[Mission] Venom

[Mendokuse]

Ohaku, a Leaf Chuunin, had never really stood out in the Hokage's eye. A bit lazy, a bit of an underachiever...When he was recommended for this important mission, it seemed crazy.

"But Eiko, this is really quite important. You could lose your arm. Why trust such an important mission to him?" he asked Eiko, the beautiful brunette who now lay stricken in a hospital bed.

She glared at him with a look that said "I know what I'm doing" for a moment, and when he defiantly stared back, she reached under her blanket and pulled out a report with Ohaku's picture on it.

"Even though I'm in bed, I'm still working hard. I researched him myself. I trust him. And besides, he's a perfect candidate. If I can trust him with my arm, you should trust me for having that much faith."

- - -

The letter arrived at about noon. Ohaku was supposed to have the day off, but it seemed a special request had come to him in the form of a scroll, dropped in his hands by a trained bird. Within it, the letter read:

Ohaku. You have been hand-selected to perform a most important task that could mean life or death. In the forest of death, which you may be familiar with, there is a species of centipede with red markings on it torso and head. It contains a venom which can cause blood clots in the extremities. Until now, we never knew this species existed and thus, we are ill equipped to counter the poison. Your task today is to find a live sample of this species and return it to the medical team before midnight.
Good luck.

The forest of death looked the same as always. Two guards in little make shift huts every few hundred feet allowed people into the forest to train - in Ohaku's case, two fellow chuunin whose task was to guard the forest had been informed and waved him through.

Within the forest it was somewhat murky. The light and warmth didn't extend into the forst, even this close to its edge. The trees grew tall and close together and the footing could be treacherous to one who paid little attention.

The path into the forest was straight forward enough...it was up to Ohaku to take the first step and make his way into the forest.

((OOC: Just post the action of searching high and low for the centipede, based on how effective i feel your search is you'll get "hot" or "cold" etc until you find it. Pretty standard stuff, just wing the descriptions and I'll reinforce them.))

[Sabre]

Sitting on the roof of his house, Ohaku looked out over the village. His normal daily nap was cut short, as he needed some fresh air. Today was a free day, and he could run wild and do whatever the hell he wanted. But instead of going crazy, he decided to take a short nap then look over the village. He was sitting with both legs stretched out, and his arms supported his leaning back. It was nice...but not for long. As soon as he shut his eyes, he heard a bird. Opening his eyes, he saw a messenger bird. Taking the letter, the bird was soon up. He lazily opened it and read the contents.

Since when am I trusted for important missions... Though he was a chunin, Ohaku was quite known around to be the laziest person that exists in this country of Konoha. But since he was being asked to do this, he had to go out and be the hero. With one lazy sigh he was off to go to the Forest of Death. He kept the letter to make sure that once he caught this little critter and saved the obviously in distress person who wasn't told about, then to ask questions. That was the game plan...but one problem...he had to find a centipede. A centipede in a forest, very hard. Plus too the description wasn't anything to brag about, so he was altogether pissed. And noon to midnight was a hard time length to get through the place. When he reached the forest, he got ready. To counter heat he took off his shirt and only left his robes, pants, and shoes on. After preparing his sword, he looked to the entrance. Just to get to the forest quicker, he started a steady jog sideways in the forest, then slowed down as he got in.

Sighing he really wished they would tell him how deep in that the person who got bit was bitten at. So he started a walk on the ground levels, looking back and forth for the red markings and the centipede.

[Mendokuse]

After several miles, which didn't take too long due to the chuunin's speed, the forest began to darken and the trees, he could see, were growing closer together, their branches converging and criss-crossing at various angles. Chirps, clicks, and haunting calls could be heard in the still air; some distant, some disturbingly close.

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the brush from Ohaku's right. Looking over, he could just catch the final twitching of the branches and large, dark-green leaves, as if something had either entered or left the cover of the plant.

The forest sounds grew silent again. How would Ohaku prepare for, and react to, this potential threat?

[Sabre]

As Ohaku progressed through the Forest of Fun he inspected every plant corner, tree, and underbrush. The outside area wasn't much help as there were many spread out trees and he was on one unused path. His eyes peered out and looked over the land t try and find this centipede he needed to capture. So he kept at it.

After much walking Ohaku soon looked up. Deep in the belly of the beast, the leaf chunnin inspected the area. He picked up a big stick and moved plants aside to get a view of the ground. Just as he was ready to move on, he heard a noise. As he looked over there the bush had stopped moving and hings went quiet again. Whatever it was either entered or left in a hurry. Knowing he had to do it, he put the stick out and moved the brush to give him a peek in. Whatever it was would or wouldn't bring itself out now.

[Mendokuse]

As Ohaku moved the branches to the side, causing them to rattle with a rough sound of scraping leaves, a small creature jumped out of the brush....and hopped away. Just a rabbit. However the rabit was evidently bleeding. Small spots of redness were left behind as it hopped away in a straight path, as if trying to flee something. A few meteres away, the little rabbit inexplicably collapsed in a heap, squeaked once, and was still.

[Sabre]

Expecting some kind of giant beast, when the little bunny hopped out, Ohaku was a little disappointed. But he was also relieved that he didn't need to fight any demonic or towering sized beast. As the little critter was hopping, he noticed it was either bleeding...or it was a bunny going to a ritual ceremony. The chunnin was bored so he wanted to see what this ritual was like. That was a plan until the bunny collapsed. Looking over it, he noticed it was bloody. The red marks left behind it were probably from the dripping blood. Looking back to the brush, Ohaku thought outloud.

"Lesse, that centipede thing must be poisonous and...Bah what do I care I'm gonna have to check that bush thing anyway." Gathering up courage, Ohaku walked over to where the bunny emerged from, and stuck his hands in it. Then, he opened it up to get a full up close view inside.

[Mendokuse]

Within the bush there was nothing but the evidence of the rabbit's demise; a few specks of dark blood on the ground that were barely noticeable in the shade created by the thick green leaves. The specks of blood seemed to lead in the opposite direction from where the rabbit had been heading, and the path was quite straight forward. It was likely to be Ohaku's best lead.

[Sabre]

Examining the dense brush, not much was there other than the bloodstains from the poor rabbit. Taking out his blade, he cut out the other branches and such to get a better look of the ground. He needed a good sight of any evidence of the thing that attacked him. If this was the same critter that attacked the person in need, he needed any lead he could take. So as he spotted at the ground for anything, a new path of blood was going the opposite way. If the rabbit put up a fight, then that was the creature running.

Taking one last look around, Ohaku got up, and started to follow the blood trail to wherever it lead to.

[Zangy]

(OOC: Mendo timed out. You passed. <o/)