Bear Statue Surprise

Mission Info:

The mission was easy and straight forward: find the bears lumbering around in search for food and deter them from the village of people. Brute force could be used if necessary but the hope was that a shinobi might be able to scare the bears off back into the wilderness. Kannagi wasn't sure if there was any such way to have them permanently deterred if their natural prey was too difficult to locate. If she had to scare the bears away a hundred times then she would, but the blue haired kunoichi looked forward to a real solution from the higher ups in this endeavor. For now, the kunoichi would have headed out to the village in the mountains. Truth be told, Kannagi had located nomadic groups and native people surviving in the mountains but they had never before asked for serious help of a wilderness kind. When she got to the mountain village she could tell that they were not natives or nomads. It appeared traveling merchant families had gathered together during a bad storm. Having lost much of their stock, they had attempted to create a small outpost of some kind and simply learn to survive where they ended up.

Kannagi interviewed the people with care. There were two large families and a third family which had recently joined up. That left for three sets of parents, five children, and a handful of other relatives. They had used their caravans to build a basic form of shelter, a set of tiny homes and three other men had joined up for the journey and decided to stay after the storm had made their wares and finances of a desperate level. Kannagi also explored the village before nightfall, doing a thorough check of their resources and of the local area. The families had been hunting small game and the people had a large store of fruits as well, preserved in plenty jars. She also found a series of jars labeled for healing purposes. When the kunoichi sniffed it, she caught the aloe scent amongst other things and gave a nod to nobody in particular. These people reminded her of rudimentary and inexperienced Irezumi people. Though they didn't have much, any food they did have was tied up in trees over head, trying to keep them from the bears. The people all looked tired and worn out, none of them having gotten a good night's sleep in over a week. She had to admit that her survival knowledge would suit them well and as a shinobi, she would have to do all that she could to dissuade the bears from bothering these people any more.

Kannagi could feel the cool air on her skin, wearing a tight neck-high black sleeveless top, black shorts, and comfortable sandals. The young woman had a loose and flowing skirt around her waist, over her shorts, and instead of tying it up like she normally did, Kannagi let it hang relaxed around her legs. She gathered the entire group together and assured them that she could and would handle the issue. She encouraged them all to go to sleep and get rest, relying on her to keep them safe and do her job well. The sun was starting to set which made the area in the mountains cooler and darker from all the shadows. Once the people brought themselves in to their caravans, she shook her head. She didn't think they were going to last out here in the wild and without strong survival experience these people were putting their children at risk as well. It was a pretty foolish thought, but then again, they had so few supplies it did make sense to try and stop and collected themselves first. A strange thought came and she ignored it, the very people she came to help might be bandits or might be driven to that life out here. Yet today the issue was with a group of bears and she would keep her attention where it was needed.

Kannagi set up three rope based traps around the camp so that if she hadn't been fast enough, the bears' intended victims would still be protected. She was on her third round, cycling around the area of the caravans about ten meters away from the caravans themselves when she heard the sound of crunching and heavy feet upon the ground, snapping twigs and overturning rocks at a leisurely and lazy pace. By the motion, she could tell it was an individual beast and not a group. If the group of bears were smart and learning to work together, she would expect this hidden creature to be some sort of scout. Kannagi sifted through the trees like an animal herself, keeping her movements steady and silent and her ears focused on the sounds she had heard. Directly in front of the caravans stood a young bear, though looking at his fur and size, he had been through plenty of fights. Kannagi watched him approach and sniff at the rope trap she had set up and touched her forehead, feeling annoyed. Were bears smart enough to avoid traps too? A loud crack in the trees around brought her attention back to the bear and she saw that his curious sniffing had led to his rear leg getting caught in the strong noose of rope. The trap jerked up and pulled the bear upside down and hanging about a foot from the ground. He roared in surprise and anger and Kannagi could hear the people stirring inside the caravan with whimpers.

She dashed out into view and shouted, "Stay inside!" Kannagi approached the bear gingerly and blinked from a safe distance away. No other bears had come by. They too had been scared by his roar or else they were never there to start with. The blue eyed woman considered the bear for a while, unsure of how to be sure that he would leave these people alone. What were bears even afraid of? And then she knew! Her hands worked together quickly and she felt the paper slide from her skin and gather up behind her. When she stepped to the side, an enormous bear three times the size of the one she had caught stood there. She had created a massive and realistic statue of a bear rising up on its hind legs, teeth bared. Instantly, the trapped beast started squirming and slashing and then emitting a strange defeated whine sound. Kannagi gave the bear another minute of fear and then shot a kunai upwards to snap the rope. Without looking back, the perpetrator ran away. Kannagi looked her statue over and gave it a nod with a big grin. "The only thing the bear was afraid of was a bigger bear!"

WC: 1133