Ninpocho Chronicles is a fantasy-ish setting storyline, set in an alternate universe World of Ninjas, where the Naruto and Boruto series take place. This means that none of the canon characters exists, or existed here.
Each ninja starts from the bottom and start their training as an Academy Student. From there they develop abilities akin to that of demigods as they grow in age and experience.
Along the way they gain new friends (or enemies), take on jobs and complete contracts and missions for their respective villages where their training and skill will be tested to their limits.
The sky is the limit as the blank page you see before you can be filled with countless of adventures with your character in the game.
The sun had just started to set as the wind picked up a slight chill in the air as Ritsuko had made her way through the forest just outside of the village. She had been around the village all day doing errands for her parents before heading home an hour prior to going to the forest and letting them know that she'd be out late to get some training in, telling them that she loved them and gave them both a hug. A smile hung around her face. I had been a few days since her meeting with Akumi and Hoshi, with Hoshi's otter friend thing. She'd look at her injured hand that was bandaged for a moment as she walked as it hadn't shown any signs of healing when she re-bandaged it earlier that day. She didn't entirely know what was going on with her, but she was hopeful about what the outcome of her training to test out the strength of what she had unlocked not that long prior would show.
Reaching the spot that she was blown off of Akumi's clay elephant several days prior, Ritsuko drew a deep breath before exhaling and continuing past the spot. As she walked, the chill in the air hadn't shifted too much with the exception of a light breeze here and there that caused a chill to go up her spine every now and again, which would cause her to look around, but otherwise the area was eerily quiet. The sound of nocturnal birds was rare and even some of the bugs one would expect to hear would only make sounds as often as the birds. She wouldn't get discouraged but the eerie-ness of the area and continued her way through the forest.
With the sun having fully set, it was slightly darker than she had expected and stopped to look around a few moments after hearing the rare cries of the birds and insects. Noticing a small cave entrance covered in tree roots nearby, it didn't look as if anyone had been there in so long that the roots had been able to almost completely cover the entrance. the only reason she had noticed it was that she was just at the right angle to actually notice it. Lucky her it seemed.
Perhaps it was more unlucky for her as the sound of thunder rolled through the area soon after she had stopped and noticed the cavern. Quickly following the thunder, raindrops slowly started to fall. If Ritsuko didn't decide quickly, she was going to be out in the rain for a good chunk of time. Her options consisted of: Try to enter the cavern behind the roots, or run home in the rain for over half an hour. She would choose the option that would result her be more dry, but also stuck in the forest. Running towards the root covered cave entrance, she'd attempt to pull the roots apart, which was apparent that wouldn't work. Something that she would attempt next as a quick thought would be to put her uninjured hand on one of the roots to let the mouth on her palm chew on it as an idea. The mouth would open and gnaw on the root for a bit before making a disappointed sound and stopping. She'd growl to herself as she looked at her palm.
"What good are you then?"
She'd ask herself as she'd notice that the gnawing did some damage to the root. She'd attempt to pull on the root again, thought putting a foot onto a seemingly sturdy root next to it to allow her to pull on it. She'd have used a tool on it but she didn't bring her pouch with her unfortunately. After a moment of pulling, she felt the root budge but as she did the rain started to go from light to nearly a downpour, which caused her to lose grip on the root and stumble back and sliding after a few steps and landing on a spot that wasn't too wet as the rain hadn't been too bad until a moment prior so the rain hadn't gotten there too much, but she made sure that her skirt wasn't exposing anything that it didn't need to even if there wasn't anyone to see it. As she stood up and quickly dusted herself off, she'd hear a noise that sounded different from either the birds, bugs, or weather. Looking around in the rain, she'd see some plants not too terribly far farm her. She'd quickly run towards the root she was pulling at not long prior to this and tried to pull hard at it in a quick panic, but it just wouldn't budge. The sound happened again, though this time it came from behind her.
As she turned around, she could see something running in her direction. She'd jump out of the way of it as it had decided to lunge towards her and had let out a bit of a shriek as she had moved out of the way. The forest was starting to live up to its name; something was trying to kill her. She didn't entirely want to die, considering she had her entire future to look forward to!
"Gods, please don't let me die here!"
She'd plead to herself as the creature had hit the roots head first and moved to get a running start before attempting to get her again. Looking at the creature then to the roots that she had been trying to pull for however long, she would notice the root she had been pulling at had been broken along with a few other roots. the hole in the roots was slightly bigger than she needed it to be and would break into a sprint as best she could in the rain, with the beast already having turned and started on its way back to try and attack her again. As she moved towards the hole in the roots the creature had created, the created chased her as fast as it could to try and get a meal in the heavy rain. However luck would seem to be in Ritsuko's favor now as she had reached the hole in the roots and moved far enough away before the creature could and even reach her. It would reach its paw in to try and get her in some capacity, but she had moved far enough inside for a reason. As she went to exhale deeply, a crashing sound had happened incredibly nearby causing her to jump and notice that the creature's paw had stopped moving as it was pulled away from the roots. A few moments passed and a loud crunching sound had happened and soon drowned out by the rain hitting the ground. Ritsuko's body shook, a combination of fear from whatever had attacked the creature and from being wet from the rain that she had just escaped from.
At the moment, she was speechless as she would see the beast that had eaten the creature that she had barely escaped look inside the cave. She couldn't tell exactly how big it was, but it looking into the cave, there had been no light from the other side of the roots, so it was big enough to block off the entrance by looking in it. However, her body wouldn't let her wait and find out what it would do as she moved deeper into the cave to a point where there was a turn and she couldn't see the entrance from where she was. Breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, she'd sit down to try and calm her heart from what had just happened.
"That was too much! I can't say I'm not afraid right now though. With that beast outside after whatever lies deeper. I might as well see since I don't think that thing will leave until it thinks I'm not here anymore... I guess..."
She'd mutter to herself. She'd yawn a bit as she'd lean her head against the wall, and close her eyes. She had planned on only doing so for a moment, but it would certainly take quite a bit more time than she expected as she had actually fallen asleep as a bit of time had passed since she'd actually made her way to the forest from her house.
Several hours had passed and Ritsuko had, at some point, fallen onto her side during her sleep. Slowly sitting up, along with yawning and stretching, she'd soon feel the pain of sleeping on rock. Taking several minutes to stretch, she'd still hear the rain from even this deep into the cavern. She'd slowly stand up and take even a few more minutes to stretch. After she finished though, she'd quickly dust herself off of any dirt or anything from her as her clothes were mostly dry at this point, but it was still a bit uncomfortable being in wet clothes for so long. As she took her time going deeper into the cave, she had to be careful as she couldn't see very well in the darkness as she hadn't much idea what was down here. With what felt like several hours passing as she moved carefully through the dark cavern. However, after a while of wandering through darkness, she'd soon see light coming from somewhere up ahead. She wasn't unhappy about the light, more so worried about others being in the cave with her. She was a young girl who wasn't very strong, and could be easily overpowered if there were those sorts of people down here. But who knew? It could be some sort of ruin run on magical fires to light the place up.
And that's exactly what it seemed when she had gotten to the light, letting her eyes get used to the light again. There was such a large area that looked to have been a city of some sort... underground! If this were some sort of media, some chanting would probably be in the reader's mind. But out of everything there that had Ritsuko in shock was a dead tree in the middle of the area. Blinking a few times after her eyes had been set upon it, she was more surprised about there being a fully grown, but dead, tree underground and all. It's a fucking tree underground, who wouldn't be more surprised about that rather than there being buildings and eternal fires around the entire place to keep it lit. Eternal fires... not even normal ones with a ton of fuel...
This seemed way too over the top, but it was what was there. The buildings were made of stone, and the doors were in surprisingly good shape, so she didn't entirely know if anyone was here, but she made her way down the set of stairs from the entrance into the 'city' she had apparently found. She'd scan the area of what she could see and it hadn't looked as if anyone had been there for quite a bit of some time. Heading down the large staircase, she made sure to be careful as there were some spots here and there that had crumbed and she most certainly didn't want to cause any more to crumble, especially with her on the stairs.
A few moments passed and Ritsuko would reach the bottom of the stairs, which wasn't entirely dirt as she expected. There were some grassy patches here and there, which almost surprised her as much as the tree did. however, with her not paying much attention to things other than the tree and the grass that were underground with the fires that never seemed to go out by time. A loud clanging sound would echo through the cave, and would cause the girl to jump. Looking around, she'd still have no clue where it had come from. There was a small body of water in a direction with a bridge going to a house on the far side of the cave, and a large door in the area around the tree. Well, there were several somewhat large doors leading to what looked like small homes or some such, but there was a door among them that was larger though it looked as if she had to follow a bit of a trail to get to it. She was curious about the house across the bridge but she was a bit more curious about the door with a path leading up to it even if it seemed a short ways off. It sure did look as if people used to live there but she didn't see anybody if anyone did. She didn't entirely want to call out and alert anyone if there were people of unsavory nature either. She'd make her way to the door that was at the end of the path that led up to it.
She decided to run towards it rather than taking her time as she had a bit of an uneasy feeling about being down here for too long. It didn't take her more than a mere moment to get to the door as she ran. Before opening the door, she'd turn around and scan the area again, hoping that there wasn't anyone there and confirming with just seeing the area, but still feeling like that there was someone, or perhaps something, down there with her. Shaking her head, she'd turn back towards the door and would push against it with all her might. The cold door would slowly open as she pushed. It was heavier than she expected, but the doors to the building were both metal and each door she had seen looked just about the same. Still pushing the doors as they slowly pushed they'd soon be open enough for her to walk through, and taking a step back from where she had been pushing to gather herself again as she didn't expect such heavy doors. Gathering herself quickly, she'd soon walk through the doors she'd just opened and notice that inside the building was pitch black. Taking her time walking into the darkness, not knowing what to expect, she'd make up her mind and make herself move a bit faster than she had been moving. However, her movement came to a halt as another loud clang reverberated through the cave and dim light in the building had seemingly been turn on, just enough to give Ritsuko an idea on what was there and all. Thanks to the light, she could see that there was a large door several meters ahead of her, however it was bars on a frame rather than a solid door. She was a bit glad that it didn't look as heavy as the doors to the building itself, but after a moment she'd see something just on the other side of the door seemed to a large pillar. She'd quickly run to the door to make sure it wasn't in the distance and just as she had feared, the pillar was against the door on the other side. Putting her hands on the bars, she'd try to pull them but it was no use, they wouldn't budge.
Kicking the door, Ritsuko would sigh as she'd look around the entrance area to actually notice that there were stone coffins stacked around her. A chill ran up her spine again as this realization had hit her. She wouldn't think that this many coffins were for visuals and that they had to actually have bodies in them. Her unease had grown significantly upon seeing them. Shaking her head, she'd look around to see if there was any way for her to advance. There were several coffins stacked in such a way that looked as if they led up to the chandelier above her, though it didn't look like a normal one, it was completely made out of metal, like the door that was blocked in front of Ritsuko and the door she had just opened. She'd climb up onto the coffins as to make sure that she wouldn't lose her footing and would make her up to the chandelier. It shook as she stood on it but another pile of coffins seemed to be stacked up high enough for her to cross onto and continue. A ledge was just above her head now, so she'd reach up and grab the ledge to pull herself up using parts of the wall and door to get up to the ledge faster.
Something that the girl hadn't entirely noticed when looking around was the fact there was a decently large pipe running above even the door that was blocked off. It didn't take her too long to get onto the ledge, in which she was just about face-to-face with the pipe. She had to blink for a moment to process that there was a large metal pipe in front of her. She'd look around to see what she could from the ledge on the opposite side of the door. Standing up, she'd start scanning the area past the door, however it didn't take long for her to actually noticed the bleached bones of a skeleton that she had almost missed had she not actually paid attention to her surroundings. However, from the distance she was at compared to the skeleton and the dim light, she couldn't actually tell if it was human or not.
"I don't really wanna get closer but I guess I'm gonna need to see if that's really a person or some sort of animal..."
She'd move towards the edge on the other side she had climbed up after talking to herself and taking a deep breath and exhaling just as deep before jumping off of the ledge so that she could get down as there wasn't anything further down the pipe that she had noticed or even thought of. The drop wasn't too terribly high but it was high enough for her to have some pain in her legs after doing so. She'd have to deal with it for the moment now if she wanted to get out of the building and even the cave. Looking at the bones, she'd slowly move towards them and soon learning that it was actually a person. She'd draw her bandaged left hand to her mouth and gasped as she had realized that it was human remains. The was a tattered book roughly a foot from the remains that she would grab and quickly take a step back from the skeleton and would open the book to find most of the pages torn or have ramblings written down with the exception of one page in the middle of the book that simply had notes that read the following: "So, the Amanojaku were what fused with humans to create them, huh? Guess it's impossible to find out if it's truth or just myth after all of this time..."
However, after what she had heard a loud crashing sound reverberated throughout the outside of the building along with a roar. Either a roar or just a loud and angry growl. Both fit what she could hear. She'd put the tattered journal into a pouch that just happened to be towards her feet and had almost tripped over as she moved back towards the gate to hide behind the pillar that blocked off the door as the creature had let off the sound throughout the settlement underground had walked around with audible sounds and even slight tremors as it walked. It must have been heading to the open door as she could feet the steps more frequently and getting more and more apparent as well. While she could hear it breathing now, it had crashed through the entrance with seeming ease as she couldn't look up without showing herself and having to try and out run it which she couldn't really do in such an unfamiliar place. The beast would apparently try to just push the gate open but with it not just opening or bending, it would actually push against it with some force causing the metal to bed down ward and with it stepping on it to get through, it would almost leave Ritsuko with no room but it had given her a bit more cover than she had before, from a line of site anyway.
It wouldn't be long before the beast had crashed through another wall, or at least another spot in the building which she would do her best in moving out from the small space she had and clipped the pouch that contained the tattered journal she had found and a small bag of something that she hadn't checked as she didn't have the time to, to the waist of her skirt and would move as quickly and silently as she could to watch the beast as it moved through the cave as if it owned the place. it was larger than she had even expected and before it did too much, it would let loose a loud roar that would shake Ritsuko’s courage and caused her to let loose a light 'eep' as she quickly covered her mouth during the roar. It did seem though that the beast didn't hear her as she made the sound, which was lucky enough for her. As the sound faded, she'd watch the beast walk up the staircase that she had walked down as she entered and disappeared as more parts of the staircase had fallen, leaving little of the staircase at this point.
A light sigh would escape her lips as she'd look around outside the building as the hole in the wall was at ground level to see that the hole was on the side of the cave with the lake and the bridge connecting a small part of land at the wall with a small building having been built and the bridge to cross the water to get over to the building from the general town, or city or whatever it technically considered.
Making her way to the bridge, crossing it and reaching the other side, the feeling of uneasiness had returned to her as she looked around to see some decrepit looking barrels next to the door. Taking a deep breath, she'd move to open the door, which was surprisingly easier to open than the door she had last opened and had almost tripped when the door had opened enough for the room to be visible from the light in the cave in general, but the room had its own light as well as she had stumbled in and had easily caught herself. Regaining her composure, Ritsuko would quickly look around the room to find more remains, however these weren't bones, it was an actual body, though a body wasn't the best description. It had skin, ragged clothes, and looked just to be a skeleton with skin. There didn't seem to really be any flesh, she still couldn't help but to let out yet another audible 'eep' as she had laid eyes on it.
The room she stood in, however, was one that she wouldn't think she'd have ever seen before as it was entirely made of stone, with a fire going in one side of the room, a bed on the other side with a few things scattered along the bed, and a desk right next to the door with a book that seemed worn but not as if it had been through the elements. There were several gems around the book alongside with a note, though outside of the book, the gems were the biggest things to stand out in the room. Would Ritsuko have the mind to loot the room of items before she left, or would she just grab the big items, leave then look at them at some point later on? Who knew, but some of the things on the bed, if it could be called that as it were a stone slab with several pelts laid on top of it. On top of the pelts laid a decently large and worn pouch almost as if it had been with the book, and two slightly smaller pouches that looked as if it someone else had brought it.
The worn pouch was filled almost to capacity with clay, with one of the two smaller pouches being filled with clay though a distinct smell could be smelt from the smaller pouch of clay that she hadn't noticed form the original one but she couldn't place it. The other pouch, however, held a note that she couldn't really read as it seemed as parts were missing and others were almost in a different language. She'd re-fold the note and look at the rest of the contents of the pouch, being a few more precious gems that looked as good, if not better, than the others in the room. She'd pick up the pouch that contained the note and the gems, gathering the rest of them from around the room and put each of them in the pouch and clipped it onto the waist of her skirt right next to the other pouch she had found earlier. The clay pouches she'd pick up and carry over to the desk that was mostly cleared off now as the gems on it were scattered all over it rather than being in a pile. She'd put the smaller clay pouch and clip it to her skirt waist as well though so they weren't all in the same area, she'd move it a bit over so it was more towards in uninjured hand. The worn pouch though, wouldn't be able to be clipped onto her skirt as it was a bit too heavy for her to not worry about it damaging her skirt or just being too cumbersome being on her waist as well as three other pouches.
Setting the large clay pouch next to the book, she'd pull the book closer to the edge of the desk and would open the cover, though the moment that she did the light in the room would fade quite a bit, causing her to look around and felt a slight sting on one of her fingers that she had used to open the book. Looking at her finger, she could see a small amount of blood and pulled it back, not thinking about how she had gotten a paper cut, just worrying about not getting any of the blood on the book. The light in the room had returned and she'd use her other hand to open the book, though for the first few pages on it, there didn't seem to be anything written on it. As she flipped the pages through the book, none of the pages had anything written on them. She'd frown a bit as she closed the book and put both hands on the book, forgetting about the paper cut for a moment and touching the book with the blood and had noticed through the slight sting she felt and had noticed that something had happened with the book as its color entirely started to shift. Opening the cover of the book and the line on the inside of the cover had caught her attention that was clear as day now.
'Only those with that cursed blood can read this legend passed down through generation after generation until it had only become a legend... This is the story of that Legend...'
As she finished reading the line, she'd slowly move to turn the page after setting the book back on the table and soon felt the sensation of someone having been behind her and having put their hand on her shoulder. As she quickly turned around, she didn't see anyone and there had been no trace that there had been anyone there to even put their hand on her shoulder. The corpse on the floor hadn't moved in the slightest, so it certainly wasn't that. Before she could even go and turn around, an echo rand through the caves, an echo of a laugh. It continued on for a good five minutes as she'd turn to the book and turned the page to see words on the page now.
'The Toujigikou hand mouths were always a mystical thing that puzzled many people throughout our world, however after years of searching in old, dust filled, parchments and books, I am capable of revealing the true story regarding how the Toujigikou gained them. It happened long ago, in the beginning of time, when humans and demons lived together.' The story started out from the person who had written this to document it, apparently. Ritsuko had to turn several pages as there were still several blank pages still.
'This wasn't a peaceful world, however, as most of the time, they would clash for land, for wealth, for power. However, not all demons had a lust for power or dominance over humans minds, there was one, tiny demon, with a clay-like appearance that was friendly toward the human race. They were called Amanojaku, or tiny clay demon. In this war scarred world, there was a bunch of peaceful people that banded together, and all of them had one thing in common, their artistic inclination. This small clan was famous for their sculptures, beautiful pieces of art, marvelously sculpted in either rock or clay, but they wanted more, because their world was a violent one, and they all lacked the ability to defend themselves, they sought to bring their work into life.
Two Amanojaku, two tiny little onis were traveling together, discovering this huge world, finding wondrous things in every corner, but what they loved the most, was those clay sculptures, that were so similar and so different to them. While they were tiny and alive, these were huge and dead. Unlike many demons, they weren't gifted with power to give life on their own, their powers were of a different sort, one that required a link with a human to properly function, but what human would ever link with an Oni? Considering the war that was raging on throughout the land. These two, tiny clay-like gnomes needed a reason, a powerful reason that would force a human to merge with them, and so together they would create life, real clay sculptures that would be able to walk, attack and most importantly, obey its creator without doubt. To make good, one has to spur evil to act, so the pair incited a couple of powerful demons to attack the sculptors’ settlement. In broad daylight, a pair of huge demons, with black, bat-like wings, shredding claws and piercing fangs invaded the village and began to slaughter everyone.
The two Amanojaku rushed toward the most gifted sculptor, one that had shown the urge to create living sculptures the most, and together they begged the human, to merge with them and save everyone still alive. At first, the man was adamant, he would rather die than merge with demons, but their incessant begging and the screaming from his people began to sway him toward the direction the tiny demons wanted. Eventually, the Amanojaku convinced him, and through an unholy ritual, that darkened the sky, human and oni became one. While the light returned, watchful eyes would see that the human was virtually the same. Same hair, same skin tone, same two arms, same two legs, everything was the same, but he wasn't the entirely human anymore, nor was he a demon. On the palm of his hands, two mouths had grown, and these were the mouths of the two Amanojaku, the only thing that remained of their bodies. The man already knew what to do, as his mind was filled with instructions coming from the demons. He grabbed a bunch of clay and his extra mouths swallowed it, munching on that material and with each bite, the clay began to gain form. Moments later, his hands expelled two small tiger figurines, that as soon as they touched the ground, began to move and growl.
Amazed with that, the sculptor invoked his energy and touched both felines, and with this action, their size was augmented until they were gigantic in size. Using his new pair of warriors, the oni-human hybrid hunted the two assailants and vanquished them. This bout was not easy and it wasn't without a payment. In the clash, the sculptor lost his eye and he replaced it, with one of his own making, one made of clay and energy.'
The girl would blink to take the story in before turning the page to see just a single line written down, even though there were still many pages left to the book. 'So you see, this is how the Toujigikou came to be, the first one a human-oni hybrid that paved the way to that clans ascension.' Checking to see if there was any more of the story, she would flip through the rest of the pages, there was absolutely no writing past that point, in which she'd close the book, taking in the entire story that she had just read. "So... huh... No it can't be. Really? Is this what actually happened or is it just what someone wanted to think what happened?" She knew what she read but she couldn't entirely wrap her head about it possibly being true. If it was true, then she'd be a hybrid of a human and demon if that's how it worked, even in a small percentage at this point with how many generations must have passed since that had been written. She'd put the book in the pouch with the tattered journal she had found in the other building a while prior. With her current situation and an exact amount of time being unknown to her, she was sure that surely that beast from in front of the cave had to have gone, unless the beast that had moved from within the cave was the beast from outside. Either way she had to find a way out as she didn't have her usual pouch with her so she didn't have a snack with her if she was out for a bit too long.
Grabbing the worn pouch, she'd quickly move out of the shack like building and quickly moved towards the 'mainland' across the bridge. The moment she had set foot off the bridge, she would notice the ground shaking and a noise coming from the shack she had just spent some time in. Not only was the ground shaking, the laughing from earlier sounded throughout the cave yet again. Though this time it actually felt as if it was actually there rather than just as if it was a disembodied voice. The laughing sounded as if it was coming from the shack and, just as if it was coincidence, the moment she had turned around, the shack had crumbled to dust with the tremors stopping as well. Ritsuko's heart was pounding in her chest as the shack crumbled, but let her guard down early by letting out a sigh of relief. Not long after everything stopped whatever rubble was left from the shack had gotten thrown to, what seemed like every corner of the cave, as something had broken through the ground underneath where the shack had once stood. The ground shook enough for her to stumble back a bit, losing her balance in which she'd accept that fact as well seeing some rubble heading her way and she'd protect her head with her forearms should any of the rubble hit her. Small pieces hit her, and she could feel some of the larger pieces in it had landed with a foot of her, which had made her squeak a bit with each impact.
Looking up, she'd see a dark figure standing in the dust cloud where the shack had been and the ground tremble as it started to take some steps forward, though Ritsuko didn't want it to have a chance to do anything as nothing ever good came from this sort of situation and looked up at it and stood up quickly only to break into a sprint towards the staircase after grabbing the worn pouch of clay after having had to drop it to protect her head from falling debris. Making her way through the direct line she had plan to run to the stairway, a handful of rubble from the shack had come flying towards her and a deep voice growling as it had made an exerting action with how hard it had thrown the rubble, mostly hitting the staircase, with only small pieces hitting the girl. She'd wince and make a small high pitched sound after getting hit, she'd start on her way of running up the stairs while doing the best as to just get up the stairs on her way out of the underground settlement.
The creature that had emerged from under the shack wouldn't let her get away without trying to kill her. The figure stood half as tall as the cave itself, moving towards the staircase, emerging from the dust to show grey skin, wearing some sort of pants and something stuck in its head, an opening with a red light in its abdomen, and missing a foot with it moving as if it was used to moving without the foot. With each step, the staircase slowly crumbled away underneath Ritsuko's feet, which caused her to stumble and move slower up them. She was close to the top as more and more of the stairs crumbled with the creature that had emerged from under the shack had moved slowly after seemingly not moved in quite some time.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the girl had almost been knocked off balance with the tremors created by the steps of the monster that had started chasing her. Regaining her balance, she'd continue forward, glancing behind her as she moved so that she could see if it was going to do anything and she seemed to have gotten further than it could have gotten so soon after it had awoken. The humanoid creature would let off a loud yell that would have been its own roar as the young girl had moved further out of its view into the dark cave that she had entered upon. Making her way through the darkness with the worn pouch in hand and the three pouches she had found within the cave are on her waist of the skirt she wore. She felt some relief of being out of there but there had been some unease while moving as well. Perhaps that first set of laugh could have been something else other than the first creature who would roar again, shaking the cave that she was walking through.
Stumbling here and there and a bit of time passing, she'd make it back to the entrance of the cave. The roots were entirely broken off as if something had torn them moving in ward, though the roots were all as if something broke them leaving the cave rather than entering. The rain had stopped at least though with everything muddy, she was hoping that whatever had broken the rest of the roots and scared off the creature that had decided to lay in front of the cave was also gone...
Looking around, she didn't see any current sign of the beast that had once been there just after she had got into the cavern and started on her way to the path she had strayed away from some time ago now. Thought she'd stop in her tracks a few meters away from the cave as she had heard laughter echoing through the area, though it still sounded as if she was in the cave and this time she could actually notice how raspy the voice was that was laughing as she didn't see anything around her that would be making it. As the laughter echoed, Ritsuko wouldn't stop looking around to find the source of it. She kept the worn pouch of clay pressed against her chest at this point and continued to in case she needed to run again. After a moment of looking around, the laughter had stopped abruptly and a dark figure would eventually float through the ground. "Just my luck..." She'd whisper to herself. The sky had been overcast since she had gotten to the entrance to the cave from within, and seemed to be later in the day as well as the forest was darker than normal without actually being night.
The dark figure would seemingly look around and soon notice the girl before chuckling to itself and slowly moving towards her. A chill ran up Ritsuko's back as she had noticed that it was moving towards her who caused her to move a few steps back before turning and breaking out in a sprint into the forest rather than in the direction of the path she thought was in. It didn't take long for her to look back to see if it was following her and seeing nothing, but as she looked in front of her, she'd notice that she was now running towards the figure.
"Crap! How'd it get in front of me?!" She'd ask herself as she quickly made a turn, slightly slipping but not enough to actually lose her footing and tried to put some distance between her and the figure. This time she put all of her strength into running in a single direction, not looking back for quite some time until she had lost her footing and tripped spectacularly. She barely missed out on face planting and was able to just roll, but rather than continuing running, she'd lost most of her momentum after the roll, so she just made it so that she didn't slid much in the wet grass and mud, panting quite a bit at this point. Looking around in a panic, Ritsuko would loosen the grip on the worn pouch of clay that she help against her chest before seeing the figure dash from moving through the ground with ease to being right in front of her face, and feeling something push through the clay, and a small prick of pain right below her collarbone. Without being given a chance to even look down at what happened, she would be thrown back violently, causing her to lose grip on the worn pouch, causing to land a meter or so away from her as she slid on the grass from whatever the figure did.
Regaining her senses after shaking her head a bit, she looked around to not see the figure and looked at the pouch she had been clutching to see there was a hole in it and looked down at her shirt to see a both a hole in her shirt and blood starting to stain her shirt from where she had felt the pain a mere moment prior to being thrown back. Her heart raced as she feared that this was going to be the final place that she'd be alive and that she'd still be alive if she hadn't gone into the cave outside of just getting away from the beasts. She'd quickly move her uninjured hand to make sure the blood was real and not a trick of some sort, which she needed to confirm with that as well. The moment she felt it, she knew it was real as she flinched from the spot where she had gotten hit from as well. Getting up quickly and scrambling to the worn clay pouch, she'd open it and grab the clay in the smaller pouch she had on her waist putting it together and putting it near the hand of hers that wasn't bandaged and put it on the clay in which the mouth on her palm would eagerly open and grab quite a bit of the clay before grabbing a bit of the clay from the pouch that had smelled somewhat familiar, but she still couldn't tell how it smelt familiar, but as her other palm was still injured and not wanting to take off the bandaging quite yet, she would grab some of the clay and put it in her mouth, chewing on it as if it was gum. She expected quite a bad flavor, but it wasn't all that bad, with the taste being closest to that of strawberries. She couldn't dwell on that for long as she didn't know where the figure was that had just attacked her but she would stand up slowly with the mouth on her right hand working on quite a bit of clay and even using her actual mouth to work on some clay, but she could feel something was off with the older clay from the worn pouch, but couldn't place it. Not long after she stood up, she'd notice that the mouth on her palm was already done and when she went to feed it more to chew on, it wouldn't so she'd just go and mix the two together, hoping that the chakra put into the clay her palm had just infused into was good enough for the time being as she didn't know anything about how this worked with the exception of doing what she just did. She didn't even know if she could infuse it with chewing on it, she was just praying so that she had some form of defending herself so that she wasn't going to die. It was a bit ironic that she was trying to keep herself from dying in the forest just outside of the village, but she still wanted to live even if it meant making herself looking a bit dumb by using her actual mouth to chew on clay even if it didn't work, but it may, who knows.
Quite some time had passed and after Ritsuko had spit out the clay she had been chewing and put it with the rest of the infused clay to grab when the time called when the figure emerged again. However, as she had just let her guard waver, the figure had emerged to knock her into a tree, where she coughed up a bit of blood as she hit the tree hard enough to dent it and break the bark, before getting knocked back towards the clay she had infused for when it attacked though she couldn't do too much with getting knocked around like a rag doll. As she landed on the ground and slit, a scream would escape from her lips as the figure would move quickly towards her getting ready to try and kill her. With the moment it had and gotten close enough to even scratch her, it would use what it did before to create another attempt on her life by trying to go through her chest and had made a slightly deeper 'stab' at her before noticing that the clay that was nearby and quickly moved similar to that a blob would as she hadn't given it a form, it moved as if it really never had one at all, surrounding Ritsuko as the excitement of everything going on and lack of food from what felt like just hour or just two days or so. Mostly the excitement of her life being in danger and the clay she had the mouth on her palm chew on for a bit had drained more out of her than she had expected and even the amount she had chewed on. The unconscious Ritsuko wouldn't see the figure get stuck in the clay as the clay wrapped around whatever part of it was using to attack and acted as a cocoon for Ritsuko. The excess of the old clay and the flavored clay she had chewed on had made their way to attaching to the main body of the figure before detonating, leaving no trace of the assailant from... wherever it originally came from, and tossing the cocooned Ritsuko quite a distance. luckily the cocoon didn't even show a sign of being damage and made sure that Ritsuko wasn't either. However, the girl hadn't woken up yet as she was capable of doing so, not being in any danger of death while in the cocoon. How long would this cocoon last? That's where only time would tell. Though the cocoon would hold for some time, Ritsuko wasn’t the only one within it...
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