Nature of the Job [C-Search]

[Morishige]

The large city and it's even larger walls were a welcome sight to any traveler in a desert being buffeted by the heavy winds and painful sting of sand on their face. That is, if you could see it. Nobuyuki had found the round hidden by the wisps of sand and dirt and had gotten off course by a good mile. He had a general sense of where he was but in a desert that could change in a heartbeat.

Noticeable frustration surfaced on his face. He flexed his muscles and grunted loudly, pulling out a wrap he purchased before beginning his trek and began to wrap his face. He could feel his blood throb against the raw, beaten skin underneath the wrapping. "Kay, whoever decided to live in this godforsaken land needs to have their head checked." he thought to himself before walking once again. He thought of just the logistical issues of the area and admitted that going to war with the fabled Sunagakure would be impossible. But then he remembered where he was from and admitted it went both ways. "Cold. Hot. It all sucks." His steps were frustrated and beleaguered, but nothing was as bad as trying to take a bite out of a granola bar and getting a mouth full of sand along with it. He made a mental note to send the trainees to do this little mission next time.

The wind seemed to pick up and Nobuyuki began to worry that this wasn't just a normal day's weather. "I'll need to find some shelter in case this get's worse." he told himself, starting a short walk up a tall dune to get a view of the surrounding area. His thoughts went back to the outpost he stopped in right before setting out. There was a public advisory set up informing the public of the dangers of the desert and how to best survive in case the worst happened. There were known caves that he could take refuge, he just needed to find one. It was already hard enough to see as it was. From where he was standing, he couldn't see any signs of an inlet anywhere. One heavy sigh later, he was walking down the dune in search of a different outlook.

Suddenly, the sand gave way in a fashion unlike it usually did and Nobuyuki found himself tumbling downwards, being dragging in by the sand. Turns out there was a cave underneath the dune he had been standing on. He would have been happy had it not been for the pounds of sand now mixed in with his clothes.

Laughter. It was just all so ridiculous all he could do was laugh at it. Despite the humor, he was happy to have found shelter until the weather let up enough for him to continue his trek. He began to shake himself free of the sand and remove the face wrap, he needed to find something he could use to light a fire...

[Contract Search]
[Discovery of Contract of Random Choice - 600 Points : http://www.ninpocho.com/viewtopic.php?p=203847#p203847]
[Looking for Tiger, Snake, or Kami/Youkai]

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Congratulations, you've found a tiger! Do you accept?

 

[Morishige]

Hai, Shita-sama!

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Soon after Nobuyuki sank into the cave where he now was, the faint sound of voices could be heard from above. No words could be understood, but they were, without a doubt, there. These voices were yelling at each other, one a little farther off than the other, and the yelling eventually turned into an excited tone. As this change occurred, sand flew up from where the one-way entrance was. The cause of this phenomenon was a young tiger that had just been sucked into the same cave Nobuyuki had, and it seemed distressed.

When the tiger noticed the man that was also in the cave, it's immediate reaction was to be aggressive. This facade continued until the voices from before could be heard again, which caused the tiger to cower and run away from the entrance. It now stood about 30 feet into the cave, peeking out from behind a rock to see when the source of these voices would show themselves.

"I'm sure it's going to be strange seeing an animal talk, but if you could take care of those guys when they come in here, that'd be great." It said to Nobuyuki, using a voice that sounded like that of a child's, as more sand flew into the air. A man was now in the cave as well, who had swords on hip and various traps attached to a pack on his back. He noticed the shinobi that was in the cave with them, but payed little attention to him after they saw the fur of the creature they were looking for. Soon after the first man entered the cave, another slid in as well, armed with the same things as the other was. Both wore clothing meant to keep the elements of the desert from getting to them, this consisted of a lot of loose clothing and cloth wrapped around their face.

"Out of our way!" One said as he rushed toward the tiger which was still cowering behind the rock. These men were poachers, after the tiger that could speak so that they could sell it to some noble seeking rare animals. The other man ran past the tiger to block his only other escape route, and succeeded as it simply ran into his leg when it tried to get past. Both men would simply ignore Nobuyuki, unless he tried to stop them, which would cause them to fight back of course. The only thing they were after was the tiger.​

 

[Morishige]

His search for any useful materials were cut short by the sounds of shifting sands and voices. Nobuyuki's head whipped around towards the entrance in curiosity, not expecting danger at this point. Their voices changed and in tumbled what had to be the cutest and cuddliest looking feline he had ever seen. Cats were not common place up in the north of lightning country, and Nobuyuki had a soft spot for animals in general. The tiger however seemed to take offense to him being there and took an aggressive stance. "Whoa there, I'm here for the same reason as you. Damn weather..." he grunted, backing away and giving the cat some space hoping to avoid a confrontation.

Suddenly, it ran off behind a rock hiding from whatever was approaching. "Then again, maybe I'm not..." Nobuyuki mumbled as the noises outside grew closer. But it was the child's voice that took him from surprise. Wide eyes shot a bewildered look towards the stripped animal. Not only could it talk, but it was making a request! The Captain looked down at the ground and back towards the feline before his attention shifted onto the man who tumbled into the cave, throwing up sand all around himself and exposing Nobuyuki's raw skin to the brief moment of wind that formed a wince in his expression.

Nobuyuki quickly analyzed the situation with trained eyes, the shadows around him trembled as things came to light. "Trappers, here for the creature. Could they know it talks? Or do they want the fur? A pet for a rich lady perhaps?" he postulated. Now a decision had to be made.

"Out of our way!"

Thankfully it wasn't difficult; there was no way the captain was going to let these rude buffoons treat an animal this way, let alone one that is intelligent and can speak. One had run off to corner the tiger, and the other approached as he was. They seemed to pay him no attention which gave him an advantage. Killing them would be the easiest route, however, killing men wasn't something he was fond of. Especially when he was in a foreign country and on a covert mission of sorts. Then again, Nobuyuki thought, if they fought back he would have no choice but to put them down in self defense.

"No need for jutsu here. Don't want the wrong person finding out." he thought to himself whilst pulling the lance across his back off of the latch and into hand. He would dash forward, and sweep at the closest mans feet to trip him up and hopefully depose him onto the floor where he could hold him at hostage with the point of his spear to his neck. If these trappers proved to be more agile than he gave them credit to be, Nobuyuki would quickly put himself between the Tiger and the trappers. Either way, his words would be the same. "Leave now if you value your life, or fight and take your chances. Either way, you will not harm this creature." he warned in a low tone, spear wavering between enemies.

Should they choose to attack, Nobuyuki would use attempt to isolate one of them, by discombobulating the other. Whether it be a blow to the head, knee to the groin, or sand in the eyes, the captain would use whatever was necessary to give himself the advantage of one versus one combat. On equal footing, he wouldn't toy or waste time. He would strike for the vital organs: heart, lung, neck, or the femoral artery.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The first trapper was caught by surprise when his leg suddenly came out from under him and he fell flat on his back, a lance now held up to his throat. "You bastard, you won't get away with this.." He said as he looked to his partner, who seemed a bit frightened. The hostage gave a little hand signal to the other man, but it seemed he trusted him to much, as he snatched the tiger and ran further into the cave. "What are you doing!?" was all he could hear as he ran as fast as he could to get away, knowing that there was no chance he could beat him in fair combat.

If Nobuyuki pursued him, there would be the tiger with blood on his paws, sitting in the middle of another small area of the cave. It still seemed nervous at the time, and looked over at a large rock that was positioned above where the entrance to this area was. As Nobuyuki would enter this area, the rock would begin falling right to where he was. Soon after this, the other trapper would slide down from the ledge that he was on. His goal was to prevent Nobuyuki from dodging the rock he had pushed off of the edge, or simply attack him while he was distracted.

Swinging his sword at Nobuyuki's midsection as he grew near, he was prepared to dodge backwards if he missed his attack, but also forgot that his opponent carried a spear, so he was still in range of any attacks that may be directed toward him. "If you think we're letting you have this tiger, you're mistaken!" He would say, regardless of wether his attack was successful or not.

The blood that was on the tigers paw was not taken from the trapper, but instead from the tiger itself. It's paws were cut to make it appear that it had fought back, and this also prevented it from moving very far due to pain. Instead, it slowly pushed itself forward with it's back legs to try and get close to the trapper, if it was given a chance, it would bite into the back of his leg to give Nobuyuki an opening to attack.​

 

[Morishige]

It seemed that the forecast had called for betrayal that day, and it would be a lie to say that Nobuyuki didn't smile at the tripped man's misfortune. But there was now a more pressing issue at hand. He gave one final comment towards the man on the ground before venturing farther inside the cave: "To follow me means to court death. I suggest leaving. I'll take care of your partner for you." And with that, the captain set off in chase of the man who had taken the furry animal.

At first, there was confusion. The man had just left the little thing there? Nobuyuki froze, quickly assuming that this was a distraction. Time seemed to slow as adrenaline rushed through his veins. Nobuyuki knew the rock was falling, but also saw the glint of the blade coming for him as well. No better time to utilize the most important jutsu that anyone good shinobi learned in the academy. However, this meant that the cat would be out of the bag and his identity as a ninja would be revealed.

Poof!

The sword swung at a log and cut it in two before the large rock smashed it to pieces beneath it's weight. Nobuyuki had his weapon at the ready while the trappers focus was on him. He needed to buy the little guy some time to get in position for a team attack! "Letting me? Oh no, you are mistaken. If you think I'm letting you leave this cave alive, you are the mistaken one." he said in a slow and steady voice to stall just long enough for the furball to take a chomp into the mans leg. "Carefully now..." he told himself. With the tiger so close, he was in the most danger if the captain didn't commit a fatal wound with this distraction.

Lunging forward, Nobuyuki slashed at a diagonal angle for the mans neck from high to the right, downwards towards the left. That way if he missed his neck, there was still a chance of dealing good damage to his shoulder and greatly hampering his offense capabilities.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The man froze when he saw the lance coming at him, there was nothing he could do to stop or dodge this, he was done. The final word that would ever be spoken by him again would, "Goodbye.." likely directed toward a family member or close friend as he saw his life flash before him. As the lance sliced through his flesh, his head popped off and landed in the sand beneath them as the blood covered the tiger."Jeez, this stuff is gross!' He yelled when he ran from the body. Although most cats would lick themselves clean after that, he didn't bother trying in fear of it tasting disgusting.

"Well, thanks for your help with that. I'm Otorimasu, nice to meet you!" Oto would pause for a moment to wait for a reply of sorts, wether one was given or not, he would continue. "So I know you've already helped me a lot, but could you continue helping me? I need to get somewhere, and I doubt that those will be the only ones to be coming after me." Signaling with his head for Nobuyuki, to follow, he continued through the cave until coming to the exit.

"Now, I have some 'powers' that tend to act up when I get excited like that, so when we leave this cave you may see some things you won't expect.." If Nobuyuki decided to follow through and out of the cave, he would see that their surroundings were quite different from what they were before falling into the cave. The sky was as black as night, yet the sun was still out and everything could be seen just fine. Everything included the now blue sand and distorted creatures of the desert, nothing was the same as it was normally.

"As you can see, the world is a bit messed up. It may seem like 'genjutsu' as you'd call it, but really, my power somehow alters how something looks and acts if they're within a certain area around me." Just to make sure Nobuyuki knew that he wasn't being altered as well, he continued his explanation. "And don't worry about yourself, I can keep at least one thing normal if I focus, so since you'll be my body guard!" Oto said as he looked to Nobuyuki with pleading eyes.​

 

[Morishige]

The blood spewed everywhere, even getting on Nobuyuki's dusty clothes. At this point, it was more welcome to the captain than any more sand, whereas the small tiger didn't like it one bit. Still, Nobuyuki couldn't falt the little feline for it's disgust.

He thanked Nobuyuki for his help and introduced himself. "Nobuyuki. Good to meet you." he responded, giving his own name in respect. The captain turned to face the exit of the cave to make sure they weren't pursued by the other trapper; that was when Otorimasu spoke up again.

Nobuyuki thought for a moment regarding his mission that he was in Wind country for."Well they've waited all year, I spose they can wait a couple more hours." he thought to himself while starting to follow after the tiger. "My answer is...yes. I'd be happy to help you find wherever you need to go." he replied; Otorimasu speaking thereafter.

"Powers eh?" pondered Nobuyuki. "Well thanks for the warning."

They made their way outside and the captain confronted an entirely different world than he expected. The buffeting sand and wind were no longer present and the once blazing and orange desert was now cool and blue. Even the creatures seemed to take on new shapes and forms. Had had never partaken of illegal substances in his life, but this was what he thought it might be like. "Hmm..."

Nobuyuki looked at himself to check if anything had changed, but Otorimasu assured him that it wouldn't be a problem. "Well that's a relief." he countered, a smile on his face regarding the animals cheery attitude. It made Nobuyuki that much more looking forward to whatever little trip he was about to embark on.

"So, where to? Anything I can help with regarding direction? Not the easiest place to get our bearings."

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"I know where to go, just need a body guard to get there." Oto said as he turned and began walking through the cool blue sand. As he reached the top of a large dune, the range of his powers could be seen where the blue sand suddenly turns into the familiar tan sand that most would expect to see in a desert. The total range was about half a mile, so if any dangerous creature were to enter the area, they would be able to see it coming if there were nothing in their way. A sand worm could barely be seen on the edge of the power, surfacing a moment before burrowing back into the sand. "Soooo.." Oto said, looking at this worm, "We may want to avoid that at all costs, dangerous creatures are normally made even more dangerous when they're affected by this power."

Oto continued walking in a straight line, which, after a while, began getting to him. Silence seemed to make the situation awkward for the feline, and he would often look over at Nobuyuki. "So, where you from?" Oto asked, trying to break the tension that was likely not even there. The question was also a pointless one, since he had no actual knowledge of geography in this world. So any answer Nobuyuki would give, would simply make him confused.

The more they walked, the more the creatures became stranger and stranger, and the more these creatures seemed to become aggressive toward the two. Most were easy to deal with, for they were small and couldn't actually do anything, not even to the small tiger. But the time for the smaller creatures ended, when what seemed like a large string burst through one of the dunes, narrowly missing Nobuyuki. The creature that attacked the two burst out of the blue dune, and rushed them. This "string" belonged to a large, oddly shaped scorpion that was now hunting the two of them.

It's first move was to target Nobuyuki, using it's stinger once more to try and impale him. If this was dodged either to the left or right, the scorpion would quickly swing it's stinger in the direction that Nobuyuki had dodged to try and smack him to the ground. Oto's reaction was to run back a bit to let his bodyguard handle it. Even though this was caused by his power, there was nothing he could do to stop the creature, or even weaken it.

"Don't die! That would end badly for the both of us!" Oto shouted from about thirty feet back. "And I thought that big worm would be our first problem.." He mumbled to himself before looking around for any more potential danger. Seeing that there was nothing visible, he looked back to the scorpion and Nobuyuki, interested in what he would do to stop this thing. The only areas on it's body that were visibly weaker than the rest, were it's eyes in the front of it's body. Everywhere else was protected by a hard shell that would prove nearly impossible to pierce with normal weapons.​

 

[Morishige]

"Well that makes things easy!" Nobuyuki replied with a jovial tone to his voice whilst beginning to follow his new furry friend up the side of a tall dune. At the peak, he could see just how far the extent of the little guys effect reached. The captain looked down to Oto with a pondering expression. "Just what are you?" he questioned. He had encountered the speaking ninken of Kumo's Inuzuka, but he thought they were the only speaking animals of the world. Sure, he heard of contract beasts who could speak, but he chalked that up to fairy tales. "Perhaps I was wrong."

Oto noted to avoid a strange looking sand worm on the outskirts of the blue sand; he explained that regular old scary predators become much more amplified by his powers. Nobuyuki committed that to memory. "Avoid anything no matter what." he thought, smiling to himself regarding the silly notion.

The silence wasn't as unbearable for Nobuyuki as it was for the young cat. He kept himself busy by constantly scanning for danger and other potential intrudes outside of the circumference of blue sand. He questioned whether or not people who looked this way would see things that way, or if it only affected those within. Unfortunately, he wasn't skilled in the art of altering his surroundings and couldn't postulate much further. It was then Oto broke the silence with his question.

"Oh I come from the northeast, Kaminari no Kuni. Though, I'm not sure if you know of it. Guess you could say I'm here on business." he chuckled. Idle small talk seemed to followed, Nobuyuki did notice how the more they moved the more the strange beings of the blue desert seemed to be aggressively postured . "No wonder he needed a body guard..."

Suddenly a string of sorts short violently towards them and just missed the Captain; it was shortly followed by it's owner who came out of the dunes. No scorpion in the world was that big. "Otorimasu's power must have made it grow somehow?" he questioned. But this thing appeared to mean business. This meant Nobuyuki had to get seriously. Unfortunately, sand wasn't the best material to get a sure footing on. The captain dodged another attack but it put him off balance on the dune as the sand began to slide and give way which made it easy for the scorpion to knock him down.

Oto decided to tell him not to die and Nobuyuki rolled his eyes with a smile. Though he was on the ground, he didn't foresee his death just yet. The captain quickly got to his feet and held his spear in front of him. "Eyes...perhaps the underbelly depending on the species." he said to himself. Something like this wasn't meant to compete against humans. There were reasons they were small. He came up with his plan.

Nobuyuki tossed his spear into the air and his hands rapidly shifted through seals. First came a shadow clone (a literal clone made of shadows), and then his own shadow extended towards the create to freeze the animal in it's place. Should it be intelligent enough to dodge it, Nobuyuki would take out a Kunai. Why? Because the spear falling through the air was caught by his clone and then jabbed towards the eyes of the scorpion. The one versus one fight very quickly became a one versus two.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Oto prepared to run as Nobuyuki was knocked to the ground, but was quickly put to ease as it seemed a plan was created. The scorpion wasn't intelligent enough to respond to any of the attacks made against it, so it was blinded quite easily. The shadow that held it in place kept it from going on a rampage due to the pain it felt, and it would simply bleed until it died at this point. Even if the jutsu was released, it wouldn't realize it could move in time to do some damage before it's now inevitable death. The reason it was bleeding enough to die from a simple stab to one of it's many eyes, is that Oto's powers conveniently affected the way it's blood flowed as well. This made the blood gush out far more than it should, dooming the beast with even the slightest of wounds.

"That seemed like it was way easier than either of us expected.." Oto said as he went to Nobuyuki's side. "Well, off we go! Standing still probably isn't the best idea." He said, resuming their walk to whatever the destination was. Even as time passed, there didn't seem to be any immediate danger, which allowed Oto to relax a bit. As he relaxed, the area that his power affected seemed to shrink, though barely noticeable. Eventually, they came across some very familiar tracks in the sand, and Oto seemed to be a bit nervous upon seeing them.

"So, uh..." He said as he turned to face his companion, "It seems I actually am lost.. These are our tracks." Turning back to face the tracks, he was also a bit surprised to see that the scorpion's corpse was gone, even though the blood stains in the sand didn't seem to continue, like the creature just vanished. "And it seems we have lost our scorpion." So there were now there were two more problems they must deal with. Finding their way, and finding out how the scorpion could have vanished, or what could have caused it to do so.​

 

[Morishige]

It all went according to plan, as most of his plans did. Part of the perks of living through the rough life of an ANBU meant picking up on skills the were useful in all situations. Strategy was one of the few that came easier to him than others. What he didn't expect was the Kill Bill style of blood gushing out of the creature.

As soon as the captain deemed the scorpion to no longer be a threat, he released his clan jutsu and turned to look at Oto regarding what had happened. "You can say that again. I can't imagine what would happen if I got any kind of wound from that fight. I'll need to be more alert." he replied, his eyes looking out once again across the blue dunes that surrounded them. With the small tiger at his side, they once again set off in search of wherever their destination was.

Nobuyuki noticed the tracks as Oto had and visibly rolled his eyes. "So much for knowing where he was going..." chided the Nara within the confines of his own mind.

Oto spoke up and confirmed what he already assumed, but also noted the scorpions missing corpse. Nobuyuki began to cycle through various reasons why it would be missing and two came to mind. In the time they had been walking, perhaps Oto's power had gotten out of range of the beast and it returned to a lesser size and didn't change again because it was dead. Or, the worse option: it had been eaten by something. Something bigger than itself. Nobuyuki always prepared for the worst.

He pulled his spear from the latch, though he remained relaxed. "Well we can only speculate about where the beasts body went, so let's not waste our time worrying. Figure out where we need to go. If I can help, let me know."

Oto had mentioned the sand worms from before. But Nobuyuki would surely have felt tremors in the sand should any have gotten too close. Still, he kept near Oto to ensure he could pick him up and run should the worst happen. "I got a bad feeling about this..."

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Oto could tell that Nobuyuki was equally as worried as he was that a massive corpse like that just vanished, why else would he keep his spear out? But he had to get back, otherwise things could get much worse than they already were. So hwo was he supposed to find his way again? It seemed they were going the correct direction for a while until the scorpion popped up. He continued walking after thinking about a few things, and came to a conclusion.

"If only my powers hadn't acted up, we might not be in this mess.." He said as they continued their walk through the desert. It was now becoming late, and it would be much harder to find their way in a cold, dark desert. "By the way, my power can't alter the way the weather works, just how it appears. So it'll still be dark and cold when it comes to be night time." Stopping to look at Nobuyuki, Oto began looking a bit concerned.

His concern wasn't about the possibility of something and more dangerous than the scorpion however, his fear was that he may never reach his destination at this point. He was still a child, it wasn't like he merely appeared that way.

We should probably stop here for the night or something, so I hope you have some way to warm us up." The sun, which was the only thing you could see in the seemingly pitch black sky, was now setting as the sky turned to the familiar blue and orange that it would as it became nigh time. The only strange thing about the sky now, was that the sky just continued turning blue as it became darker. So instead of the night being entirely black, the sky somehow remained in sight. The days were night and the nights were day, maybe a little disorienting when the color of the sky didn't match what you could see, but the moon and sun were still in sight as well.

And I should really find a way to control this.." Oto mumbled before sitting down. At this point, he wasn't going to go with any other suggestion besides setting up camp and surviving through the night.​

 

[Morishige]

His journey with the tiger was taking longer than he had assumed it would. But that fault was placed on Nobuyuki and his blind optimism. He had assumed the talking tiger would have an easier than normal life, when really, it was just as complicated as any humans. "You can probably multiply that complexity along with this special power of his. I feel sorry for the guy..." he thought, having pity on Oto for being plagued by this uncontrolled reality warping.

Time waned as they walked and Oto voiced his displeasure, and in a sense, his apology for getting lost. Nobuyuki shook his head. "If it wasn't that, I'm sure misfortune would have found us. For all way know your power is keeping the worst of it away." he replied, trying to put him at ease. He didn't want him getting down in such a situation. Pesimism of any kind was a killer in an ordeal such as this.

It began to grow cold and Oto spoke up again. His words were some that Nobuyuki didn't want to hear. The captain could see that the young tiger was beginning to doubt himself and their quest to find whatever he needed to find. The little guy suggested they should stop and set up some kind of camp. Nobuyuki looked around at the changing atmosphere and marvelled at it all, only to be reminded that they were going to need a fire. Being stuck in a desert at night was almost worse than in the day. The cold was much more effective at sapping strength than the heat.

Nobuyuki looked around himself for any material to burn. There were succulents nearby, a few scraggly trees whose wood was so dry it would only last minutes. Nobuyuki created a few shadow clones and they ran off into the desert with their own mission. Bring back any fire wood they could find. Meanwhile, Nobuyuki went and scavenged anything that would burn, even the cactus. He brought it all back and prepared it for the fire, even managed to take most of the water and dry out the cactus. Sticking it all into a small pile at first, he breathed fire into the bramble and lit it aflame.

"That should work for now, Oto. I'll have my clones looking for wood throughout the night. Hopefully they don't come across anything foul and bring some back," he said with an optimistic tone. "And don't worry about it all. We'll find what you are looking for. I promise."

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Got it, I guess I'll just go to bed and try to get through the night then!" Oto responded when Nobuyuki informed him of what the clones would do through out the night. He laid down fairly close to the fire and closed his eyes to go to sleep, but couldn't shake the nervous feeling he even had about staying in one place for so long.

The night went on slowly as Oto slept and the clones occasionally brought back what wood they could find, though the wood never seemed to be enough to keep it going until they came back once more, so the flame often died out. The tiger would sometimes wake up suddenly and take a look around the area, using his feline eyes to see farther than Nobuyuki could without some assistance, before lying back down to try and sleep for longer. This continued for a couple of hours before Oto woke up again, but this time began to look worried. "Somethings coming, I don't know what, but I think it's big!" He yelled to his traveling companion, who shouldn't be able to feel or hear anything yet.

"It's close!" Oto continued after a couple minutes, and now small vibrations could be felt by even the shinobi. A loud bursting noise would be heard moments later as something surfaced nearby. Oto could see exactly what this was, and was terrified by it's presence, but the light from the fire would be to dim for a normal human to make out anything more than it's silhouette. This problem would soon be solved however, as the beast spewed fire from it's mouth. The "beast" turned out to be a rather large sand worm who, as shown before, could breath fire. Most people would struggle with a normal sand worm, and now that there was one that was larger than normal and could breath fire, it was likely a threat even for a skilled ninja.

Spoiler

So the most obvious change that Oto's powers caused was the fact that the worm could breath fire, but another, less obvious affect it had, was that this worm's skin was more resilient than most. It's tough hide covered it's entire exterior, meaning that any normal attacks could not pierce the beast's skin. Seconds after it surfaced and noticed the two, the worm dove back into the sand and began making it's way toward their location. A mound of sand could be seen moving toward them just as Osu began to run in the opposite direction.

"We should probably run!" He yelled, but running was not the best option for him, for the mound slowly caught up to the feline.​

 

[Morishige]

The captain had to at least remain semi-conscious so that he could manage the fire and keep what little it was going so that they could stay warm. He did lay back on the sand, careful to curl his collar and sleeves upward so sand wouldn't invade and join what already was there from the cave escapade. His eyes traveled to the stars; the more he seemed to stare the more of the bright shining objects seemed to appear.

Every so often, Oto would stir awake and looked around before shifting and trying to fall back asleep. When he was younger, during his early ANBU days, he had sleeps like that while on mission. Every hour and a half like clock work, he'd sit straight up in bed as if expecting something going wrong or perhaps he had overslept and missed the agreed upon wake up time by the squad. It wasn't a bad habit to have, but a tired ANBU never performs up to the bar.

After a few other starts, Nobuyuki stopped flinching at his sudden wakes, but this time it was different. He warned of something coming. Nobuyuki slowly shifted onto his knees and began to stare out across the sand for signs of whatever Oto was speaking about. He couldn't sense anything himself. "I don't see or hear anything." he said in a low tone, remaining vigilant. The silence waxed as they waited for whatever Oto's heightened senses revealed. It was almost ear shattering-- that high pitched . Finally Oto said something and brought relief to Nobuyuki's ears.

He now felt the vibrations, and he could hear the beast coming but it pretty dark without the sun in the sky. The meager fire wasn't helping his night vision either. Thankfully, whatever in god's name was approaching spewed fire from it's maw revealing the entire area and the length of it's body in presence. Rather than cowering as most would, Nobuyuki stared ahead. His mind was a race with possible plans to try and put this thing down. However, he needed more information before committing to any kind of strategy regarding killing it. Things this big didn't just die... they were avoided.

"Big and angry, breaths fire, probably resistant to fire and earth jutsu as well. I doubt my weapon could pierce it's skin unless they are more the squishy type of worm..." he jested with a smile. Nothing like this was found in lightning country, so it posed quite an issue with the young captain.

It had acquired their location and was on it's way, Oto was running and Nobuyuki thought to follow suit. "Shit." cursed Nobuyuki, running the grab Oto. He'd try to pick the small creature up and toss him on his back. He quickly turned to face the oncoming mound of sand coming at them and began to pump chakra into his legs to get a sizable jump over the mound to land behind it.

Nobuyuki pulled his lance out and fashioned it in his hand like a javelin. "Let's hope it gives me a shot. I'm going to use one of the strongest jutsu in my arsenal, but I have to have the perfect opportunity." he said quietly. His plan was this. Wait for it's mouth to be open and for the fire to not be barreling towards him, then toss his spear into the maw of the sand worm, use Kirin and channel towards his spear flying into the worm and hope that the electricity at least stuns it long enough for them to get far far away.

Now this plan was dependent on not getting eaten, or burnt to a crisp. So the captain would careful about his timing and movements. He'd be sure to try and outlast the foes ability to breath fire. He assumed that most fire breathing capabilities had a biological limit, as did most things of nature. But he didn't know the fire was granted to the beast because of Oto. Time would tell... But until then, Nobuyuki would remain evasive as best he could until an opportunity arose for his plan or something changed.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"Whoa!" Oto exclaimed as he was thrown onto Nobuyuki's shoulders, digging his claws in to keep himself steady. "I know I was in danger, but warn me next time!" He said, his tone sounding a little annoyed after being frightened more than he already was. The worm was still close behind the two, able to keep up with the Captain's speed, though just barely.

The beast managed to catch up by lunging out of the ground, then trying to swallow the pair whole. Each time it tried this, the captain dodged the attack and continued running. Each time an attack had to be avoided, Oto dug his claws deeper and deeper into Nobuyuki's shoulders. This partially had to do with the fact he was scared out of his mind, and partially had to do with the fact that it was difficult to stay on his partner's back.

The worm continued doing the same thing, and the captain continued dodging. It was like this for several minutes, since the worm left little openings for Nobuyuki's attack. Eventually, it finally realized that doing the same thing wasn't working, and it would just tire itself out more than it should if it intended to eat these two. So, it did the same thing. But this time, it added it's fire to the mix. Lunging out of the ground as it had before, the beast gathered fire in it's maw that it would use to burn the two alive.

This was his chance, the one that would allow him to potentially stun the creature that pursued them. Quickly turning around, Nobuyuki threw his spear into the worm's mouth, and quickly followed up with Kirin to electrify it. The spear was well timed, and prevented the worm's breath attack. This allowed them to continue running as the worm tried to figure out what had happened.

Although the worm was stunned, it wasn't for as long as he would've hoped. It quickly recovered and continued chasing the two. It was now enraged, and moving a little faster than before. This extra burst of speed allowed it to catch up to the captain, but very slowly. It no longer bothered trying to swallow them, it's only aim now, was to kill them. After getting within range, it began shooting fireballs aimed at Nobuyuki and Oto, who was still struggling to stay on his partner. Each one came from a different angle due to the Worm's swerving, which could make it difficult to dodge.​

 

[Morishige]

With every action, Nobuyuki could feel the tiger's claws dig into his skin for support. Thankfully, the adrenaline of the situation was dulling the pain as he continued to wait for the best moment to try and get rid of this thing that was hell bent on catching them. There was finally an opening and...!?

"Well, there goes my spear..." he thought to himself. As it stunned the creature, but didn't do much else. Perhaps it even angered it enough to continue with it's plan. They were farther away now, but the monster was moving faster than before. Along with that, fireballs were hurdling towards them at good speed.

The captain could feel claws grip tight as the intense heat grew ever closer, baking his skin just a touch. He needed to act quick and either dodge, or get rid of them. One option would slow them severely, but the other wouldn't do anything but what he was doing before. Just how did the natives deal with these worms? Did they ride them?

Nobuyuki actually gave that option some thought as he dashed sideways, throwing a Water Shark Bomb at the nearest fireball to be sure it wouldn't hit them with collateral damage of sorts. It would likely poof into a giant explosion of steam upon impact. His thoughts went back to riding it, but, it could just go underground.

Scratching that thought, he shuffled threw jutsu that might even put a dent in it. If Kirin did so little, the only thing strong enough to take it out was probably itself. That's when the lightbulb turned on. It would take alot of chakra, but was worth the shot. He waited for another set of fireballs before springing into action. He would use one of his Nara techniques, Displacement Shade, to absorb the fire balls and shoot them back at the creature from his own shadow.

Upon firing death coming for the both of them, he would stop and form handseals, opening up a void of shadows to suck them inside, only for another void to reappear and redirect them towards the beast. But Nobuyuki wasn't dumb, after attempting such a feat we would turn to continue his retreat, in case it didn't work.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The fireball had been successfully blocked, and turned to steam exactly as Nobuyuki expected, but the worm continued chasing them, growing ever closer as time passed. This time, it waited until it was closer to the two, then released another volley of fire balls. Nobuyuki took this chance, and absorbed all incoming fireballs into a void of shadows. Soon after, another void appeared and launched the same fire balls at the worm, which seemed finally killed the beast.

"Whoa!" Oto exclaimed as he jumped off of Nobuyuki's shoulders and ran to investigate the corpse. He stopped in front of it to marvel at it's size, then began climbing on top of it. "You've got to come check this out! It's sooooo cool!" He yelled to Nobuyuki after reaching the top. But Oto's fun wouldn't last long, as the beast began getting back up again, this time with a strange glow in it's eye.

It would look to Nobuyuki, but not attack, continuing like this for a few moments before lowering it's head to the man. "Uhhhh, does it want you to ride it? This is weird.." Oto said as he looked down at the worm's "face." When he looked around him, he saw that the sun was beginning to rise, and realized that a seat atop a giant sand worm was a great spot to enjoy the view. Unlike the sunset, the sunrise was different in color. The sky would slowly transition from blue to black as it got brighter outside.

"So what are you waiting for? This'll make it faster to get to where we need to go!" The tiger shouted, he began jumping from excitement, impatience taking over. He went from being scared out of his mind, to not having a care in the world, and it may seem like he knew what the glow in the worm's eye meant..​