[mission] Dog Eat Dog

[Quinton Rizzer]

While not the best in the world, the hospital in Konoha was a notable one. Next to the Hokage monument and the Hokage's office, it was the most recognizable structure in the village. Anyone who checks in is almost comletely sure to have a clean bill of health when they leave. Of course, this is not enough of a reason for people to be excited when they have to stay there for a few days. Such is the case of Osaki Shinhai, the owner of the flower shop, and the client of your Senju Bensha's mission.

Today, he is to meet the man in his hospital room in the intensive care wing in order to get the details of the mission. Most people who are housed there are bandaged from head to toe, covering healing wounds and any orifices that might potentially put an infection of some sort into the atmosphere. Shinhai would be the only one in his room, as well as the only one in the wing with only his chest and arms wrapped. His room number read "123" and his dignostics board read that he had contracted rabies and was on medication to rid his body of it. He would be hospitalized for some time and would need to stay on the medication after returning home.

This all was information only meant for the attending nurses, but anyone who knew it would understand the reasoning behind his horrid demeanor.

[7eleven]

Bensha was told to show up at hospital room prior to starting his assignment in order to get more information on the dogs that had attacked the villagers. He walked into the room, giving the injured man an apologetic smile and wave. "Hey, there. I was sent to take care of the dogs that attacked you, and was wondering if you'd be able to give me any information on them."

[Quinton Rizzer]

The man opened his eyes and looked at the boy, agitated that the Hokage was obviously not taking this seriously. If he, a grown man, had been mauled by these animals, there was nothing for a child to do but get hurt. His distaste was apparent from the moment his eyes met the genin's. The words that came seemed to be spat at the young shinobi.

"What do you want to know? There's three of them; they're strays. They mauled me. If the hokage isn't taking this seriously, maybe we should get one that will protect the village better. If he can't even send an appropriate force to kill those damned dogs, how can we expect him to know who to send to protect us from other villages?"

Iritated, the man rolled over on his side, away from the shinobi. He was apparently not in the mood to give information to someone that was too young to take on this mission, and would most likely get hurt in the process. The shinobi would not likely recieve any more information from the gentleman than what he already had, but luckily, he had been given enough of a debriefing to tell him where the problem was located; the alley behind the man's flower shop.

[7eleven]

Bensha, slightly confused at the man's anger, simply left the room without a word. Anything he said would have just been twisted to fit the man's displeasure. He headed back out to the street, and towards the flower shop where the attack took place. This man obviously doesn't understand the difference between a civilian flower shop owner, and a shinobi. But, whatever, man. I'm not gonna argue, I'm just gonna go fix the problem.

[Quinton Rizzer]

When Bensha arrived to the flower shop, he would hear the rattle of cans in the alley behind. Just across the alleyway was a meat shop, the apparent reason why strays tended to haunt the flower shop. In the alleyway, he would find the three suspect dogs, looking starved and foaming at the mouth over the bad meat they had found in the trash. This was the reason they were so quick to attack the shop keeper, they were rabid and sought meat. Even at that time, the dogs had retained enough control from their hunger to not devour human flesh, but it seems as though they were well past that point now, as the young shinobi would soon find out.

[7eleven]

Bensha didn't waste any time. Once he saw the dogs, he knew it was eat or be eaten. He wasn't much for full frontal violence, but that didn't really apply much to a small group of rabid dogs. Sure, he could take the time to contemplate strategy when fighting his peers, but this was much, much different. He immediately drew a kunai from his belt loop and tossed it towards the dogs at the ground. He didn't throw it, merely tossed it a few feet from the dogs. If they inspected the piece of metal, Bensha would seal and activate the explosion. If they charged him, he would seal and activate the explosion as they passed it.

[Quinton Rizzer]

The toss of the kunai alerted the dogs to Bensha's presence. They jumped away from the kunai on instinct. It took a second but the lead decided to inspect it to see if it was food.The alpha male approached, his body little more than a skin sack that held the bones together. The group was so hungry that the prospect of the kunai being food was something worth investigating. All the nature loving shinobi had to do was activate the exploding tag and it would end the life of the alpha male, leaving only two dogs left to face.

[7eleven]

And Bensha did just that. He made the single hand seal that sat off the two exploding tags on his kunai, triggering the explosion that would send the dog up in blazes. In it's poor state, hopefully, it won't suffer much...I really hate seeing others in pain. It has to be done, though. Can't have these dogs running around hurting people. Then, in one fluid motion, he chucked another kunai through the smoke at where one of the other dogs had been with his right hand, and drew one of his daggers with his left.

[Quinton Rizzer]

As Bensha had hoped, the Alpha male did not suffer much, the concussive force of two explosive tags instantly taking the weakened animal's life. The two other dogs would not be such easy targets. As soon as the explosion occurred, they jumped backward, simple instinct to avoid the danger. They were loudly barking and drawing attention to the alley. The kunai stuck in the ground where the two had been, causing them to jump back even further. Bensha needed to choose his next move carefully for multiple reasons, which he should know as a shinobi.

First, much more noise would more than likely cause one of the villagers to come and investigate, placing them in danger. Second, if he scared the dogs away, he'd lose them, and they would still come back or get food elsewhere in the village. His next move needed to be precise, otherwise he'd run the risk of becomeing dangerously close to failing his mission.

[7eleven]

Bensha performed a string of handseals and caused a patch of grass to sprout up around him. He then began backing away very, very slowly, signing as he did so. He would hope that the pair would register his backing off as a sign of weakness, and charge at him. If his bait worked, however, he'd turn the patch of grass into razor sharp needles as they passed over it and launch them at the dogs' underbellies. In their diseased and hunger-stricken state, this would hopefully either kill them or incapacitate them enough for Bensha to dispatch them with his dagger.

JutsuShow

Kusa Soushi [Grass Creation]
D-ranked Ninjutsu
A technique that Bensha can only perform while touching the ground, he'll flow chakra through the ground, causing grass to spring up and cover a 10 foot radius around Bensha. If he's fighting on sand, this area is limited to a 6 foot radius. If he's fighting on rock or concrete, this jutsu cannot be used.

Rezakusa [Razor Grass]
C-ranked Ninjutsu
While Bensha is in contact with ground that's covered in grass (or other small plants), he can flow his chakra through the ground and cause a 4 square foot area of grass to become razor sharp. The grass then launches itself at the opponent, much like a senbon. and can travel about 15 feet before turning back into normal grass. The patch of grass must be no more than 25 feet from Bensha.

[Quinton Rizzer]

Bensha's interactions with nature aided his instincts, allowing him to guess accurately how the dogs would react. As soon as he started to back down, the hunger of the beasts kicked in, along with the anger of their leader being killed. They darted through the grass, not thinking a thing about it until it was too late. The grass senbons penetrated the malnourished bodies of the dogs and slowed them. They would eventually die, but none of the grass had managed to penetrate vital points on the body, so the animals would bleed out slowly and painfully. Both keeled over on their sides and laid there, whimpering and crying from the pain and hunger. Surely, to anyone who loves nature, this was a sight that would take effort to force back tears.

[7eleven]

Bensha, disheartened by the fact that he not only killed one and mortally wounded two animals, but by the task that lay ahead of him. He couldn't just leave them to simply bleed out in the alley, so he took the dagger that was in his hand, and pushed it sharply into the throat of each dog, ending their lives quickly and ending their pain. It was sad, really, the fact that the three had to be killed, but it was for the best. They were rabid, and would do anything to get a piece of food, even if it meant tearing the flesh off of another living thing.

There wasn't much he could do with the bodies, however, and he decided that he'd head swiftly to the hospital and inform the man that had requested the mission that the deed had been done. Afterwards, the village would probably take care of the bodies.

[Quinton Rizzer]

[fin]