A Kid dealing with Squid [Mission, Private]

Mission details:

Elixar walked on route to his destination, the harbour had become scarce as reports of a sea monster had started to keep fishermen in their homes rather than out on the waters bringing in tasty fish and octopi to be used in the marketplaces. Just thinking of the grilled octopi made Elixar’s saliva glands start to tremble. He stretched as the salt air filled his nostrils. The ocean mist had begun to roll in, the visibility of the area had dropped to an unfortunate low. Sight was limited to about 15 meters in range and really all he could see was silhouettes and outlines of shapes, mostly boats docked at their ports, bobbing on the ocean waves. He yawned as soft earth turned the clunking of hard wooden floors. He had reached the peer. He looked around, the place was practically deserted, as most of the sailors had decided it was safer to start considering other manual labour jobs than wrestle with the seas and the creatures that inhabit it.

Looking around, he saw the lights on in a small hut off to the right of the pier. He walked up to it, biding his time and waiting to see if he was going to be greeted by the mysterious sea beast before he made it to the pier. As he neared the hut, he found himself being more and more conscious of the moving tide. His jaw tightened upon reaching within 10 meters of the door. He could almost feel the monster jumping out. He reached for the door handle but it pulled away from him. He stopped and returned his hand to his side, awaiting for the door to open fully and whoever was on the inside to step out.

He was greeted by a shrew old man, a fisherman who had since given up on fishing, behind the pipe, he saw lifeless beady eyes that had a distinct flame burning at their centre. It was not a reflection of the pipe the glowed an amber haze at its end, but the fire of determination sitting hidden away at the back of his mind. “Excuse me” Elixar asked, the man looked up at him, seemingly alarmed by the appearance of a young lad outside his hut. “I was wondering if you could take me to the spot where the creature has been showing up.” It was a foolhardy question, Elixar was aware of this, but he was unenthusiastic at the concept of having to water walk on unruly waves whilst fighting a sea beast.

To his surprise, the man nodded. He tipped out his pipe and grabbed his cane, walking with an eager stride towards his boat. Elixar followed, silent. He sat at the back of the boat, it was a small, 2 person cruiser, really meant for small time fishing rather than industrial work. The old man steered from the front, humming to himself to keep his spirits up. He slowed the boat once they were approximately 100 meters from land. Elixar could barely see the lights on the hut glowing from a distance. He returned his gaze back to the old man who was hanging a lure on the end of a beaten up old fishing rod. He tossed it into the water and waited. The water started to become unruly, the man glanced back to Elixar who nodded in understanding. The man tensed.

He flicked the rod with all his might, grunting as he hoisted the lure free of the water’s grasp. Only centimetres behind it, the head of a surprisingly large bass fish showed up. It was the size of about 3 boats. Elixar was somewhat surprised to not be met with the sight of a giant squid as was proposed in the mission, but he was doing it for the money so he was just as composed. He’d cheaped out and only purchased a single kunai, so if he was going to get this done, he needed to do it in a way that would keep his kunai relatively safe.

He jumped from the boat and landed on the water as the vessel he was previously on was carried back to shore by the huge wave that had surfaced along with the giant bass. He glanced back at the sailor, who was grinning with a thumbs up pointing his way. He was drifting out of the way of danger so Elixar had no reason to worry about his civilian aide’s welfare being something to take into consideration. The bass homed its face in on him, observing the boy as best it could with its eyes spread so far apart on opposite sides of its head. Elixar really wasn’t in the mood for a long fight, so he took the kunai from his belt and threw it hard into the air. He jumped after it, the fish strained its body upwards to try and follow Elixar’s movement. It lost its balance in the water and ended up falling to its back. ‘Not what I wanted… but I’ll take it.’ It’s head was now off the table, but its exposed underside would provide enough of an injury that if he didn’t outright kill it, he would be able to injure it enough that it would probably disappear for a while, which meant more money in the future. He inwardly thanked himself for not bringing or buying anything more destructive. For what he was going for, anything longer than the simple kunai he had and the jutsu he had in mind would probably end up killing the poor thing. If the thing came back for revenge he’d be able to grab some more money out of the mission, so that wasn’t particularly a problem, in fact, he now welcomed the concept. He just needed it to look flashy enough that he would have killed the beast, but instead would give it the option and incentive to swim away to safety, leaving Kumogakure’s fishermen the chance to start bringing some fish back into the market’s stalls. He grabbed the kunai in hand, holding it in a swordsman’s conventional grip rather than a kunai’s conventional reverse grip. He tipped forward and nosedived towards his struggling opponent who was thrashing around in the water, obviously startled by its loss of balance in the water. Elixar’s eyes focused on the target, the spot that would cause enough damage that the beast would flee, but also miss any vital organs that might prevent him from farming the mission once more. He jabbed the kunai forward and started to twist in the air, becoming a spinning bullet of pale blue water as he crashed weapon first into the beast’s gut. It screamed and writhed in pain as Elixar sank into its flesh, carving away at the surprisingly thick underbelly. He placed his feet either side of the wound in order to cut his rotation short. He pulled the blade from the flesh and kicked down on the now open wound. The beast tried to turn onto its front and swim away, Elixar let it, jumping away to safety and to keep his clothing dry. The scream would likely have caused people to believe that the beast was dead, that’s all Elixar needed to do. He was one step closer to getting his sword back from a disgruntled blacksmith.

He thanked the fisherman on his way back, who assured him that all the sailors would be out on the seas by dinnertime, meaning the market was going to be bustling with great snacks by breakfast, Elixar smirked at the concept of getting his favourite fish snacks nice and cheap once again. It was a win-win. He headed back to the village, realising that the salt air seemed to be following him back. He sniffed his clothing. ‘Tch… I smell of salt.’


1308 Words/600 [exit to cliffmark coast]