liable to screw up the whole thing.
Tsu suddenly appeared from behind Kano and Hinji, they couldn't rely only on El after all. "Here" she said, pushing massive leaves into their arms when she arrived at their sides "Climb onto its back from behind and cover its eyes. If it thinks it's getting dark it'll sleep faster."
Hinji grabbed the leaves and nodded. He quietly leaped down from his tree and made his way to the hole with the boar in it. He waited till Kano joined him so that they could try to cover its eyes at the same time.
Kano grabbed the other leaves and nodded as well. He joined Hinji at the side of the pit.
With Kano in place, Hinji jumped up onto the beast's back and used it as a kind of springboard to make another jump to the base of the boar's neck. He made over to the eye on his side and covered it with his leaves.
El's fingers were getting sore, which was one draw back of relying solely on a guitar for defense and offense. He'd been keeping them bandaged lately, much more of this complicated music and his bandages would begin staining red.
Kano swiftly made his way onto the pig and swiftly placed his leaves over the creature's other eye. He swallowed hard as he felt the massive beast's breath move it's body. It was an awe inspiring feeling to be atop such an animal.
The animal was slowing now, breathing gradually, the strangest fight in its entire life was making it slowly pass out. Finally, with a soft snore, the animal appeared to be asleep.
El glanced away from his sheet music just in time to see the creature succumb to his genjutsu. He breathed a sigh or relief. Now that the creature was under he needn't keep up the finger breaking licks of the song proper. He slowed down to maintain the base notes and stuffed the sheet music into his poncho.
Hinji felt the creature finally fall asleep and calmed his heart. He looked over to Kano and nodded as if to say that it was time for the next task.
The color drained from Kano's face as he realized that it was time for him to do his part in this mission. He had been assigned the task of actually milking this behemoth...
Tsu appeared again, where she'd found the buckets no one knew. She smiled at Kano, then winked and nodded down below "Don't worry. You just hold the buckets steady and I'll milk it. You've done enough for today."
El Was still playing the base licks as he jumped down from his tree to watch.
Kano was relieved when Tsu showed up like that. He let out a big breath that he hadn't realized he was holding before.
Tsu carefully pushed the animal on it's side, just rolling it over with apparent ease. She smiled as the underbelly was revealed, pushing the buckets into Kano's hands and going over to a teat "When you're ready."
El's eyebrow raised substantially beneath the bill of his sombrero as he watched their Sensei just tip such a massive beast over like that...
Hinji had to relocate himself as Tsu tipped the boar over. He wanted to make sure that the beast's eyes were still covered just incase.
Kano was dumbfounded at the sight of their sensei simply tipping the boar over as if it were nothing at all. He had a hard time believing that such a small girl could possess such strength.
One bucket was brought down over Kano's head, blinding him for a moment, the others still in his hands as Tsu hissed "Come on. You've got to hold these steady, I don't want to have to repeat this all again."
"Sorry, Sensei!" Kano replied quickly and held the bucket steady for her.
El said in the grass as he watched and played, utterly glad he was no in Kano's position.
The words massive, quivering and terrifying could all be applied to the teats of this massive boar, but Tsu walked up to one as if it were an everyday chore. She squeezed and pulled, slowly starting to milk them for the precious liquid inside.
Kano simply couldn't help himself. "Ya know, Sensei, that's kinda hot...."
Hinji was beginning to grow impatient and wanted to ask what was taking so long, but was afraid to say anything to prevent waking the beast. Instead he sent his raven near them to pace impatiently.
El was still strumming as he watched. Employing one hand he grabbed a bit of tortilla from inside his poncho and pinched off a small piece and tossed it to Hinji's bird. It would probably have porefered the eyeballs of some formerly living creature, but all he had was tortilla at the moment.
Hinji's raven didnt even acknowledge the presence of the tortilla piece as it continued to hop about, now around the feet of Kano and Tsu.
Ok then... El thought that perhaps Hinji had trained his friend not to take food from strangers, which seemed like a good idea considering an enemy bay want to poision Hinji's second set of eyes.
"You're a weird little boy Kano" Tsu muttered as she continued to slowly milk the boar. "Ok, that's one bucket" she muttered "Go give that to the others, tell them to take it back to the village and don't spill any. I'll have another ready when you get back here."
Kano took the bucket and leaped up from the pit. "She says you guys are supposed to take this bucket to the village and not spill any."
Since El had to keep playing Hinji figured he was the only one that could do it. He pushed the leaves into the boar's ears gently before stepping up to grab the bucket of milk. "Where in the village am I to take this."
"To their village leader I suppose." Kano told him with a shrug. "She said she'll have another bucket ready by the time I get back down in the pit, so I guess we'll be right behind you guys."
"Be careful Hinji." El added, only being helpful. If he were to be forc-ed to carry it his clumsieness would no doubt cause him to have dropped the bucket ha;f way to the destination.
Hinji took the bucket of milk from Kano while trying to remember what village they were supposed to give this too. Once he figured it out he turned in that direction and took off. He didnt run at full sprint, just to be safe, but he was still maintaining a decent pace.
Since she couldn't yell, Tsu threw a rock at the tardy boys. It smacked into a tree, impacting deep within the bark and splintering the wood. She was getting annoyed at the speed these boys worked, she had another bucket ready to pick up.
El had only been a few paces behind Hinji when the rock was thrown. He returned and picked up the bucket. "Apologies Sensei." And wishing that he were not so clumsy, headed off behind Hinji
Once El had departed with another bucket, Kano headed back down into the pit to assist Tsu with the boar. "Are we done with this last bucket or will we have to get more?"
"We're done" Tsu said softly, handing a bucket to Kano "Go with the others. I'm going to make sure you guys don't have any accidents." She nodded and handed Kano the bucket carefully before disappearing in a blur of speed from Kano's side.
"What about the boar?" Kano asked the air, seeing as she had already disappeared. He started heading off after the others. He couldn't believe they would just leave this sacred beast asleep in a pit that it couldn't get out of
"If we woke it we'd die" Tsu said softly "Anyway, it was about to get out of the pit by itself. Right now, it has a little nap, and we get as far away as possible. Anyway, we can drop these off and I'll come back to check if it escaped."
"I understand why this boar is sacred. To have grown to such proportions truly must be a sign of its divinity." Kano told her as they traveled. He was glad he did not have to travel alone
"Yes, it has grown to quite the size. I'm not sure what caused it to do that but it's amazing" Tsu nodded as she ran along beside Kano. She paused in the speech as they moved, then turned her head to gaze at Kano as they moved "So... why did you say I was hot earlier?"
Kano's entire face blushed a deep red. "Ummm....uhhh...well...when you were ummmm milking the boar...."
"And... why is that hot?" Tsu raised an eyebrow at Kano, not even spilling a drop as she barely looked forward as she ran. "Explain it to me Kano, I'm confused" she admitted, a small smile on her lips.
Kano chanced a glimpse at her as he ran on. He caught the very end of that small smile. "You are not confused Sensei!" He shouted at her, he could tell from that smile that she understood exactly why it was hot
"I'm not confused as to what, I'm just confused as to why?" Tsu said, continuing her small smile as she ran along "Come on, you can tell me Kano. I promise I won't tell the others."
El wasn't as fast as Hinji, nor as graceful. Some of his milk sloshed over the side so he slung his guitar around behind him and stabilized the bottom of his bucket with his now free hand.
"Do you really have no idea why it was hot?" Kano asked her, not really believing that she couldn't figure it out on her own
"Honestly, no" Tsu sighed, trying not to roll her eyes at the boy "No Kano, I honestly don't realize why you think it was hot." She tried not to shake her head at the boy, she'd just never been told anything like that. Alright, she'd never milked a giant boar, but she thought that wouldn't exactly help.
Kano groaned and looked this way and that to make sure no one else could hear. "The way you were pulling and jerking...." he mumbled, embarrassed by the whole thing.
Tsu took a moment in silence, as if considering this. She then let out a small titter and shook her head "My Kano I never knew you were like that. I hope you can keep your mind on the missions we get and don't always let your mind wander like that."
"My mind is still on the mission, Sensei." Kano assured her with a stern nod. "Even if it wanders from time to time...."
"No more wandering" Tsu said firmly, but she was smiling slightly "But what you do in your time off I can't control. Just make sure you don't wind up tripping over yourself in front of any visitors to out city."
"Sensei, I have never tripped over myself." Kano assured her, defending his wandering mind with everything he could muster.
"Well I'm not going to test you now, mind sharp, hands steady" Tsu sighed, continuing the run back. Surely they'd get home soon. She expected at least one bucket gone, though they hadn't actually been asked for much. Just told to milk it, for all Tsu knew they were meant to bring one tiny vial back and they had a few buckets worth.
Still greatly embarrassed by the whole ordeal, Kano kept a firm and steady grip on the bucket as they ran. "Do you think we'll catch up with the others before they reach the village?"
"Hinji? No, I doubt it. I think we'll run across El however, if he's being careful with the bucket" Tsu said, dodging a particularly low branch and managing to just avoid spilling her own bucket. "Awwww, have I made you all shy around me Kano?"
"No, Sensei." Kano replied, shaking his head lightly. He was anything but shy. Just, why oh why did he have to open his mouth???
"It's rather flattering to be honest" Tsu admitted, holding the bucket in one hand and prodding her small breasts "Not many men like how I look, and I always have to have my ID on me at all times."
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with how you look, Sensei..." Kano admitted quietly. But that probably didn't help her any, seeing as he was just a young boy.
"I'm flattered, really, but sometimes people forget I'm a much older woman" Tsu sighed, wistfully thinking of herself with huge breasts, looking much older and being all... attractive to men and such.
"There are some who would think that's a good thing, yes?" Kano asked her, choosing his words carefully.
"Some who think what is a good thing?" Tsu asked, she liked bonding with her students, so she was happily talking with Kano. If they came across the others, she'd keep talking, the mission was almost over, they could relax.
"That people forget how old you are?" Kano offered, not really seeing a better way to word it
"Some, perhaps, but they usually like to think of being locked in their older years, when they're considered sexy, not just cute." Tsu sighed softly "Guys who cast a glance to me are usually on some kind of register..."
"Or young enough to land you on a register if you should do anything?" Kano deduced curiously.
"Actually... usually, no" Tsu sighed slightly "They get disturbed by the fact I am older underneath usually. The young see past the looks that the old cannot."
"So how far from the village are we? I didn't see it while we were traveling to find the boar." Kano wondered how much longer they'd be running with steaming milk.
"A little while, the village seems further because we're being slower for the buckets" Tsu sighed, looking around and wondering if El or even Hinji would just pop out of nowhere.
A short time later, the two had met up with their comrades and then entered the massive gates of the Country of the Eternal Hunt
Stumble!