Konoha Gate;
Ai, Enya, and Kudo were quietly waiting when a presence appeared behind them. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go." Takao said, ignoring their disgruntled faces.
The 4-man team quickly left while ignoring the 2 gatekeepers. ' I wonder how strong those two are? Well, they can't be strong if they are always guarding the gate.' Kudo mused.
"Sensei, what is the mission?" Ai asked, staying parallel to Kudo while Enya brought up the rear of the team.
"Well, we will be hunting a chakra beast near the border with Amekagure, harassing a village," Takao answered, his gaze occasionally darting across the trees.
"What is that? And how is it any different from a regular beast? Don't all beasts possess chakra?" Enya asked quickly, making Kudo chuckle. Rarely does Enya get involved in things except if it involves sensory topics and flower-related stuff.
"Calm down." Takao sighed, 'What did I do to deserve this? No more students after these 3.' Takao silently promised himself. "Remember that chakra is a fusion of physical and spiritual energies. So, while all beasts do have both, they don't necessarily have the means to fuse as humans do. Sometimes, rarely, a beast will appear which has awakened chakra. These beasts are more ferocious than normal beasts. Left alone over time, they become even stronger, capable of threatening a patrol squad or post, even becoming as strong as an elite jonin." Takao said, making the others perk up in amazement.
"If you can subdue it, then you might have a capable summon," Takao smirked. "Though most who have sought to try have become food for those beasts," Takao said.
The three absorbed his words briefly. "Sensei, is that why summoning jutsu is not encouraged among shinobi?" Kudo asked while Ai and Enya, both curious, nodded as well.
"Yes and no. First, it is difficult to find sentient chakra beasts, as that requires an extremely long growth time on their part. Secondly, if you do, they might not be willing to lose their freedom under a shinobi, so they fight, and more often they win, so it's dangerous to use the summoning jutsu without a summoning contract." Takao answered calmy supressing the urge to explode in wanton curses. 'Me and my big mouth.' He smiled ruefully.
"A summoning contract?" Ai asked, "Yeah, a contract is made between the chakra beast and the summoner regarding rules such as betrayal and combat stuff. Ai, your granduncle has the Monkey King summon. Don't tell me you didn't know about summons?" Kudo asked, glaring at Ai with a cheeky grin. "Hmph, of course I knew. I was just testing our sensei." Ai pursed her lips.
'No, you didn't.' The other three thought in unison. "Well, how do you know so much about summons, Kudo?" Takao asked, "Well, the academy library mentioned records about fundamentals to a shinobi elite." Kudo erupted in laughter, drawing scornful looks from his teammates.
Team 5 moved rapidly, heading towards the border with the Hidden Rain Village.
The trip took 2 days of travelling using the travel paths in the Land of Fire.
Team 5 soon reached a desolate village, about 5 days from any nearby town. The village was located at the foot of a mountain with a clear stream separating the village from the west and east portions of the land.
Walking over a tiny bridge, "Halt!" A group of 3 men rushed over, dressed in hemp clothing with pitchforks aimed at the shinobi. "State your purpose!" The foremost man shouted. Takao pointed at his forehead protector while drawing out a scroll. "We are shinobi from Konoha; we are here about the beast subjugation mission," Takao answered while calmly assessing the distraught faces of the men with a hint of gauntness.
"Really?!" The men exclaimed in happiness, "Thank you for coming. Come, we will take you to the village leader." They quickly put away their pitchforks, guiding Team 5 into the village.
'It's quiet.' Kudo thought as he observed the village. Though villages weren't as bustling as towns, they had a semblance of life, but the village was so quiet it was eerie.
The village's shape was like a fan, with the village leader's house located at the base of the fan. "Welcome, shinobi-san." An elderly man with grey hair greeted them.
"Elder," Takao said, bowing slightly, "Seeing the current circumstances, can you explain the situation to us so we can quickly subdue the beast?" Takao said, causing the men of the village to sigh in relief.
"Yes, please come in." The village leader welcomed them inside his house.
"Well, it began about 3 weeks ago. First, there were a few missing chickens, so we thought it was delinquent children in the village, but that soon escalated to missing bulls, which raised great concern. However, that was little compared to what happened 5 days ago; it was a rainy night, and a scream shook and woke the village. Many recognized the voice as Mrs Fujinosa. We rushed over, but we were too late; the entire Fujinosa household had been killed, all 5, including children. It was a terrifying sight, with limbs scattered and bits of flesh everywhere. Perhaps hadn't we arrived as soon as we did, there wouldn't have been anything to bury. One of the hunters caught sight of a swift black shadow disappearing into the night.
Given the tracks left behind, we concluded a dangerous beast had come down from the mountain. A team of 5 hunters went to hunt the beast, but only one returned, and he was maimed so badly that he died within the night." The village chief quickly explained. Team 5 remained silent briefly. "Can you take up to the Fujinosa house? I hope you haven't cleaned it up?" Takao said while standing up.
"Of course, we only buried the bodies, but the bloodied clothes were left. "The village chief quickly led them to the Fujinosa household; many of the village residents had run to the town while the beast was hunted down.
Reaching the house, the door had paw scratches running deep into the bark, the hinges were loose, and the table blocking the door shattered into pieces. Upon entry, blood spatter came into view along with heavy indentations of paws. Takao squatted, running his fingers over the floor. "It's quite big and strong. This is high-quality wood." Takao said. "Yes, the mountain has plenty of good wood, especially iron-wood trees. Most of the houses in the village were built using that wood." The village chief quickly replied.
"Village chief! I heard those shinobi finally arrived. Are we going on a hunt?!" A boisterous, booming voice came from outside the house as a group of 10 men approached in worn-out leather.