A snake in the river [Mission|Closed]

The Objective:

Everyone seemed to be out and about throughout the village. Ryojin had been tasked with another goal and in order to accomplish this goal, he had been grouped up with more of the visiting sun villagers. Ryojin was curious if his father was perhaps pushing the envelope so often pairing him with visiting shinobi from the sun. Maybe it was his father's way of quietly rewarding him for the constant annoyance of studying all the time. He was well aware that Ryojin was sociable, rather amicable, and enjoyed the company of others anyways. Today, Ryojin's hair was tied back into a neat pony tail. This time around, he shed the flak jacket. It was heavy and he had realized this in the last mission. Without the jacket he would be capable of easily moving quickly as need be.

This time around, it was a daytime monster hunt. Rumor had it in the river basin there was a massive boa causing some trouble for weary travelers. This wouldn't be like the last time he had followed the basic. He actually had a good idea of where the boa probably hid itself. Who would be the sun shinobi he was going to be sent off with this time? The red eyed girl? The guy who looked similar to her? The bandanna guy? Who knew. With a slight sigh he would trace a finger along the soft ground.

How long would the kage allow his father to pick and choose his missions? Was his father really behind it? What was his father actually? These kind of things always seemed to bother him just before something important happened. He would as per usual just let it go and focus on the task at hand instead.

Cure wasn't used to going out on these type of physical demanding missions. Deliveries, logistics, survey and research. These are the type of missions he was more equipped to handle and as such what he usually ended up taking. However it would be irresponsible to completely avoid taking on missions that tested him physically as it would stunt an important part of his growth as a ninja. He had to do these types of missions as well. Cure's mind was elsewhere as he traveled toward the meetup point where he would join the ninja from the moon village as well as Ms. Komi. While he wasn't the most sociable of people Cure was actually glad that Ms. Komi would be there to as at least there would be one familiar face. Cure suddenly disappeared from the branch he'd been sitting on a minute too long and he suddenly appeared in the clearing where he was supposed to meet up with the other ninja. He appeared next to a male figure bearing the symbol of the moon village. Seeing that he was the only one there at this particular spot it was reasonable to Cure that this was likely the other ninja he'd be working with on this mission. Cure quickly made sure all the equipment he brought with him was still intact before turning to the Moon shinobi and greeting him he used his high pitched gentle voice to speak, It would sound gentle and soothing but like everything else about him gave no indication of his gender. "Cure of the Sun Village, I assume you are one of the teammates I'll work with on this mission?" After allowing the man to respond he would continue saying, "I've read up on all the information regarding this mission and did a bit of my own research before arriving. We should compare notes and share information to help us better deal with this mission efficiently and swiftly." After saying so Cure would begin to describe the various different snakes found in the area that might pose a problem in their search for the boa as well as the habits of boa snakes as well as the habits of giant reptiles, their diets, and general handling experiences by taming ninja's. Cure believed it would be sufficient to use these types of strategies to drive the "monster" away and find it a nice safe habitat to suit it. Speaking of he had researched and scoured maps for potential places that this new habitat could be and would point them out giving suggestions on how they might be able to lead the quarry to it's new forever home.

Mikomi blew a sigh. Being here in Moon during the festival was simultaneously relaxing and frustrating. On one hand, she had been enjoying the cool weather and soft atmosphere. But on the other, the Moon shinobi had been one of two things, excessively flirtatious, or excessively rude. No in between. Which is why, when she received the news of this mission, she had been apprehensive. Until she read who her partners would be. Cure was familiar to here, if a bit unsettling. And Ryojin was the only Moon shinobi who wasn't acting obnoxiously around here. At least from the little time they had spent on the mission.

So, as she caught sight of her allies for this mission. She gave a small hop of excitement. And ran up to them, she gave a deep bow first to Ryojin "Good to see you Mr. Tosho, I'm glad that we have another chance to work together so soon." Then she turned to Cure, again they were hidden beneath layers of strange attire. As usual, she gave a deferential smile and bow, "And its very good to be working with you again, Cure." Something was still off about them, Cure seemed to know things that they shouldn't know. An intuition that went beyond skin deep.

She stared at Cure as they began to rattle off information. She was familiar with the information they were covering, herpetology was something that had always interested her. She raised her hand to stop Cure, "A moment. Mr. Tosho, Cure. What is our objective, should we endeavor to eliminate the creature? Or is our mission preservationist in nature? " She waited for their responses. Mikomi never took the lead in missions, leaving the decisions to her teammates. It was easier that way, to find the holes in the plan and plug them. Rather than building a plan from the ground up.

Ryojin took the time to listen to them both. He was happy to see Mikomi was the second sun Shinobi. He wasn't at all familiar with this cure fellow, but he seemed nice enough. Though, when he rattled off information it occured to Ryojin that this guy was definitely similar to his own father and it brought about a small chuckle.

"I'm afraid rehousing it is going to be a bit of a task. It would be more convenient for us to slay this boa. If I had to guess , it has stayed in this area because if has laid it's eggs. We won't be able to take the eggs to safety if the mother is protecting them and there is no real telling when they would hatch."

His brow furrowed slightly. This beast was making life difficult for a lot of people, but a creature as rare as this one would be a shame to simply off. He had no idea how they could handle relocation. The eggs would be a bit heavy themselves. The mother would definitely protect them. This snake wouldn't be too large for him to freeze, but even if he did, this animal would very possibly die from it being so cold.

"Unless you both have any ideas for relocating it back up the river?"

"Scent," Cure stated simply before handing them, if they chose to accept it three vials. He would begin to explain. "These three vials hold three scents that have a heavy impact on boa snakes. The toxic looking purple one mimics the scent of it's natural predator and will ignite a sense of panic in it, the clear blue one mimics the scent of a boa's younglings, it's not the same as it would be if I had a sample of that particulars boa scent to mix with it. As that is what would happen naturally as she nursed the eggs, but during nesting periods the maternal instincts of these snakes are very high and although they are loathe to leave their nest if they feel a threat is in the area and a young snake is in danger this should be enough to lure them out. Once they have been lured out this third vial would come in handy the sunny yellow one mimics their favorite natural habitat and invokes a sense of security, this will mask the smell of an intruder in the nest. One person will act as the young snake in danger, another the predator in the giant snakes territory and the third will cover their scent sneak into the nest and move the egg's. This person's job is the most important as it'll be their job to go around the distraction and get a few feet in front of it in this direction....." Cure pointed to the northwest path were the closest obscured habitat away from any roads or settlements lay. "Before they set off to here they need to make sure the mother know it's eggs are with them, this will relieve pressure on the distractors and set the mother to chase this person towards the safe space. While the others can chase the mother and hamper it's speed so it doesn't catch up until it's been led to the new home. The person with the eggs will be given the other two vials of security scent and spread it quickly around the area where they put the eggs down here and will escape with the help of the other two, once we're far enough away from the place that will no doubt seem better then it's original home it will definitely stop chasing and return to cozy up in it's new home." Cure seemed to have planned for a hundred different possibilities before he thought of something and added reluctantly. "Or I suppose I could make a sleeping mixture and put her to sleep and we can move them that way......"

Mikomi stared at the vials that Cure had handed her. It all seemed like a lot. Too much in fact. She looked over at Cure "But how would we get the reptile to stay away from the roads and homes of the villagers? And how do we move the eggs? If there's more than a few then they will be far too heavy for us to move" She patted her bow and the quiver of arrows on her back, "I only need one of these to hit, then it's dead. Ordinarily I'd avoid fatality when possible, but its only a matter of time before it ends up eating someone. And if we're choosing between the life of an giant man and woman eating snake and a human, I choose the human." She thought for a second then continued, "It seems like we are taking an unnecessary risk to ourselves with any plan. But if you two want to use the Doctor's pheromones, then I'll sneak into the nest, if something goes wrong, I would prefer to be the one it attacks. My Sharingan and my bow put together mean that I can put an arrow into its eye no matter how fast it is moving. There's a lot of snakes in the desert, I'm used to them." She didn't mention the jutsu she intended to use, it was a bit morbid to say that the way she'd be killing it would be by roasting it alive, if she had to.

Whatever happened, she would defer to the other two shinobi, they were the experts. Cure on the knowledge of the snake and their medicines (though there wasn't enough time to make a knock-out potion), and Ryojin was an expert on the area. There was no reason for her to take lead, but she didn't intend to foul up another one of Ryojin's plans. So she would ensure that she worked as the perfect cog in the machine.

"Forgive me, but I think this time around elimination is the most ideal option. Finding the boa will be easy. There are too many unknown factors and not quite guaranteeds." With that, Ryojin began their trek down the path. It wouldn't be too far until they reached where the boa was resting.

The boa itself was massive. Fifteen meters long. It's eyes were an amber color. It hissed as they walked within about thirty meters of it. It was circled around five large eggs. The reptile eyes watched each of them carefully awaiting what their first move would be.

Ryojin formed his hand seals. It began to snow. The temperature would drop soon, more than what the snake would be able to handle. It would only be a matter of time before the snake would go catatonic in this climate. He just had to do his best to keep it up. The problem with this is that the massive boa caught on and wasn't happy about it.

Ryojin watched as the snake uncurled and made it's charge toward him. Ryojin turned and ran to a near by tree in order to try to get some height, but pretty quickly the snake had reached the tree and continued through it.

Cure listened to what the two had to say and weighed the pros and cons in his mind for a moment. Hi mind was cold and methodical for a moment before memories begin to flash before his mind. The emotionless eye's of his mother as she looked on at him in disappointment how she would tell him his talent with chemicals was wasted on him and that she should have never given birth to such a useless son. His father when he deigned to remember he existed and how each time he would send him into that cold cruel combat training room to be beaten until he could fight back enough to survive. He remembered a few times where his mother needed a live test subject for some of her poisons....this had been during the year Plague had already left.....Then he remembered Plague how Plague would look after him, care that he existed, and protect him from his own parents! Then he thought of the snake mother, a wild animal but she still had the instinct to protect her young to love them....like Plague had done for him. Cure's aura turned cold and ruthless as this time he spoke in his deeper silky voice the one that carried authority despite being just as gender neutral. This time there was Ice in it. "I will not slay a mother protecting her young and I will neither sit back and watch another slay her! If you insist on doing so I'm afraid we must become enemies here and now!" Maybe he looked like a heartless scientist to most who met him but he was literally burdened with the deepest of empathy. So of course he had feelings too!

Mikomi had followed, listening to the plan, and now as they emerged into the space around the Boa's nest, and the boa charged Ryojin. Then Cure shouted, and MIkomi couldn't believe their words. A hot anger fell over her, she turned as the boa chased Ryojin. She was about 15 meters away from it, and 10 meters from Cure. She slid an arrow from her quiver into her hand, drew it back and fired. It didn't look like it would hit the snake, but then, Mikomi focused, activating both her Sharingan and Tsubame Youchou. And the arrow's path jerked in midair, and propelled by the bow, Tsubame Youchou, and guided by the force of jutsu and the precision of her Sharingan, it pierced the snake. The arrow punched through the scales on the top of its head, pinning it to the tree by its mouth, and snapping it shut. The arrow was shinobi made, reinforced, the snake wouldn't be able to break free for a long while, especially not with the arrow buried so deep in the tree.

Then, she turned towards Cure, she had moved back even more, and now they were 15 meters apart. "RYOJIN, IF YOU CAN'T CAPTURE IT RIGHT NOW THEN I'M GOING TO HAVE TO BURN IT TO DEATH" She knocked another arrow but didn't aim it at Cure, not yet. Cure would have to know, that if she fired from this range, guided by her Sharingan, she couldn't miss. "As for you, Cure-Senpai. You cannot think that the life of this snake is worth starting a war with the Moon? THINK, HOW MANY OF US WOULD DIE IF YOU FOUGHT RYOJIN HERE." She felt her anger rising higher, struggling to control herself, she continued "If Ryojin is injured by your inaction or action, then everyone in the Sun and Moon are in danger of death. The life of this creature isn't worth that. I don't care about what trauma you've felt, what motives led you to threaten a Moon shinobi during a mission, let alone ME, a fellow Sun Shinobi. But I DON'T CARE. YOU ARE CURE OF THE SUN, YOU WILL FOLLOW ORDERS." She was ready, she liked Cure, they were kind. But if their kindness caused an incident between the villages. She felt a pang of disappointment in herself, but if she had to, she would stop Cure, permanently. Still she kept an eye on the snake, if it broke free, she would activate Secret Fires, and incinerate it.

Within the span of a few seconds everything had gone to shit. This was rather unusual. Ryojin was methodic, patient, almost reptile food. All the things a good shinobi strove to be. The tree he had ran up was annihilated and he and the boa were now hugging it out. Aggressively. Two things occurred to him in the moment he had gripped onto the boa mother for dear life. One of those things being that Cure was refusing the mission. This was fair to Ryojin. This boa, with it's eggs laid here, had suddenly become deathcon 5.

Ryojin was busy viciously punching at the snake now headed for cure and Mikomi. He was holding on for dear life with one hand, rabidly swinging with the other. In retrospect, the snake could've cared less. The snow was starting to collect and the ambient temperature went from humid to cold. Ryojin let go of the snake for a moment to form his hand seals and a frosty mist began to plummet from his body. Here was the problem. In total, his jutsu would only spread out to thirty meters in each direction from him. Only the snake's mid section would really freeze.

At this point, the blue mist was intended instead to quell Cure. Not a direct attack, but more of a passive method of containment. " STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE REPTILE WHO HAS LAID ENOUGH BABIES TO KILL ANY MERCHANTS COMING THIS WAY BEFORE I FREEZE YOU SOLID. I ADMIT I HAVE NO REAL SOLID PLAN AND THERE MAY BE NO REAL COMING OUT OF THIS BUT AT LEAST WE CAN SALVAGE THE MOTHER'S CHILDREN. IF YOU DON'T I'M PUTTING THIS SNAKE DOWN AND WE'LL TALK WHEN YOU'RE AN ICICLE." Though by now, the snake had charged in directly to Mikomi and cure wildly thrashing about. One arrow would definitely not be enough.

Mikomi blinked, and shook her head. That snake was MUCH bigger than she thought at first. With a curse she activated Tsubame Youchou as it charged her. The arrow jerked and pierced deeper into the snake's head driven like a nail by the jutsu. It was now scratching the big bitch's brain. She held up a single seal, (mostly for style) and activated Secret Fires and Body Flicker. She vanished out of range of the snake as the arrow emitted a stream of flame from its tip. Ordinarily it would be 9 meters long and 1 wide. But as her arrow was piercing through the snake's skull the flames entered its brain cavity, and mostly stayed there. A brain is a small, wet little thing, and suddenly being exposed to a blast of fire that could cause 1st degree burns shriveled and burned it to a crisp. A small spurt of flame erupted from the top of the snake's head, along with a column of odd smelling smoke.

Her Body Flicker took her up to Ryojin, who she pulled away from the creature as the arrow let out its breath of fire, protecting him as best as she could. It had no brain left to thrash with, but best to make sure.

It took a moment for Ryojin to completely realize what had happened. Mikomi had kill shot the snake so that the mission was technically a success. Ryojin had for the first time witnessed a shinobi give up a mission. He tucked that away for later. Truth be told, he wasn't excited about what they had to do either, but he had received an order. The order was simple enough. They had made their bed and now each of them would have to sleep in it. After a few moments, Ryojin made it over to the eggs. It would've been convenient if there were three of them to simply work together to move them, but in this case? Now it wasn't. Ryojin simply stood by the eggs. Soon, they would all five freeze. He bit his own lip. What a waste. These creatures weren't the most common around, but they posed a big enough threat that they couldn't afford waiting with no idea when these eggs were laid. "The deed is done."

Ryojin didn't give it another thought, truth be told it had put him in quite a sour mood. He walked back toward the village. "Until next time Mikomi Uchiha." With that, he himself used body flicker to head back off on his own way.

Mikomi felt a pang of sadness as she looked at the eggs. Then looked over to Ryojin with a small smile, "Take care of yourself ice boy." he vanished, and Mikomi was left alone in the nest. She sighed, it was senseless. Perhaps there was a way they could have saved the eggs, or the mother. But they had moved too quickly. And Cure, she would have to give some serious thought to that situation. Threatening a fellow Sun shinobi as well as a Moon shinobi. That could have started a war. Hell it may start one anyway. Though if Ryojin didn't say anything then...

Mikomi walked slowly back toward the Moon. Leaving the nest behind. Something had changed here today, she couldn't tell exactly what yet.