Trouble at the Circus? The Elephants are Stampeding!? [Event Mission. A-Rank.] [Open]

Mission:

It was the last night of the circus, and Karu was finally getting a chance to actually see it. He'd gotten lost with spoiling Coen a bit, to the point that they hadn't actually be out since they helped set up. After the little discovery of Coen's new ability, Karu had been feeding him his favorite treats and taking him to the parks all over town, letting him play and work on his vocalizing. He was learning amazingly fast, to the point that he'd picked up two new words in less than a week. That didn't seem like much compared to a human baby, but all things considered, it was amazing. He'd videotaped a dozen different examples of Coen speaking, documented on paper 5 dozen more, and he was ready to make his move when Coen went in for his bi-weekly check up that coming weekend. Everything was falling into place, it seemed; and he wasn't about to let the streak end. So they'd gotten their tickets and shown up nice and early; there was a small carnival type event going on before the main events happened; stuff like petting zoos and small rides for the younger kids, booths with food and games and merchandise for the older kids and adults. Coen was hopping along next to him, head snapping around while he tried to take in all the sights and sounds. His large ears looks like radar dishes, swiveling and turning rapidly over every little sound. Karu was holding one of Coen's paws like a father would hold his son's hand, Coen was acting more like a human child the more Karukaya let him out to explore and grow. All the more proof he needed to convince the center to let him keep Coen forever. Better Coen was with him than alone for the rest of his life, after all.

Coen tugged on his hand and pointed toward a game booth, it was one of those 'throw the ring onto the bottle' type games, and Coen wanted to try it out. He was burbling happily, trying to sound out the word 'play'. Words with a lot of soft vowels where easier, but still a challenge for him. His muzzle and throat weren't shaped for human speech, so he had to try that much harder to figure out how to make certain sounds together. It was more a problem with hard consonants and verbal stops, but he was trying hard and picking it up slowly. Even if he couldn't ever speak 'normally', that he could speak at all was a massive step forward, and cemented how special the joey was in Karukaya's mind. "Alright, you can try it." Coen squealed for joy, rushing off to the little line that had formed to buy the rings to throw. He even had a little money pouch around his waist, he'd all but demanded that he got to have one, he wanted to be like Karu, and Karu carried coins with him. He didn't really understand money all that well, but he didn't care. He wanted to do it himself. Hell, he was more patient that the kids in line, the moment he was in the queue they where losing their minds over him. Coen wasn't even afraid, he just patiently waited his turn while Karu smiled on. Such a good boy, that 'roo was. He reached the game attendant and handed over a little pile of coins, thankfully the right amount, nearly. A tad to much, but not extremely so. The attendant looked over to Karu with a smirk, it was one of the guys that he'd worked with taking the tents down and putting them back up, so he understood Coen and was more than happy to give him the rings. He even showed him what to do, the same as he would have any other kid. Coen was just exploding with joy over this, watching intently as the demonstration was made, then copying it almost perfectly. Oh, he missed the first throw; there was no chance he'd get that. The games where rigged, everyone knew that; but Coen had an advantage over most kids. The way his vision worked meant he was able to see the game better, and he could angle his throw correctly to catch the edge of the bottle and have it hold the ring. He'd bought three rings, and his second toss was very, very close. It circled, but eventually fell off. His third throw? Right on the money, it caught the lip of the bottle and fall right over it; a perfect shot that would make and ninja proud.

Heaven knew Karukaya was.

The kids surrounding him exploded into cheers and giggles, and Coen was laughing and clapping right along with them. The attendant was happy too, the kids and their parents where pony'ing up to throw money at him so they could get their chance; all while he used the special grabbing stick they used to get the prizes down; he was going for one of the bigger prizes to give to Coen. Better publicity if he handed over a big prize than some small trinket out of the small box. He reached for, funnily enough, a kangaroo plushie, nearly as big as Coen was himself. Coen was perfectly happy with this; the toy was the same color he was, only it had brightly colored tufts of hair on it's tail and a head, and a ridge of brightness down it's back. Not the best representation of a proper kangaroo, but it was a toy. It was meant to be fanciful and bright and epic. It was perfect. Coen hopped back to Karu and about leaped into his arms; hugging onto him tightly like he used to when he was younger. "I do good?"

Holyfuck, that was an actual sentence.

"You did great, Coen. Amazing job. I couldn't have made that shot with three rings. What do you wanna do now, hm?"

"Thirsty! Drink?"

"Let's get some lemonade, then see the elephants, yeah?"

"Big! Big!"

"Alright, let' go.~"

"Yay!"

WC: 1065/900

Str C0-C3: 165/1500

”Alright, alright. I'm coming. I just had one last paper to sign.”, Temaki said to Blast as she stood up from her desk: the wolf was all but jumping in place – and likely would have been doing exactly that had his large size not meant he would have jumped straight through her ceiling. He had done that once, and no one had been happy about it save for Temaki who had thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Temaki glanced over to the kage robes and hat that hung from a peg and shuddered; she had had to use them earlier for a formal meeting and was definitely glad to be out of them. Temaki crossed the large office as she pushed her nearly floor length blue braids back and off of her shoulders, flicked the lights off, and then stepped out after Blast who was all for leading the way. She shut the door behind herself and locked it before giving a nod to her secretary. ”See ya tomorrow.”

”Heading to the circus?”, her secretary asked: the woman was far too used to Temaki hating any sort of formality when it was not absolutely needed.

Temaki nodded with a grin. ”Aye.”

”Come on, Tem! I wanna go before they run out of food!”, Blast spoke – one of his very rare moments where he bothered with human speech instead of the usual growls and short barks that made up his own language.

Temaki and the secretary both chuckled and Temaki gave a final nod of goodbye before following after the excited Blast. ”I highly doubt they'll run out of food, at least until we get there... then they might run out of food.”

”Are you trying to tell me I need to go on one of nasty diets humans do where they starve themselves half to death?”

Temaki laughed. ”Blast, I don't think we'll ever have to worry about that when it comes to you and I. We both like food too much to put up with one of those diets.”

”Have you smelled some of that diet food? I think I'd rather chew on a body that's been dead for a week....”

Temaki's nose wrinkled at the mental image that filled her mind of Blast doing just that. Yeah, no. ”Really didn't need that image in my head, Blast. And yeah, stuff's nasty.” Blast let out a sound akin to a chuckle as they reached the circus proper. They were held up at the gate in for a moment; children coming over in small groups to get a chance to give the horse sized wolf a proper bit of petting and attention: all of which Blast soaked up like a giant sponge. When the children had enough and Temaki had purchased two tickets – one for her and one for Blast – they started to walk.

Blast paused once, sniffed the air, and then began to make a beeline towards what Temaki could only assume was food. ”Slow down, Blast. If you run anyone over I'll be up to my eyeballs for a week in paperwork. Where are we going anyway?”

”You'll see!”, replied a happy Blast: some people around pausing to look at the talking wolf. Temaki just grinned and followed after her companion closely as he kept the lead. Blast moved his massive form through the crowds of people with complete and practiced ease and Temaki kept behind him which only made it that much easier for her to move through the crowd without being stopped a dozen times: by the time anyone noticed the Rakuenkage was in their midst she was already gone.

After several minutes of this type of maneuvering Blast slowed and came to a stop, a happy look on the giant wolf's face. Temaki moved to Blast's side, taking notice of a familiar Karukaya and Coen not far away, and a lemonade stand not far away. Oh yes, lemonade was one of her favorite treats, which caused the kage to almost squeal in joy. ”Excellent nose, Blast.”

”Isn't it, though?” Temaki just laughed at her wolf, ignoring the random person who would stop – either at the sight of them or the over-powering scent of gunpowder that came from them due to their natural scents via their explosion release based chakra.

”Come on, let's go say hello to Karukaya and Coen and get ourselves some lemonade.”, Temaki said as she moved forward to get into line and close the distance between herself and her student and his companion.

Word Count: 755 / 900

The lines by the food stalls where plenty long, but nothing compared to what they would be in an hour or so when the bulk of the crowds showed up for the circus itself. Right now you where looking at a 5 to 10 minute wait; later on you'd be here for half an hour, if not more, just for a cup of lemonade to take inside the tents. Thankfully, they'd eaten plenty earlier, so neither would bother with the food lines; but lemonade was something both of them could have, and the lemonade they made of the circus and carnivals was so very different from what you made at home; something about it always tasted better. Patience paid off, they got to the front of the line just as a fresh batch of lemonade was being made, and the extra two minute wait was well worth it.

"Two, please. Medium."

Karu'd down his in a few moments, he was used to drinking deep when he did drink anything, so it rarely lasted very long. It was a damn good thing he was a ninja and constantly moving around, or else he'd be the size of a house with how he ate and drank on a daily basis. Coen would finish it fairly quickly too, but he was also properly thirsty, and kangaroo's drank a LOT when they drank. Water sources where few and far between in their native habitat, so they'd evolved to drink massive amounts of water at one time and go long periods between; almost like desert camels.

Tugtug! "Daddy. Boomboom lady!" Coen was tugging on his arm and pointing off toward the crowd, he was trying to show Karukaya something, or someone rather.

Boom...boom... Temaki?

Karu glanced around, quickly locating his sensei and her dog in the crowd nearby, seemingly coming toward them specifically. Huh, she must have seen them in line and was coming over to greet them. Well then... "Excuse me, ma'am, could you make that 4?" He'd buy them a drink, it was only polite; and he was the type to share and spend money like that anyway.

"Sure, same size?"

"Yes ma'am."

The drinks where placed, thankfully, in a cardboard carrier without him even needing to ask; lucky for him, it'd make carrying them easier. Not that balancing four cups was hard, specially with Coen taking his the moment Karu had paid for them, but the carrier just made everything easier. Coen's hands where iffy for holding stuff like a cylindrical cups, although it was getting to be pretty obvious that he was developing a proper opposable thumb as his hands grew. His prize was being carried across his back, Karu had fashioned a little harness out of some of his hand wraps; he always carried a few rolls on his person just in case. Even with how large the thing was, Coen was easily carrying it.

"Let's go say hi."

"Yay!"

They moved outta the line and toward Temaki and Blast, Coen leaping ahead to greet them while Karu weaved around the crowds with the drinks. "Hiiiiii!~"

WC: 553 + 1065 = 1618

Mission WC: 900/900

Str C0-C3= 718/1500

Temaki and Blast paused, allowing the crowd to move around them as they moved past, giving Coen and Karukaya a chance to come and join them: Temaki noticing the tray that her student carried with twice the amount of lemonade needed for just two people.

Blast, always worried that his size might scare those smaller then him, laid down on the ground as Coen approached and said hi. Blast offered the equivalent of a happy grin as his tail swayed back and forth like an over grown happy puppy. ”Hi there!”, Blast spoke happily; figuring he would at least offer to speak considering that Coen seemed to be learning how to.

Temaki glanced at Blast who she noticed always seemed to try and make himself smaller and less intimidating when smaller creatures were around he wanted to be friends with. Chuckling Temaki shook her head. “Blast, no matter how you lay you just can't get around the fact that your the size of a horse.”

Blast laid his head down and covered his eyes with his paws. ”Shush, you. I don't want to be scary looking.” Temaki laughed; no one but Blast and her family had the balls to tell her to shush so it was rather funny sounding.

Temaki then turned her attention onto Karukaya and grinned. ”So, I see things are developing well with Coen. I definitely cannot see anyone giving you a hard time about keeping him now.” Not that she was about to let anyone give him a hard time about keeping Coen to begin with, but she kept that little tid bit to herself: she'd work from the shadows to keep her student happy, especially as he was so dedicated to Coen to begin with.

”Planning to see the show?” Temaki glanced once more to Blast who had by now rolled over onto his back, tongue still hanging out of his mouth: he was quite clearly worried that his over all size and wolfyness would scare Coen and so he was attempting to be as non-scary as possible. It only made Temaki grin more.

Word Count: 349 + 755 = 1,104 / 900

.oO(Sorry for the shortness, wanted to keep this moving.)

Coen giggled happily, hopping around Blast like the playful kid he was; somehow managing not to spill most of his lemonade, even though the cup didn't have a lid or spill guard of any type. Ninja skills, he was developing. "Big! Big! Big Boom! Blast go big boom!"

If Karukaya wasn't in public he'd be crying for joy over how many words Coen was using. Instead, he used his ninja face skills to keep something appropriate expression wise on his face, even if the effort of not splitting his face ear to ear with a smile was almost painful. "Yes, I've been... tracking these new developments; getting enough information to present to the supervisors in charge of deciding where he goes. I don't see much of a problem anymore, either. I highly doubt he'd go even if they tried to make him."

"Bang! Boom!"

Oh, it warmed his heart to see the joey so happy.

He offered the extra cups to his Kage, "I thought you might enjoy a drink. It's pretty dusty and warm in the crowds." His tone and demeanor where perfectly friendly, while still maintaining an air of respect. He'd likely not fully settle down around her for a while yet; but it was an improvement that he could be mostly comfortable in a social setting now. Coen's improvements and such helped a lot, but he was also getting used to the idea of a) having a real teacher, and b) that teacher being his Kage. That Temaki was awesome didn't hurt either.

”Planning to see the show?”

"Yeah, we finally managed to make it out to see the show. We're been a tad busy; ran a few missions together, spent time playing and training; normal stuff. Just in larger doses, yan-..." Huh, there where a lot of people running past them suddenly. He realized that he was hearing yelling, and a very deep, almost not there sound. It was almost like a low, stuttering tone that he wasn't sure was there. Elephants talking?

BOOM!

Ohshit.

"Uuuh... Is that tent collapsing?" His arm was up and pointing toward the animal enclosure, which was indeed falling in on itself. Strange, maybe some ropes snapped and they weren't able to catch them on time. "We... should go see what that's about, yes?"

And then what looked like a bullet made of air ripped through the falling tent and the screams of animals and people alike escaped.

Greeeeaaaaaaaat.

"Yeah, definitely need to check this out. That was a wind jutsu, wasn't it?" Barely even waiting for an answer, he was sprinting to the nearest pole and straight up, there was no way he'd be able to fight the rushing crowds on the ground, so moving across the tent tops and poles was his only option. Coen was right behind him; his legs where MADE for hopping long distances, so he could bounce and leap above the head of the crowds and over large distances like it was nothing; the longer his stride the more efficient he moved, and he could move forever once he hit his stride.

WC: 562

562 + 1618 = 2180

Mission WC: 900/900

Str C0-C3= 1280/1500

Temaki took the two lemonades with a grin. “Thanks a bunch, saves us from having to wait in line.” Temaki then glanced over to Coen as he moved around Blast like a happy child and chuckled. ”I agree. I don't think he'd go willingly either.” Blast meanwhile was all for the attention; rolling onto his back and making all sorts of silly faces at Coen since he realized the young kangaroo wasn't scared of him: Blast was all for making new friends.

Temaki was about to take a sip of her lemonade when something caught her eye: panic. People running away from something en-mass. It was the common reaction when a group experienced fear at the same time: complete and utter panic and chaos ensued. Just like it was now. Great. So much for the day off. Well, this was her job, so she wasn't going to complain. Temaki's head tilted, searching for sound above the noise of the crowd: she could hear animal sounds, and then a boom.

She looked towards the tent Karukaya was pointing out while Blast was carefully getting to his feet – ensuring he didn't accidentally roll over on Coen. She too noticed the bullet jutsu. “It is...”

Temaki nodded to Karukaya's statement and then took off after him – moving up to higher ground as well. Thankfully enough Blast was all too used to this method of travel – Temaki enjoyed entering and exiting her office most days via her office after all – and therefore he was easily able to maneuver and move – staying right behind Temaki – he no longer looked playful and kind, and instead looked like the overly large ferocious beast capable of doing large amounts of damage.

As they reached the tent Temaki jumped back to the ground, quickly followed by Blast. While Temaki had sort of been expecting to see a human standing around – perhaps one of the missing-nin whose posters were up on her wall – she saw instead an animal. Not exactly uncommon for an animal to produce jutsu – Blast could after all – but she hadn't expected it from a circus animal, let alone and elephant.

”MY BABY! OH GOD MY BABY! NO!” Temaki's head jerked to the left to the woman screaming, and then back towards the right to the small toddler who had obviously gotten away from her and lost in the panic... the child who was obviously unaffected by the screams around him and who was heading right towards the very pissed off looking elephant. Shit.

Temaki darted forward, thanking any God or Goddess listening that she was as fast as she was. She reached the toddler in damn near a blur, paused only long enough to scoop the child up and cup him to her chest, and then dashed off again and over to the mother. She came to a stop in front of the woman, pushing her out of the way of another wind bullet that hit something in the distance and caused a good deal of damage. She handed the woman her child and ushered her out. “Go on! Hurry.” Thankfully the woman didn't need told twice.

Temaki, now that she didn't have a toddler facing death, turned to face the problem head on, wondering what in the world would have caused this to happen in the first place, and to actually focus on what was going on fully...

Word Count: 573 + 1,104 = 1,677 / 900

Oh, this wasn't good. People where running around like panicked idiots, and there where still way to many kids and civilians around for them to work effectively. The trainers and handlers where no better, they where screaming and yelling and trying to calm the elephant down; and it was definitely not working. Which elephant was it? It was too big to be one of the females, even the matriarch wasn't this large.

Wait.

Why did the number of trunks this elephant had not make sense?

Was that... oh. Oh shit. This thing was mutating right in front of their eyes. How the unholy hell was this happening? He didn't see anything resembling other ninja (funny how there where never any others around when you needed them) beyond himself, the Rakuenkage, and their pets; nor did he sense any chakra outside of the aforementioned and a strange, dirty chakra coming from the elephant rampaging.

"Karukaya! That's Gajasura! Don't hurt her!" Bato had arrived with a group of the larger handlers; they'd been outside clearing as much of the people as they could and now where working to funnel the stragglers and any animals left inside.

THAT THING WHAT GAJASURA!?

Fuuuuuuuuck. That WAS the matriarch. No wonder the other elephants had to be forced out, they where trying to figure out what had set her off so hard. Why the hell was she mutating, though? She was just a normal elephant, she'd NEVER shown any signs of being anything but. She was peaceful and kind and gentle too; she loved people and people loved her. So why now... why was she going insane now?

"Bato! Get out of here with the rest of them! We can handle this! Take Coen with you! Trust me!"

"You tell me to take your baby?! Of course I trust you, then! LET'S GO PEOPLE, GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"

Coen was moving toward Bato without even being told, but he was still turning around to look at Karu with a terrified look on his face. He was afraid Karu would get hurt, and that was enough to have him worried and anxious and almost willing to defy orders so that he could stay and protect him. Not that the baby could do much, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. "Coen, I'll be okay, I swear! Now GO!"

"Come home, Daddy!" Bato grabbed Coen clean off the ground and hauled the joey free of the area; just making out before the tent hit the ground around them. It was almost like they where in an arena now, the wind bullet from before had blasted the center of the tent clear off, leaving them with open space once the rest collapsed. This game them a slight advantage, the cloth was piled high and would act as both a visual and physical barrier, reducing the chances of someone on the outside being hurt.

It was just Karu, Temaki, Blast, and Gajasura now.

Karu moved as fast as he could toward Temaki, managing to just barely avoid a bullet of wind shot his way. It was pure distance that saved him; he'd already been moving when it was fired, and the aim was off; so even though the bullet moved faster than he did, he was able to skirt past it without being hit.

"It's the matriarch, sensei. They need her alive; if possible. If we can subdue her, we might be able to help her. I have an idea, please; follow my lead." He was reaching into the pouch he always wore at his waist and retrieving his gloves; something told him he'd need them for this fight, even if his physical attacks wouldn't do much against something as large as an elephant. If anything, they'd make it easier for him to move around; he could grab onto things easier and with less damage to his hands. "Blast! Make some noise for me! Elephants have terrible vision, we need to use sound to get her attention!"

Karu took off at a dead sprint in the opposite direction from where Blast was; he was going to try to circle around and set up a secondary distraction to keep her confused and disoriented. Along the way, he found a perfect bail of hay that he could use later in case of an emergency escape; taking the split second needed to tag it with his chakra so he could swap with it if needed.

The look on Blast's face was pure win; seems the big old wolf was enjoying the chance at some excitement and exercise. The request was simple enough, and it would put Blast in a perfect place to set up some attacks of his own. That Karu was polite, even while shouting, and that Blast liked him too boot, helped a lot. Not many ninja wolves would even humor someone as comparatively weak as Karukaya, but at least Karu was trying to be a good student, and wasn't the usual fawning idiot type. So, the big guy was willing to listen, for now anyway. "Make noise. Works for me!" Blast was FAST. Supremely faster than Karukaya, and that actually worked to their advantage. It meant that he was drawing her attention so fast that it gave him time to get where he needed to be.  The snarling and bangs from stuff being knocked over as he moved was perfect; Gajasura was instantly focusing on him cause he was closer and much easier to focus on anyway; with bad elephant sight but those huge, super sensitive elephant ears, he might as well have been glowing neon in a pitch black room for all it mattered.

"Sensei, Blast, close your eyes!" Karu was in position, and it was a... strange one. While Blast was making noise so that she would focus on him, Karu had raced closer to her, to the point that he was basically directly in line with her left eye, while Blast of off to her right. Hands where brought up to his face, palms flat and facing outward with fingers extended so that his middle and ring fingers touching where touching his face. "Solar Flare!" A blast of chakra exploded from his hands in a blinding flash of light. Shit vision or not, being that close meant she was going to see it, and it was GOING to be painful. The moment the jutsu triggered he was moving again, underneath her body and between her legs so that he could get out of the way and into position for the next part of his plan.

Said next part of simple. Using his Taijutsu skills, he harnessed the power of a strong jump and the Early Sacrifice jutsu; allowing him up onto her back so that he could vault onto her shoulders. She was large, but you could still ride her normally; so he was able to sit down just behind her head and ears, lock her legs down around her neck with his feet planted on her shoulders, and grab onto the rope around her neck like a bull rider would. Next in line, explosion tags. Explosion tags EVERYWHERE. Well, in the 6 places he could reach to attach them, anyway. These would come in handy later on. If nothing else, he could break a jutsu cast or get her attention with them.

She'd realized he was on her, and now she was going for him. He was an annoyance, something to be thrown away without a thought. Her trunks could easily reach him, if he hadn't known she would do that, he'd be fuuuucked right now. However, the entire reason he grabbed the rope was so that he had a fast escape that wouldn't get him killed. All he had to do was let himself fall, gravity did the work, and the glove kept his hand from being ripped to shreds by the coarse material. He hit the ground running, moving as fast as he could and hoping to god he didn't get caught be her. She was fast as fuck for her size, significantly more so than he was.

Thank god he'd been smart enough to set that trap earlier.

Thank god he could cast jutsu while moving.

Thank god he'd taught himself to use Fire Shield. When a massive foot attached to a beast 100x your size was coming right for you, nothing worked better to stop it than fire. Lots, and lots, of fire. Flames erupted from his feet and spread over a wide area, giving him the split second of cover and distraction he needed to switch places with the hay bale from before; putting him clear across the area and out of the way before her foot crashed through the fire and crushed what would have been hid body otherwise.

....

Why where there bubbles everywhere suddenly? They where coming from her trunk, and he has no idea what they where. He had just enough perceptive ability to know they where full of chakra, but not what they did or what they where for.

"Sensei! Tag in!"

He'd set up as much as he could, now they needed fire power. Fire power he didn't have. Time for the Kage to have some fun.


WC: 1600

1600 + 2180 = 3780

Mission WC: 900/900

Str C0-C3= 2280/1500

1380/2000 Taijutsu D-C

Jutsu and Chakra:

The last stragglers were being cleared out, meaning they no longer had to worry about any innocent casualties. It would definitely make handling this beast of an elephant that much easier. She kept her gaze trained on the elephant while she listened to the quick conversation between Karukaya and some of the handlers that had come in about the overly large creature. Apparently this was an animal they were used to dealing with – which meant that this behavior was by no means normal for her – she also gathered enough to know that if Karukaya knew them he likely knew the elephant that was currently throwing one hell of a bad temper tantrum. If anything this familiarity would help if they did indeed manage to get the animal calmed or somehow subdued.

She kept ready to move as she listened to Karukaya tell Bato to take Coen and get out of here: and her heart squeezed a little at Coen's reply to Karukaya. Temaki made a silent promise to herself and to Coen to ensure that he got back to Coen in one piece.

She had heard Karukaya say that this was the matriarch of the herd, and that did indeed explain some of the issues they had with getting the other elephants out and away: she completely agreed too, they needed to keep her alive if at all possible. However, that was going to prove an interesting matter: how to get this rampaging creature calm enough or subdued enough to handle without outright killing her to end the problem.

Even with how fast Temaki's own brain was beginning to come up with a plan it seemed Karukaya already had one. Temaki had no problem following his lead: she was curious to see how he could think on his feet, and how well he could work. Though, she did stay ready to use her insane speeds to pull him out of harms way if the issue rose.

Temaki suppressed a grin as Blast actually listened to Karukaya – it definitely meant the wolf had respect for him, that much was sure – instead of giving him a hard time or ignoring orders like he likely would have with anyone else. Blast began making a hell of a racket which easily drew the attention of the elephant onto him, allowing Karukaya to work flawlessly. Temaki noticed him tagging the bail of hay with chakra – obviously she could gather in preparation for a jutsu – before he continued on with this plan of his. Both Blast and Temaki averted their gazes only long enough for him to pull off a successful Solar Flare jutsu: likely completely blinding the elephant before he ended up on her back.

She noticed his placement of several explosive tags, and then his quick escape from the elephant's back, and out from beneath what would have surely been a crushing blow had the elephant actually gotten to get him beneath her large foot. Holy fuck was her student an amazing ninja in the making. Not many Jounin would have been willing to be in here facing this thing, and her student was only a Chuunin? Plus he was smart on his feet, quick too, and a good planner? Yeah, it was definitely amazing to watch.

But, now it was her turn. Those bubbles meant trouble: she knew what would happen if one of them were touched either physically or with jutsu. But, all of them at once going off? Bad idea for them. Not such a bad idea for the elephant. ”Stay away from the bubbles! They explode on contact with chakra or phyiscal touch!”, Temaki warned. She knew she couldn't use jutsu on the bubbles, but she still knew a way to get them to move. It was a simple matter of moving the air without using jutsu. If she could somehow make the air begin to move enough to control it? She could send the bubbles right back at the elephant. It would be tricky, but it would be fun!

Temaki took off; feinting close enough to the bubbles to have the natural air currents 'catch' them. Given the fallen tent was acting as a natural wall she didn't have to worry about outside wind influencing this. Temaki passed by once, creating the initial breeze that acted as a means to bring the bubbles close. She then did another pass by, moving fast around the elephant at speeds that Blast had earlier demonstrated. This second pass by began to move the bubbles. A third pass and the bubbles were heading now towards the elephant, but not fast enough.

Temaki passed by a fourth time, though instead of moving around the elephant as she had been doing she took a chance: running as fast as she could she ran straight towards the over-large creature. At the last moment she dropped down into a slide, moving safely and quickly beneath the elephants feet before her trunk could even begin to make a grab at her. This last air current sent the bubbles straight into the elephant: causing them to make contact.

Temaki didn't stick around; as soon as she was cleared from beneath the elephant she got back to her feet and circled widely back to where she was standing: turning in time to see what was about to happen...She doubted the explosions would be enough to kill the beast – and she surely wasn't aiming to – but she hoped they would at least stun her... if not knock her out.

Word Count: 928 + 1,677 = 2,605 / 900

”Stay away from the bubbles! They explode on contact with chakra or physical touch!”

Of course they do. Why wouldn't something so pretty and nice looking go boom. They always go boom. Wooooo.

Damn, she was fast. Holy gods above, he could BARELY keep up with that. Even then, he was following a blur and the movement of the wind more so than her. If he ever got to be a tenth that fast... just wow. He was safe enough where he was, even with a perfectly good vantage point; the hay bales made an effective barrier against explosions, and he was fire resistant anyway, so if they ignited he wasn't too worried about it. The only things he was worried about really where getting caught by those trunks, or her feet. He was strong, he was durable, but he was nothing compared to her. Even trained ninja could be rendered nothing against some of the larger animals, and with this dirty chakra enhancing her strength and making her berserker, the old matriarch was more than enough to hand him his own ass on a platter. It was pure luck and quick wits that had kept him safe when he rushed in before after all; not something he should have done, but it was what they needed done, and better to risk his own life to give the chance to save someone as important as Gajasura than just have her be killed instantly.

Poor Gajasura never had a chance. Everything was moving to fast for her to react too, and the moment the leading edge of the bubble wave went off, it started a chain reaction of pure pain. One bubble exploding let to four bubbles exploding lead to 60 lead to all of them in a cascading wave of pain, pressure, and fuckery. Pretty as hell to look at, but not something Karu wanted to get caught in. Even if they had a medic around, that kind of boom would have turned him into hamburger. Needless to say, he wasn't about to do that to Coen.

The smoke and dust kicked up by the explosions was thick and hot; rising into the sky in a column that spoke to the poor devils outside of the insanity happening in here. The tainted air hurt to breathe, and stung the eyes mercilessly; it left him choking slightly unless he though to rip a band of cloth from the base of his shirt, wet it with the puddled remains of the water troughs that had been kicked over and spilled everywhere, and wrapped it around his lower face. It filtered the dust and particulate matter from the air when he inhaled, protecting him from damaging his lungs and making it possible to breathe enough to move around, once he could see.

He really wished he could see.

It was dark and dusty and nasty and hard, but he could make out shadowy figures around. Given the sizes, he was pretty sure he had a good idea where everything was. Gajasura was in the same general place, and quiet possibly still standing. Temaki was clear, and far enough away to be mostly safe. What he assumed was Blast was safely out of the way as well, and this made him happy. If they could do this without getting hurt themselves, then it was all worth it.

OHGODSTHATWASLOUD.

What the hell was that? It was like a distorted mess of screams, bellows, and an elephant trumpeting. Well, that answered the question about whether or not Gajasura was alive and conscious. The roaring sound was followed by the smoke clearing, and not naturally. Bullets of wind where being fired off indiscriminately, and that was what was clearing the air out.

Why did he smell ozone?

Oh. Now she was firing off lightning bullets too.

Greeeeeeaaaaat.

She was obvious in pain and lashing out. Like a scared animal in a cage, she was doing all she could to get the things that hurt her away; kill what wanted to kill her. Or what she thought wanted to kill her. Or maybe he was giving her too much credit at the moment, and there was no thought left in the majestic beast's mind; only rage and warped instincts.

Wait... the tags. The tags he'd set where still there.

That... might work, after the blows from the bubbles exploding, those tags places so close together on her head might just do the trick. They wouldn't break her neck or decapitate her, but the shock could possibly knock her unconscious.

It was worth a try.

He formed the sign to trigger the tags, and they went off in unison; 6 heavy blasts directly to the back of the skull where it wasn't anywhere near as thick or as protected; where they would have an actual effect. Another trumpet blast of distorted rage and pain accompanied the sounds of the tags going off and then silence. Heavy, weighted silence. What now? What next? Did it work?

STOMP!

STOMP!

Was she wobbling?

STOMP!

You could almost hear the sound; like a might tree being cut down, the snap and creaking and wooosh of the wind. First to a knee with a heavy THUD! then falling to the right with a PLOP! and CRACK! of flesh hitting earth so hard the ground cracked and shattered below it. Weak trumpets and groans lasted for long seconds before the trunks fell limply to the ground.

Was she dead?

Karu ran from his cover toward the great beast, risking life and limb to get on top of her and place an ear to her side.

Thud...

Thud...

Thud...

A heart beat. Now breath... just breath...

His entire body lifted when she finally did just that, a shuddered, pained inhale, but a breath all the same. She was alive; but she was unconscious. The longer she laid there it seemed, the more normal she began to appear. It was almost like she was turning back to normal at an accelerated rate; the extra trunks seemed to vanish into nothing and the nasty chakra was fading from her body. Whispering to himself, "She's alive. Thanks the gods." He was no vet, but he knew enough. She was hurt, yes; but not terrible so, not that he could see. She'd end up at the center that night to get checked by Sato; he was the best exotic vet in the country after all.

Karu lifted fingers to his lips and blew a harsh whistle tone, more than loud enough to carry over the fallen tent wall and to the other side. He was calling for Bato and the handlers to come back; he'd heard them use the same signal before, so he figured it would be easier than trying to yell for them or something like that.

He climbed down off her side in the mean time, moving toward her head and checking the spots where he'd set off the tags. The skin was lightly burned, but the bone underneath felt solid enough; the same could be said for the spots where the bubbles has contacted. She came too while he was trying to check her in the minutes before Bato and the rest could clear a path to her; one weary eye opening and her trunk moving to brush against Karu's hand; he was trying to clean some dirt from a (relatively speaking) small cut on her cheek, and he was too focused to notice she was watching him. "Oh, hey there. Feeling better old girl?"

The trunk wrapped around his arm and squeezed gently; he was going to take that as a 'thank you' for now, and go back to making sure she wasn't hurt too badly.

"Karukaya, I have your baby." Bato was the first over the tent, with Coen racing along behind him. "Is she alive?"

"She is. She'll need a vet, and a few days to rest... but I think she'll be okay. We tried, we really did."

"That I believe. We heard the noise, saw the smoke. An epic battle, yes?"

"For me, yes. I cannot speak for my Sensei."

Coen cleared the tent and raced his way to Karu, leaping at him so hard he knocked him clear over and clung to him hard enough to be painful; the joey was young, but he had some serious claws on those paws of his. "Daddy Daddy! Not hurt?"

"I'm fine, Coen. I just need a shower, something to eat, and some sleep. I told you I wouldn't leave you." He managed to get himself standing even with Coen clinging to him, shifting the joey's weight up a bit so that he wasn't hanging and pulling him off balance, but allowing him to continue clinging. An arm used to support him and Karu was set to move around again; he'd carried Coen around in a sack for weeks on end, this was totally normal to him now. "Come on, let's check in with Sensei." He carried Coen with him as he made his way around the handlers and keepers that where slowly making their way into the area; hell, a few of the elephants had managed to climb over and where moving toward their matriarch with worried, but still hopeful expressions. They could understand enough of the speech of the handlers to know she was alive, and that was all they needed to know not to go crazy.

Once he made it to where Temaki and Blast where, "That was... insane. I've never seen anyone move that fast. I'm not a vet, but I think Gajasura will be okay after some rest and treatment. If anyone can help her, Sato can. This is his specialty, after all; exotic animals and the like, I mean. Are you and Blast okay?"


WC: 1695

1695 + 3780 = 5475

Mission WC: 900/900

Str C0-C3= 1500/1500

3075/2000 Taijutsu D-C

1075/1000 C-rank jutsu "Prison Lock"

Temaki dived, avoiding a lightning infused bullet as the elephant rampaged against all of the bubbles that had gone off with a chain reaction upon contact: better the elephant then them, she could withstand it, they would be turned to mush. Out of the two options she knew which she preferred. Temaki dodged another lightning infused bullet; glad for her speed that allowed her movement to be so quick – that wasn't something she wanted hit with on a good day, and especially not on a day like today.

Temaki then watched as Karukaya set off the explosive tags: and that was it for the elephant. Lights out. The play was ended. Curtain dropped. As the dust cleared she saw her student move over to the elephant, and could only figure it was likely to check that the large beast was still alive. Temaki's own gaze then sought out Blast who was making his way over to Temaki after ensuring that the elephant really was done.

Blast ran up to her, stood on his back legs, and put his large paws on her shoulders, licking her face. “Eww, okay. Stop trying to stick your tongue up my nose. Gross. Quit it.” Blast let out a wolfy laugh, and Temaki chuckled. “No need to ask if you're alright.” Blast lowered himself to the ground and Temaki scratched at the top of his head while listening to Karukaya whistle. A moment later she could hear movement – both elephants and humans arriving. The elephant was alive, and apparently a hell of a lot calmer as she responded to Karukaya in a much gentler way. Good, good.

Temaki then glanced over to Karukaya, noticing he had been reunited with Coen and grinned as they came over. “Lots and lots of practice dodging our own explosions made us that fast. I'm glad to hear she's going to be alright though: she seems like a big sweet heart now. Blast and I are fine; now that he's not trying to eat my face. How about you? You good? I gotta say, you impressed me with your quick thinking.. not many people would've been willing to pull off what you did. You're definitely on your way to greatness...” Temaki didn't hand out compliments often, but she definitely meant this one: Karukaya had shown skill above his own ranking. She was definitely going to have to think of a special way to reward him.

Word Count: 409 + 2,604 = 3,014 / 900

"I'd rather be alive than great, honestly. How better to protect the people I love and care about than to be good at what I do. I gambled and got lucky; there's no guarantee it'd happen again. But... I like these people; I got to know them while I was out on the plains working, and here when I helped them set up. They love her, she's been with them longer than most of them have been alive. In my mind, saving someone like that is the whole point of being a ninja, a protector. She's their family, and no one should have to lose their family like that."

He set Coen down finally, the joey was getting pretty heavy now that he was getting exercise and his muscles where developing, and Karu was tired after all the fuss and effort; he'd just basically gone so far outside of his pay grade it was a miracle he was alive, let alone uninjured. Coen refused to full let go, though; making sure to hold onto Karu's hand and wrist like a child would a parent. To be 16 and basically a parent, who would have thought.

More people where arriving, they'd managed to clear a proper path through the collapsed tent and where starting to clear it away. More of the herd was coming in, moving to Gajasura with purpose and relief; she was alive, she was back to normal, and they knew it just from looking at her. The soft trumpets, rumbles, and movements of their bodies told the story; they where quietly celebrating that she was okay, and it made Karu happy to know he'd been able to help bring her back to them.

"Karukaya. Why am I not surprised to find you here?"

"Sato? That was fast."

"I was in the crowd, actually. I would have been here sooner, but I had to call Megumi to run me my field bag. I see you did a bit of a number on her."

"We tried to do as little damage as possible. I can almost guarantee she ha a concussion though... my fault."

"I can see the scorch marks. Bombs?"

"Explosive Tags."

"Lovely. The rest?"

"Some exploding bubble jutsu. Lord Temaki redirected it back to her, it's was did most of the damage."

"Delightful."

The herd had surrounded her while they where talking, and was helping her to stand up. She was wobbly, but she managed to make it to her feet; and with the help of a few of her larger children, was able to walk. One of the trainers was guiding them out of the area; likely to the heavy transport truck the center had just for situations like this. It could handle carrying her over the level roads between the circus site and the center; only a mile or so up the road anyway.

"Well, I better go with them. I'll have her checked out and patched up by morning."

"Thank you, Sato. I don't know how I would have handled it if we'd killed her."

"Knowing you... badly."

"Daddy, we go with?"

".... Well now. When you where you going to tell us about this."

"Er..." Karu actually flushed a bit over this, he even though to remind Coen to be quiet around them. "When I brought him in this weekend..."

"Indeed. We'll talk about it then."

"Yessir."

"Daddy... I do bad?"

"No Coen, of course not. You could never do bad." He patted the joey on the head and looked around for a moment; he was basically not needed anymore, Bato and his people would take care of the worst of this; if anything he'd come by in the morning and offer to help them finish cleaning up. For now though, he needed to go home and sleep. A shower, and sleep, rather.

"Sensei, may I have leave to go? I could really use a shower and some sleep after that, and it's coming up on Coen's bedtime. I had promised he could stay up for the show, but... well, this happened."

WC: 760

5475 + 760 = 6235

Mission WC: 900/900

Str C0-C3= 1500/1500

3075/2000 Taijutsu D-C

1000/1000 C-rank jutsu "Prison Lock"

835/1000 C-rank Jutsu "One Hundred Metre Punch"

Temaki listened to what Karukaya said, a grin still on her face as her hand continued to automatically scratch at the top of Blast's head. Blast's eyes were closed, and what equivalent of a grin on his face while his tail thudded on the ground repeatedly in enjoyment. Temaki nodded when Karukaya finished speaking to her, looking thoughtful as she so often did lately. ”You've got a good heart, Karukaya... a very good heart.”, she said softly.

Temaki then fell silent as she listened to the conversation between Karukaya and the one who was obviously going to be helping the elephant. Temaki was glad, as she glanced over to the elephant, to see her on her feet even if she did need help getting there. Better she be a little injured, then dead, though. And that would have been exactly what had happened had Karukaya not had a plan to begin with: or at least spoken up about how important the female was to the rest of the elephants. Perhaps Temaki could learn a thing or two from him...

She finished up with scratching at Blast's head who instantly opened her eyes when she finished. She turned her attention onto her student when he addressed her and nodded her head. “That's fine. Get some rest, you've definitely deserved it. If you need anything just let me know.” Temaki then looked down at Blast and sighed softly. ”Come on, big guy. We've got a lot of paperwork to do before we can go home and get cleaned up...” Blast whimpered and covered his eyes with a paw for a moment: obviously he hated this part of Temaki being a kage as well. But, that was life.

Temaki chuckled, glanced back at all of the elephants, and then walked down the path that had been made into the area. Even though she wanted to head home and get cleaned up as well there was little time for that, and so she headed on the well beaten path towards her office: she knew the paperwork would be piling up soon enough.

As Temaki walked she began to whistle a calm little tune, Blast walking beside her as they went...

[Thread Exit]

Word Count: 368 + 3,014 = 3,382 / 900

"Thank you, Sensei." He patted Coen on the head again, and took the moment to take his gloves off finally; making sure to stow them back in the pouch he carried them in. Waiting a moment for the elephants to get clear, he took Coen's hand and lead him through the cleared area. Once cleared, they where almost swarmed by little kids asking questions and trying to pet Coen, adults and reporters from the local papers and whatnot begging for an interview (which he very quickly screamed something that sounded like "TALK TO MY COMMANDERS!") whom he promptly raced away from, and a herd of handlers and circus workers thanking him profusely for saving Gajasura. Those he stopped to speak to; not out of any sense of them 'owing' him, but to make sure they where okay, and that they knew where she was going to get treated. That, and their kids wanted to see Coen, and they wouldn't hurt him by being overly excited.

After about a half an hour with them, he managed to get away with Coen in tow; safe finally to head home. It was tempting to just go crash at the center, there where plenty of cots and he kept a few changes of clothing there for pure ease. Sure, he wasn't scheduled to be on duty for a few days, but that didn't ever stop him from going in when he had time. There was always something to do, always somewhere to be.

But no, he'd take them home. He trusted Sato, he trusted them all. He wasn't needed now, and he owed Coen a good nights rest. If anything, they'd get cleaned up, eat something, and watch a movie before passing out. Yeah, that sounded good. Shower, food, and movie before bed. Perfect.

-Thread Exit-

WC: 313

6235 + 313 = 6548

Mission WC: 900/900

Str C0-C3= 1500/1500

3075/2000 Taijutsu D-C

1000/1000 C-rank jutsu "Prison Lock"

1000/1000 C-rank Jutsu "One Hundred Metre Punch"

148 remaining