The sound of a pebble dancing across the surface of the water broke the otherwise quiet atmosphere. A girl sat at the riverbank, staring absent-mindedly into the clear blue waters. She had been sitting there for a good half an hour, the most she had ever stayed still at any given moment out of the watchful eye of her father. Erika frowned, picking up another rock from nearby and tossing it a little more roughly into the river. She wanted to see the pebble jump far, and yet for the past half an hour, she had only managed to make it jump two or three times before it fell into the water's grasps. She was beginning to lose patience, tapping one foot as the pebble plunged into the water without even giving her one jump.
How annoying...
But what really bothered her wasn't the fact that the rocks weren't doing their job, but more so that she had nothing better to do than to sit here and try to make pebbles dance. She could go on a mission, but the prospect of having to go alone always scared her. Erika had wanted to go with Jun, or even her brother, but neither of them seemed to be free to pay her much mind recently. What exactly were they so busy doing anyway? The brunette pouted to herself, her pouting reflection staring back at her as she looked into the waters. Many people would die to have as much free time as she did, to enjoy the scenic views of Kiri and do a good load of nothing, but she was restless. As would any eleven-year old be, no doubt.
"I'M SO BORED!" she yelled into the river, standing up from her seated position. She knew that the waters wouldn't be able to answer her, but she was more than just a little annoyed now. Erika kicked some of the pebbles in front of her into the river. She could do some training, as the natural water source was right in front of her. Or she could go for a swim...the girl looked down at her clothes and shook her head. She was wearing a yukata, one of her favorite ones. It was made of cotton, in pink and white, her favorite colors. She couldn't risk getting her clothes wet, if not because it was her favorite one, she had nothing to change into if she did get them wet. Erika wasn't in a training mood either, her eyes glancing along the river bank as she contemplated what to do with her time.
And as though to answer her, the waters began to churn. It wasn't where she was standing though, a few feet away along the left side of the water bank, she noticed that a group of children were playing. From the distance, she could see that the children were just a little younger than her, a group of four. They were playing tag, a simple running game that Erika loved to play with her friends from time-to-time. But what had caught her attention was not the innocent child's game. She saw the waters move, a few feet into the river where the children were playing. At first she thought it was a whirlpool, or maybe it was just a slightly bigger fish, as Kiri was notorious for animals under the sea. But this was something different...something in her gut told her.
"Hey kids! Get away from there!" she called out to the children, dashing towards them. Although she wasn't sure what exactly was in the waters below, she had learned from a long time ago to trust her instincts. Especially when her instincts told her it was something bad. The kids didn't hear her though, which was probably normal since her yelling voice wasn't exactly the loudest. Her pink hues glanced from the children to the water, hoping that whatever it was that was lurking would at wait for her to get there. She couldn't possibly bear to see any of the children be harmed.
A handful of change fell into the young shinobi's hand. It was the remainder of his pay from his most recent mission, eaten up in its majority by his most recent purchase. Exiting the store, he entered the bright midday street and crinkled through his paper bag and retrieved the object of his affection for the rest of the day: a book he'd heard a good deal about, but wasn't even sure if he'd actually read. He hadn't read for fun in a few years, ever since becoming a genin.
Flipping open the pages and walking down the street, he began to read with one hand over his brow to block out the sun. He was quickly absorbed into the fantasy story as he continued on.
Minutes later, he lurched backwards as he realized he'd already reached the river-aqueduct faster than he'd expected and had nearly walked into it. Pulled from his trance, he looked around himself. From his vantage point at the bridge, he could see a number of children down playing by the water. He watched the scene for a moment, saw nothing else.
He had come to complete another mission, earn some more pocket money. It was a simple C-rank: a contract had been put out on some underwater creature that was seen lurking down the river, a bit out of town. Hideyoshi decided to wait and finish the chapter of his book before heading down the riverside to the spot where it had been seen. He flipped to the second-to-last page.
In the background, the water began to churn, though Hide was too absorbed to notice. A familiar voice's distant yell pulled him back to reality.
"Hey kids! Get away from there!"
Instantly, he knew who it belonged to. Erika? Pocketing his book, he turned and placed his hands on the railings to look out below. Maybe 50 feet away were the kids from before, his sister about 100 away. Between them, the surface of the water bulged as some large creature swam underneath towards the children. It's here? This close to the village?
Quickly thinking, Hideyoshi used the Tiger seal to perform Shunshin, disappearing in a puff of smoke. A moment later, he materialized next to the children. They jumped in fright, mumbling among themselves. Stumbling from disorientation, he grabbed two of them under his arms as they shrieked and began to run towards the nearby wooden stairs.
"Erika, move the other two!" He yelled as the creature swam closer and closer to the riverbank.
Under any normal circumstance, she would have greeted her brother with a little more enthusiasm, but even as he materialized to where the children were still innocently playing, she would only nod at his instruction. It would seem that he had used a shunshin technique, which technically she now realized she could have done. It would have saved her from a lot of running. But no matter, there was no time for any second thoughts as the water continued to churn, whatever that was lurking in the waters making its way closer and closer to the riverbank. She would reach the other two children in a matter of a few seconds, picking up speed while shifting her gaze from the river to the children.
"Don't move!" The girl would wrap her arms around the children, one around each arm and jump out of the way. They gave her the same response that the others had given Hide, shrieking in fright. "Run as fast as you can with your friends, go!" Her voice was stern, calling to the children while they made their way back into the forest and towards the village. It must be frightening, having been playing near the riverbank only moments ago and the next they were fleeing for their lives. Turning to face her brother now, she would give him a slightly mischievous smile. "Nice of you to join me, onii-chan!" Unlike her brother, she was actually excited to have something to do, not knowing that this was actually a mission. She thought that he had happened to just be at the same place at the same time.
Reaching inside her weapon pouch, she found a kunai from within and clasped it tightly in her left hand, her head spinning to the creature that was now coming out from the water. "Looks like we're about to be graced with its presence..." she mumbled half to herself. The girl would run towards the riverbank, at where the start of what would seem to be the head of the sea creature began to emerge from the waters. "Sorry to crash on your grand entrance..." she said a little louder. The brown-haired girl pivoted to the left, skidding to a stop, jumping into the air. She was going to try and ride the creature, possibly try to land on its head. She pulled out the kunai that she had been hiding from her pouch, her right hand reaching for a shuriken. "It's a tako! We can maybe make takoyaki!" The girl was feeling especially mischievous today, secretly thanking the giant octopus that had emerged from under the water for relieving her boredom. 'Mr. Tako, let's have some fun!" giggling as she keyed in on landing on its head.
Dropping the two kids and leaving them to run up the stairs themselves, Hide turned around just in time to see Erika usher the other two children away. With any potential bystanders out of the way, they were free to carry out their mission.
Returning her sly smile, he turned to face the creature as well. "Just doing my job." He intimated sarcastically. "Be careful, Eri."
Slipping his hand into his shirt, he retrieved his two tantos. "Let's see what exactly it is." Together with his sister, he ran towards the riverbank to meet it. But as he came to a stop, he was shocked to see Erika leap into the air, probably aiming to land atop the giant octopus's head. "Eri?" He exclaimed suddenly.
"Now's not the time for food jokes!" he noted, with concern in his voice. Part of him knew, that even for a genin, she could take care of herself. But he didn't want anything bad to happen to her. He also didn't want to seem like their father however. "Hope you know what you're doing!"
Pulling a number of senbon needles from his pouch, he quickly threw them towards the emerging shape before Erika could land. Most would miss, but it gave him enough time to sprint onto the surface of the water a bit away from the octopus. Weaving handsigns, he began to cast a jutsu that would raise the creature from the water a bit and stabilize it momentarily, giving Erika a better shot of landing atop it.
But the giant octopus wasn't going to let Erika and Hideyoshi have their way quite just yet. The senbon had missed its target, which Hideyoshi had already thought would happen. Erika saw what her brother was doing, her head turning for a second to acknowledge that he was trying to help her stabilize the giant creature so that she could land on its head. But the octopus proved to be a little more sly than that, seeing the girl coming at her, it would lash out one of its eight tentacles, trying to wrap it tightly around her small frame. Height gave her the advantage, as she hurled the shuriken that was in her hand toward the octopus's eyes. She weaved a series of handseals, trying to shunshin away from the octopus.
But she wasn't particularly good at ninjutsu, even academy techniques. It took her more concentration and focus than she willed herself to admit. Her pink hues were taken off the creature for just a moment, at the very moment that Hideyoshi had weaved his own handseals to bring the creature up and then abruptly down onto the waters. This in turn had helped the creature, two tentacles shot at the brother and sister duo. The first one coiled itself tightly around Erika, wrapping itself from her neck down like a cocoon. The brown-haired girl tried to break free, but the tentacle only wrapped around her tighter, trying to suffocate and crush her. She winced under the pressure, everything but her head was free from its grasps.
The octopus stared at the girl with giant eyes, blinking once or twice as it brought its prey close. There was not much she could do at this point, wriggling herself free was more than impossible. The girl looked to her brother, reluctant to call on him for help. She had wanted to show him what she was capable of and in all rashness got herself caught up in the coils of this ugly thing. "Onii-chan!" she yelled, knowing that this wasn't the time to be heroic and narrowminded. Erika had misjudged the creature and its intelligence, as she let out a scream while the tentacle around her tightened another fraction. "Onii-chan, help me!" Her voice was an octave higher than usual as she struggled to free herself.
Releasing his jutsu, Hide had barely enough time to bring his arms up to protect his side before the tentacle slammed into him and sent him flying across the surface of the river. Bouncing off the water, he caught himself on all fours just in time to see the creature wrap his sister head to toe. "Eri!" he yelled from further down the waterway. I've got to free her!
Darting forward, he slipped his tantos away and suddenly splashed down underwater as one of the tentacles swung at him. At the bottom of the riverbed underneath the octopus he cast the Hiding in Mist jutsu - mist began to escape from the surface of the water around the octopus, clouding the air. A few more hand signs and Hideyoshi, along with 2 water clones, appeared inside the opaque cloud. One clone charged the octopus with his tantos, while the other went around the opposite side from Erika to distract some of the tentacles.
Using Erika's sounds as a guide, Hideyoshi ran up the octopus' arm and cut her free. The two fell down onto the water. Leaping back with Erika in his arms, he dispelled the mist jutsu and set her down. "Are you alright?" Ahead of them, the clones poofed into water and the octopus stared them down as the fog cleared.
Erika knew that she could always count on her brother, even as she anxiously called out to him for help. He was a chuunin for one, and they were too close of brother and sister for him to do nothing. So, as the octopus enveloped her from head to toe in its tentacle like a cocoon, the girl would just hang tight, waiting for the man to save the day. She was confident in Hide's abilities, above all else, the man she knew wasn't one to let a slimy creature like that take her away. As she waited, she heard the splashing of water, judging from the sound of the splash, could not have been made by the octopus. And it was close enough in her proximity that she assumed it was not one of the other seven tentacles.
When he cut the tentacle that bound the girl, Erika gasped for air, a sigh of relief escaped her lips unconsciously. Even though she had expected Hide to save her, she couldn't mask her surprise at just how quickly he had managed to do so. As the tentacle that had bound her released its grip reluctantly from her body, Erika's eyes settled on the surroundings. Sudden fog had set in the area, in such a manner that was too abrupt and focused to be from a natural cause. Could this be the Hidden Mist jutsu? The brunette blinked a couple of times, having never seen this jutsu casted before. Her brother was a lot better than her, and never failed to amaze her.
Hide went ahead and caught her, the duo plunging into the waters. He took her a little distance from the sea creature. "I'm okay, onii-chan, thank you." The water clones had since dispersed, Erika having only caught a faint glimpse of one of them before they had disappeared. When will I get to that kind of level...she wondered to herself. Straightening from her position, she looked at the giant octopus dead in the eye. "That wasn't very nice, Mr. Tako!" She was a kid after all. Turning to Hide, she would whisper. "I'll take the left and you take the right? Let's finish this thing off once and for all." The creature sent two of its remaining tentacles straight, one towards Erika and one towards Hide. The girl jumped to the left, knowing that her brother had most likely done the same. She pulled a kunai from her weapon pouch, watching the octopus's movements before attacking again.
"Sounds like a plan," Hide affirmed with a smile. "Let's carve up this over-bloated ikayaki."
One of the creature's tentacles darted at him. Narrowly dodging, he sliced it with a tanto. Too shallow. He wished he had a bigger sword.
Throwing his daggers into the air, Hideyoshi darted under the tentacle and with a powerful handplant-kick knocked the limb up into the air. Leaping back to his feet, he wove the handsigns for a water jet jutsu - aiming at the site of the cut, the high pressure water cleanly cut off the tentacle.
Catching the falling weapons, he checked to ensure Erika was doing fine before dashing forward. "Let's hope this takes him out!" he called through the chaos. "I'm running low!"
We ought to finish this soon, he thought to himself. If we can take out his eyes, Erika and I ought to be able to finish it with some water spears. Should have just enough chakra. He just hoped Erika had thought of something similar, and that their attempt went off without a hitch.
Swapping a tanto for a number of senbon needles, he threw them forward in front of him as he jumped and aimed to dig his blade into the creature's right eye.
