He nodded his agreement at the words of his kage, promising to take better care in his preparation for their next mission. That gave him a bit of hope for his continued study under the greatest and most accomplished man in the entire village. Perhaps he had not gotten too angered by Kokoro’s little slip of and failure to own the appropriate weaponry and tools needed by a ninja. He vowed to himself as much as to Garuda-sama that he would not fail the older man again.
As the pairing came upon the small clearing in which the beast resided, Kokoro found the large cat to be sleeping, napping idly on a rock in the midday sunlight. He marveled at the majestic creature, certainly a menace to the village and a danger to the younger civilians and genin of the village, but huge and beautiful as well, his muscles rippling under skin stretched tight with what looked the softest, finest black fir he had ever laid eyes upon. It was almost a shame really that the huge and commanding tiger needed to be eliminated, but such was the mission and the young boy could not simply disappoint the village or his kage.
And so he crept up on the massive beast, making his way slowly to the rear of the cat and treading as silently as he could muster. The black tiger, yet asleep and apparently yet unawares as to the new arrival, should find itself most susceptible to a quick and stealthy attack, a classing in the ninja’s repertoire. One small footstep after another, Kokoro slunk ever close to the huge monster, realizing just how massive the thing was the closer he got. Certainly that cat’s head was almost as big as his entire chest and his paws could easily take off the young boys head. He swallowed as he drew nearer, poised to strike.
Just a short step or two from an appropriate position to strike from, the boy tread upon a small stick lying hidden in the dirt. A rather loud cracking sound echoed about the clearing, the result of his clumsy actions. He tense, frozen for but a second, hoping against all hope that the tiger would remain asleep, would simply roll over and not wake, but such hope fell on deaf ears. The creature’s head rear up at the sound and moved around, looking for the source of the disturbance. Seeing at least a brief window in which he could act, Kokoro swiped outwards ad the cat with the knife given to him by Garuda, digging a rather deep line of red into the thigh of the beast.
As he struck, the cat’s head whipped around to look upon him and he retreated slightly, shuffling back a few feet and falling into a rudimentary fighting style, certainly not anything professional or amazing, but noticeably practiced to say the least. The huge tiger dismounted from his rock, pacing and circling as the boy matched its motions, the two locked in what looked to be a high intensity staring contest. Kokoro’s mind spun rapidly, planning ahead for the particular moment he had to wait for. He need not a swipe but a lung, needed the cat to attempt a bite.
The spinning of the two continued for a minute and then another, the cat occasionally batting about with a huge paw but otherwise not committing fully. The boy took these halfhearted assaults in stride, moving backwards and maintaining his footwork but never retreating so far so as to cause his adversary to attempt a chase. Then, the moment struck, the time of his victory having finally arrived. The beast lunged at him, leaping forwards and a bit upwards in a ploy to connect his huge fangs with the boy’s neck. Hands already raised, Kokoro maneuvering them carefully into position, feeling as one of the markings on his body swam into place, coming to rest on his left palm while his right hand shifted the blade into a position just under the beast’s throat.
As contact with the fangs appeared imminent and unavoidable, the young boy flooded the drawing with chakra, activating the latent power stored within and binding the two into a moment of complete and utter stillness, there momentum and forwards motions vanishing into the little mark. For a half of a second the two would remain suspended there as though some kind of living statue, though it could not last. As soon as it had started, the seal ended, flaking away and returning normal physics to the boy and the cat. Kokoro, with feet firmly planted on the ground, did not move but held steady in his position while the tiger, suspended in midair, had only one way to go: down. And down it went, falling back to the earth, its throat plummeting directly into the upturned blade in the boy’s hand. As soon as the knife slid in over half way, Kokoro ripped it back towards himself with all his might, tearing open the creature’s throat and leaving it to bleed out or suffocate.
He backed up as he watched, ensuring that the tiger could make no final lunge of desperation at him, before turning back to face Garuda-sama, looking at him with eyes once more wide and a small smirk on his face, his eyebrows lifted slightly expectantly, searching the man for how he felt about the whole situation. He lifted his hands up, bloody and one still holding the kunai, and gave a double thumbs up before noticing the blade he still held. “Thanks again for letting me borrow this Garuda-sama. Um… sorry I got it a little messy.”
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