Our hero fourth mission once again has him in the Hidden Moon Village. This time, the Jungle Kage wants him to scout a field that reconnaissance Jungle ninja use to keep an eye on the Hidden Moon. Since by now, our hero, although a Genin, was very trusted by his fellow ninja and has grown to a splendid young shinobi after spending time with Yuri-chan, he was picked as the best one for this scouting job.
“I’ll make sure my Kage is proud of me. I’ll make sure the village is proud of me.” Yuumaru told himself. The hero finally picked the daytime to do this fourth mission of his, because his last two missions were always done at night, and it scared the heck out of him. Unlike the previous two tasks, the weather today was hot and humid, probably one of the hottest days in the Hidden Moon this year. Of course, our hero wasn’t sweaty, only in his hands, because our hero is a cool man, and he’s always spiffy and well-dressed. Anyways, back to the mission.
A weak-looking bridge stretched across him, and it led to the field in which our hero is tasked to check next, right after this bridge. Crap, looks like I have no choice but to cross this bridge. As he took his tenth step, and he was about one fourth of the way to the field across the bridge, the bridge started to creak. Our hero, unfazed, or at least pushing away fear from his mind, kept on walking. Finally, two steps later, the bridge snapped! One of the foundations, namely the one on the cliff he had just come from, came down. Thankfully, our hero held on to the rope with his right hand, and used Shunshin no Jutsu. He teleported to the other side of the bridge, the field side. Check, okay that’s one thing they need to fix.
The field in front of him had 7 foot tall grass. But Yuumaru, our hero, being a Senju, was never afraid of plants. He calmly stepped into the field. Unbeknownst to Yuumaru, this particular field was known as the “Field of Shadows” in the Hidden Moon. And it was known that way for a reason. Using both hands alternatively to push the grass blades away, he checked for parasites or mysterious pestilence that could hinder his fellow ninja on keeping an eye on the Hidden Moon Village. As he got deeper and deeper into the Field, reaching more or less the middle of the field, the grass grew ever thicker and closer to each other, to the point where it was impossible to push away with his hands. Yuumaru felt himself get suffocated by the plants around him. Sorry, plants, but I’ve gotta do this. Our hero started using his kunai to cut down the plants and make his way ever deeper.
The sun made its way to Yuumaru’s shoulders once again, because the plants became less suffocating due to our hero using his kunai to cut them down. Suddenly, Yuumaru noticed the sun was gone, replaced by a shadow. He was afraid to look up, but being brave does not mean having no fear; in the contrary, it means facing one’s fears. Our hero looked up, and it was a giant grasshopper! The giant bug planned to land on him and crush him. How ironic, Yuumaru thought. A bug trying to crush a human. Our hero quickly did the necessary hand seals and released a Fire Ball Jutsu towards the sky. The grasshopper’s underside was burned badly, and it was pushed by the flame’s momentum to land on Yuumaru’s front. The sun was again seen. “Don’t ever mess with me, bug. I am a Descendant of the Second Sun.” The grasshopper, seemingly able to understand our hero’s daunting words, tried to jump away, and surprisingly, it could still jump very high! But our hero wouldn’t let him escape. Sparrow’s Flight! Our hero jumped high, and rode the grasshopper while the giant bug was mid-air. He then used his kunai to stab through the grasshopper’s body and dig out its heart. Our hero then crushed it. Soon after the giant bug and the hero landed on the ground, the bug died a slow and painful death. That’s the second one and I actually took care of it.
Our hero finally reached the end of the field and moved forwards. It was afternoon now and nearing sunset. The weather wasn’t that hot and humid anymore, it was getting colder and dryer. Now for the last checkpoint on this reconnaissance path. The last checkpoint was a huge lake, having black water. I see. So maybe there’s a monster croc here somewhere that needs killing. Our hero was right. Suddenly, a huge, gaping mouth sprung forth from the dark waters and opened at the direction of our hero! Before he could even react, he was about to be gobbled up!
Then he heard a slashing sound. Blood spurted. When he opened his eyes, the monster croc was at his left side, looking away from him, looking at his right. Now that he had a clear view of the croc, it was about 30 feet long. The croc was missing its left front leg! Our hero looked to his right. To his amazement, it was a toad dressed up in shinobi garb, carrying a huge tanto sword. The toad was about twelve feet tall, standing on its hind legs. “Kid, what the hell are you doing here? This is not a place to play around!” Before our hero could have time to exclaim in amazement that there was a talking toad dressed as a ninja in front of him, or before he could even be offended at what the toad said about him, the toad lunged at the croc. The croc stayed in its place, but then, suddenly lunged at the toad as well. It was a climactic and titanic battle.
Surprisingly, the croc managed to bite the toad’s tanto, stopping the toad from slashing its head. The toad looked like it was losing this strength battle. “On second thought, kid, are you just going to stand there doing nothing?” The toad said, struggling to keep its tanto up to prevent the croc from swallowing him whole. “So-Sorry, Mr. Toad!” Yuumaru replied awkwardly. He still couldn’t believe there was such a thing as a talking toad. Dashing towards the two monsters duking it out, our hero activated Hoken no Jutsu, and punched right through the giant croc, breaking its body into two. Deactivating his fiery fists, our hero turned to the exhausted toad.
“Thanks for saving me earlier there.” Our hero told the animal. “No, thank YOU for saving my hide just now.” The toad replied. Before he could ask another question, the toad quickly blurted out, “Kid, what is your name?” The hero replied, “Senju Yuumaru, a genin from the Hidden Jungle Village.” Our hero usually didn’t disclose his true identity, but this toad did save his life after all. “Hm, I thought you would be bigger and stronger, based on what HE told me about you…” Our hero was somewhat offended to this, and was about to retort when the toad said, “Master Jiraiya has summoned me. My task was to find you and watch over you from now on. Looks like you saved me the trouble of finding you.” The toad replied. And with that, he suddenly leaped and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Our hero, tired from his duties of the day, retired to an inn in the Hidden Moon Village, where he sent a blue marmoset carrying a scroll to report to the Jungle Kage, informing him of his complete mission and of the things that need fixing in the reconnaissance path.
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Subject: Mission 4: Scouting (C-Rank)