[Graded][PB Part 1.]Two Birds And One Stone

[The Legend Excalibur]

Vale would be lying if he said he weren't the slightest bit nervous. Today would be his first official mission as a shinobi of Iwagakure, and he was eager to please. Not only was representing the village, but also his clan, and to a more personal extent, his parents. He was their first child, and if he were able to impress on this mission, it'd be a source of pride for the two. If he were to fail... well, shame isn't always the worst thing to experience as an Akari.

According to the mission document, he was supposed to investigate reports of a wild animal vandalizing local farmer crops, destroying valuable seeds and stock. If he were to find the animal, he should take the proper measure to eliminate it. Ranked as a C-Rank assignment, Vale was a bit surprised it was given to him, considering how green he was. Usually this type of thing would be given to a Genin with at least a year or so more of D-Ranks missions, so for him to get it being only a few months from the Academy, was a big deal.

The early hours of his morning were spent preparing his mission gear, which consisted of 3 Kunai, in addition to his normal kit of steel wire and shuriken. He had a small ration pack made as well, since this type of mission shouldn't take more than a day to complete, and was within an hour's walk of the village.

With that done and following a light breakfast of eggs and toast, he let his parents know he was heading out, departing on their wishes of luck to him. Once outside, he would take a few moments to stretch, before leaping to the top of the nearest building, and preceding to head towards the southern gates.

In transit, he wondered about who his team leader would be. The document mention that it would be a two-man mission, with the other person being a Jounin supervisor. Even if it did surprise Vale, it made sense. Even if they had given him a C-Rank, he had doubts they'd entrust him to complete it alone. That may have been putting too much faith in him.

He arrived soon at the gate, and idly waited against the wall of a building for the other half of his team's arrival. "I wonder who it could be..

[Kao]

The more he thought about it, the more Kotaru wondered why he had agreed to take this mission. As a jounin his options for work were nearly unlimited, and as a genjutsu specialist - a rarity in Iwagakure - he had received quite a few requests for his skills. However, despite the fact that he had proven his strength on several occasions, it still seemed that some of his peers still harbored doubts about his capabilities as a leader. His friends, being sixteen and seventeen years old, were more readily accepted as elites. But the fact that Kotaru was a child who had risen from genin to jounin in slightly less than a year and had turned fourteen a few days after his final promotion seemed to give some around him pause. There were plenty of people who still wanted him to prove that he was more than just an amazingly skilled kid.

His adopted parents were two of those people. They were proud of him, sure, but they thought - especially his 'father,' - that his demeanor wasn't suitable for a jounin. Kotaru had been promoted too quickly, his adopted father had said, simply because of his jutsu prowess. The man had all but forced Kotaru to take on this mission to supervise a genin, and though he complained and practically screamed his displeasure, the young Akari eventually caved and had taken the mission anyway. 'This is stupid, he thought bitterly as he kicked a loose rock, 'I outrank him. I could technically give him missions.'

Teenage angst and rebellion wasn't the only reason Kotaru didn't want to take the mission. His orders had been very detailed, and when he saw the name of the genin he was to supervise he had nearly ripped the papers to shreds. It was that kid, Vale, the one who had rubbed the jounin completely the wrong way, the same kid to whom he supposedly owed an apology. "Fuckin' Tatsuo. Apology my ass," he scoffed as the meeting place came into view. Vale was already there waiting, and after heaving a soft sigh Kotaru approached him.

"Well, well, if it isn't Vale." The boy somehow managed to keep his expression rather neutral, but a sharp sneer was evident in his tone. "Must be your lucky day to be assigned to work under me."

[The Legend Excalibur]

The pure shock that he experienced was too sudden to hide, his eyes widening in recognition as he saw Kotaru approach. Out of the literal hundreds of Jounin that could have been chosen, the one person he'd rather have never met again was selected. Why? He ran through the possibilities in his mind, as he attempted to compose his expression into something less... rude.

Maybe this was more so a test for Kotaru, to see if he possessed the leading qualities necessary to be a Jounin? Or maybe they were trying to inspire inspire Vale, by showing him what a prodigy, both ninja and Akari, looked like. Whatever the point was, it most likely wouldn't translate due to their brief history.

Taking a deep breathe, he formed the mask that he had learned to wear for others, a respectful and neutral expression and tone that shouldn't cause any problems. "Kotaru-san, you're well, I hope." He could just barely hold back a eye roll at hearing the slightly older Jounin's tone. "I assume you're going to be the supervisor for my mission?" He didn't bother to reply to his remark.

[Kao]

Kotaru had expected some sort of reaction from the genin: a frown, a clenched fist, or even some sort of snappy retort. But other than the boy's eyes widening a bit, he was as impassive as ever. It irked Kotaru so much that his eye twitched as he reached into his jacket and snapped open a small folder. "Yep," he responded with a bit of an edge to his voice as he fanned himself with the folder, "but I can't figure out why they gave you this mission."

He lowered his eyes to the folder and opened it, revealing Vale's profile. He had requested it after finding out who he would be supervising and had wondered what kind of skills the genin possessed that would lead the higher ups to assign such a difficult mission. "Fresh out of the academy - only graduated a few months ago. Not registered in any teams. It says here you show skill in taijutsu. Never lost a spar in your class?" He gave Vale a brief, piercing look and added, "A bit hard to believe, but we'll see. Other than a few praises about that it doesn't say much about your other skills, so I have no fuckin' clue why you were assigned to this."

Kotaru closed the file and stared at the genin. He wasn't at all impressed by what he saw and could see no reason for such a fresh genin to be assigned a mission that should have been given to a chuunin or two. The jounin was in no hurry to start their mission. He had an idea about what they were in for, but he needed to know just how much he would probably have to intervene in order to keep Vale alive. "Enlighten me. What do you have up your sleeve that would convince someone to give you such a huge opportunity to prove yourself?

[The Legend Excalibur]

Now that was the question, wasn't it? Why had they picked him in place of a shinobi with more experience? What his file said was mostly accurate. He did demonstrate a innate talent for taijutsu, and he was stronger than most people his age, present company excluded. But as a Akari with a phasmashiin, those traits actually weren't that uncommon. Other that, their admittedly wasn't much. His ninjutsu weren't as good as his physical attributes, but he was by his own admission pretty smart and sociable, when he wanted to be.

"I'm... not sure, actually. My skills are mostly in line for what's expected of an Akari, even if they are above what an average Genin could do." He started. "But maybe the higher ups see something that neither of us don't? Maybe they're trying to recreate the prodigious talent that happened in you, with me. It could be any number of reasons, really."

The longer he talked to Kotaru, the harder it was for him to maintain his mask of politeness and neutrality. The faster they could finish this assignment, and split away, the better. "If you don't mind, Kotaru-san, we could depart now and finish your questions on the way to the site.

[Kao]

"I do mind," he spat shortly before folding Vale's file and putting it away. Kotaru of all people knew what it was like to be thrust into missions he wasn't ready for and being faced with injury and close calls. His genin days weren't that far behind him, and looking back he knew that he probably should not have been allowed to tag along with his friends on their missions. The boy had always been grossly underprepared and had he not been grouped with people significantly stronger than him, he wouldn't be standing there that day.

"I don't personally care if you get maimed or slaughtered, but it won't look good for me if something happens. So, I gotta know what you can actually do before we leave." The jounin punctuated his statement with a hard glare; there was nothing special about Vale as far as he could tell, and the realization made him more and more agitated. Whoever assigned this mission needed a beating. "But it looks like there's not much to you besides what's written down on paper. Since you seem to just be an average genin that can sorta punch out other average genin, you'll most likely need me to keep your weak ass alive."

With an irritable huff he added, "Come on then," and led Vale to the gates. Kotaru handed them the proper paperwork and the guards stepped forward and used chakra to reveal a small opening into the wall. It took them several minutes to get through the mile thick wall and to the other side, and the entire way Kotaru was silent. He was a hostile kid who usually didn't get along well with others, but when it came to missions he took his job seriously. It was a difficult feat, but he during missions he tried to be less...abrasive.

Once the wall closed behind them, the boys were faced with the harsh landscape that was Rock Country. The land was not at all merciful to those who weren't prepared, but Kotaru knew the lay of the land around the village rather well. Crossing his arms, he turned to face Vale; his expression was locked in a deep frown. He thought of what Tatsuo would say...then decided to go with almost the complete opposite. "I only wanna say this once. I'm here to supervise you and provide backup when needed. Understand? This is your mission and I'm not doing your work for you. For whatever reason they're giving you the opportunity to prove yourself, so don't fuck up." He took a step back and motioned toward the expanse that waited before them. "Lead the way."

[The Legend Excalibur]

For whatever reason, Vale felt more... comforted(?), in the fact that Kotaru was essentially taking a back seat to the mission, and was letting him take charge. He'd thought that the since it was Kotaru, he would try to takeover completely. Listening to his tone, let alone following his orders, was something that'd take more effort than carrying out the assignment itself.

Though Kotaru had motioned for him to begin leading, Vale instead went into his pack, and took out a multi=page folded map of Iwa, showing different things, like roads, elevation, vegetation, and village locations. He'd looked over it the night before to be sure of where he was heading. The village, Moshi, was a local quarrytown, meaning it provided valuable building material to the surrounding populations, the most important obviously being Iwagakure. It also served as a stop gap for imports such as grains, livestock, and other resources that weren't readily available this far into the country.

The mission description read like some kind of beast had been recently tearing into the stores for the food resources, which itself was pretty bad. If those were disrupted, it'd affect the quarry, and thus the village. From reports on the damage, the animal seemed to be quite large in size, and possess some kind of claws or tusks, capable of ripping apart wooden structures.

Vale idly wondered to himself what it could be... some kind of bear? Mountain lion? Hmm... In any case, any guess at this point would remain that, a guess. They'd need to see the scene first hand to do a proper investigation. With the quickest path to the village marked out, a few hours walk from Iwa, Vale put away the maps and nodded to Kotaru, and began walking.

For the most part of their walk, he remained quiet, not really wanting to trigger Kotaru's ire for him, nor did he really want to talk to the Jounin at all.

[Kao]

Traveling to the small neighboring village took much longer than expected. If Kotaru had taken the lead, they would have ran the entire way there, not wasting any time. But with Vale holding the reigns he resigned himself to walk at what he felt was a snail's pace. The two boys walked in tense silence, with the older of the two allowing his mind to wander as he took in the sights of the country. Tall pines towered above them at times, and at other times there was nothing but dry and rocky barren land.

Eventually they made it to the village. Small but bustling, the villagers went about their business without giving the boys much attention. After all, they were used to Iwagakure shinobi coming in and out of the village. Kotaru looked around, boredom etched deeply into his expression after their long and leisurely walk, looking for the signs of the beast's unwanted 'visits' to the village. It didn't take long for them to find the damaged areas, taped off to deter anyone from snooping around, and villagers were already busy with repairs and replenishing supplies. They seemed to be moving slowly, perhaps for fear that their progress would be thwarted by another attack. That had happened thrice already, and the villagers were becoming both irritated and distraught by the continuous onslaught.

Kotaru looked to Vale, curious how he would handle the situation. He'd have to identify himself, of course, and seek someone in charge so that he could further assess the situation. Or he could immediately begin to search for the beast in question, though he wouldn't have much information to go on without talking to someone first. The jounin kept his advice to himself for now and instead folded his arms, waiting for Vale to begin his own investigation.

[The Legend Excalibur]

There was something different in reading reports, versus seeing the actual damage firsthand. There was something personal about the experience. The tense feeling in the air, the sense of anxiety... it could be disheartening, to some. But not to Vale. He walked closer towards the damaged sites, wanting to get a better look at them. It looked as if a stampede of boars or oxen had rampaged through the places, leaving the formerly sturdy wooden and stone buildings as little more than kindling for a fire. Looking towards the ground, there was a mass of prints imprinted in it, some resembling animal, while other clearly human, though the later was most likely from the workers. Salt, grain, dried meat and herbs, lie shredded, there was no recovering them. "This is worse than I could have imagined. We'll need to get to work immediately. But where to..."

"Aaargh!" A shout of pain rang out across the area, drawing Vale's attention. A laborer, reaching into his later years if his graying hair was any indication, had dropped the logs he'd been carrying, and now held his back in pain. "Here, let me help you with that." Without hesitation, Vale had gone over and collected the logs, which were indeed heavy, but for him, whose daily schedule consisted of no less than three sessions of physical training, he handled with ease.

"Ah... thank ye, young man..." The older man at Vale, and his eyes widened as he noticed the Iwa metal plate sown onto the shoulder of his jacket. "I..I mean, shinobi-san." He quickly fixed.

This was actually the first time Vale had been referred to in such a way. It wasn't somewhat odd, being talked to in such a formal way. Using he was the one speaking respectfully. "No problem, sir. My name's Vale by the way. Me and my comrade he gestured towards Kotaru, "were sent to investigate the beast troubles your town has been having."

[Kao]

Kotaru watched the genin closely, taking note of how he responded to seeing the small village in such a state. It was important for the genin to know how to handle disasters, no matter how small; after all, one day he would likely face actual carnage. This damage was nothing compared to seeing the dead strewn about haphazardly or stopping a murderous rogue. So far it seemed like Vale was handling himself well. Vale was able to remain calm - at least on the surface - and showed no signs of stress despite the scene in front of him. Kotaru took note of that particularly, seeing it as a desirable trait in anyone who wanted to move up in the ranks. Although Vale seemed cool and collected in the moment, Kotaru was certain things would be shaken up once they met the beast itself.

The jounin hung back and watched Vale assist a man, responding to the subpar introduction with a small nod, but even as he observed the genin he kept his eyes and ears open. There was no telling when the beast would return, and if it didn't come back anytime soon then the two boys would have to pursue it. Vale was doing okay so far but the jounin didn't want to waste too much time. With that in mind, Kotaru stepped forward. "If you could tell us more about the beast - its appearance, apparent strengths, and the direction it comes and goes, we can hurry up and destroy it."

[The Legend Excalibur]

”Oh... ah, ye see...” The man took on a more hesitant and nervous tone at Kotaru’s line of questions. He fidgeted slightly, and rubbed his neck in a way that displayed anxiety. Vale noticed all these traits, and wondered idly what his problem was. ”We, ah, don’t actually knownany of that. It’s attacks are bi-weekly, and it usually comes at night. The people here aren’t fighters, so when the noises come we hole up inside and hope to the spirits that it doesn’t come to us...”

Ah, so that was why. Vale understood why he was reacting this way, if partially. To admit you and your village was scared was one thing. To admit it to two shinobi, who, if stories about them were to be believed, looked down on cowardice, was another. It also didn’t help that theh lacked any useful information for the him and Kotaru to go on. ”Must’ve been a bad experience. Vale finally spoke, after setting the logs down in a pile.

After the man scrapped together a meek thanks for help and an apology for not knowing more, Vale turned his attention towards one of the sites, walking over. If the villagers didn’t know anything, then he would have to rely on the environment to tell what it knew. Kneeling, he examined the tracks left in the dirt once more. The prints of the people were light, able to be dusted away without a trace with a few brushes. The animal prints, however, were deep. Imprinted.the beast had some weight to it. The haphazardness of the prints also implied it was violent and tempermental.

”The beast is certainly a big one. Strong to, if the damage was all done by one of them. Prints are in the shape of hooves, so it can’t be a bear, or mountain lion.... maybe sole mad oxen?” He was speaking to himself, but spoke aloud for Kotaru’s benefit, so that the Jounin could hear his assessment, and maybe add to it.

[Kao]

A look of disgust crossed Kotaru's face when the villager explained that he had no useful information. He at least thought the villagers would have seen the beast that was wrecking their buildings and ransacking their wares, but it seemed that these people were essentially helpless cowards. Kotaru knew that things were different for people who lived outside of Iwagakure, but to see people who knew and did nothing agitated the boy who had a job that needed to be done. As Vale walked away to inspect the site, Kotaru levied a heavy glare at the man. But instead of berating the man - something he would have normally done without a second thought - he bit the inside of his cheek to keep the harsh words from spilling out. But he did utter a, "Pathetic," before following Vale.

Kotaru stopped near Vale just as he began his assessment. The younger shinobi was correct in his observations, but Kotaru was becoming impatient and started tapping the sheathed dagger that hung at his hip. Besides the prints and the heavy damage they had nothing to go on. If they took the villager's word, it was likely that no one actually saw what was attacking them or where it even came from. They would have to follow the prints and hope that whatever they found at the end of the trail was the culprit. It was easier said than done, however. The prints were all over the village and there had even been a few prints here and there in the direction from which they entered the village. it was difficult to tell which which way the beasts finally left.

"No one is dead so the thing isn't that dangerous. It's after food, not people, at least." Kotaru paused and added, "Hooves means it's most likely a herbivore. Omnivorous at worst. We should -"

"Excuse me."

Kotaru turned to look behind him, his gaze dropping down when he didn't see anyone immediately. A small child, around eight or nine, peered up at him with deep brown eyes. "All the grown ups hid when the monsters came, but when mommy wasn't looking I peeked." He child turned to point at the eastern edge of the village, and sure enough there were animal prints leading in and out. "It went all around the village but when it left it went that way."

Kotaru turned toward Vale, and even though he had told the genin to take the lead he hadn't decided to leave ever decision to the younger genin. He was doing well but it wouldn't hurt to be pushier at times to make sure they were going in the right direction. "Let's go then."

[The Legend Excalibur]

Though he would've liked to stay longer and get a more clear picture of what they were dealing with, Vale realized that time was wasting away. It'd taken the better half of the day to the reach he village, and now daylight would be on the decline. Any decent hunter could tell you it'd be a bad idea to track a predator on their own turf during nightfall. It was suicide.

Standing up, he dusted his pants off, and smiled warmly at the child. "That was certainly brave of you, but try not to do it again, alright? he said, before turning to Kotaru, the smile gone. "If it did go that way, then it should be fairly easy to track. All the power will have left quite a large mess."

Rolling his shoulder to prepare for his next movement, he leapt at a high speed towards the path. To the villagers, it'd look like he flickered away, but for Kotaru, no doubt he was easy to trace with his eyes. The destruction created in the wake of the beast's departure was evident, enough that the two wouldn't need to wast anymore time walking, but instead could sprint their way forward.