Whispers from the Woods.

Mission Details:

It had been a few days since Jun’s venture into the shadowlands. He had to face an army of monster pumpkins in his dreams, he was sucked into a Jack O’ Boom lantern’s portal and had to free a bunch of unlucky cultists whose souls were sealed into a variety of inanimate objects. So, after all this supernatural drama, the young Shibasaki clansman had one goal and one goal only: to chill.

Tired from the sometimes chaotic Kumagakure village, Jun decided to go on for a relaxing hike at a nearby woods. He left pretty his house pretty early in the morning with some coffee and a bunch of snacks, and headed toward the forest. It was still night and the Sun, Jun’s best ally, had yet to cast its first sunshine in the air. The weather was pretty cold as usual in this time of the year, but Jun’s natural warmth kept him protected from the chilling winds.

Jun arrived at the trail’s starting point and strolled down the barely visible path, munching on a rice ball he’d brought for the hike. The forest was nice, peaceful even, except for the occasional freaky claw marks scratched into random trees. He stopped at one particularly deep set of gouges and stared at it.
“Hmm,” he mumbled, squinting. “Big claws. Definitely not a squirrel.”

Satisfied with his expert deduction, he carried on, dodging low-hanging branches and hopping over roots like he was on a nature walk rather than investigating potential chaos. A destroyed campsite came into view soon enough, and Jun scratched the back of his head at the mess.

“Yikes. Guess someone had a rough night,” he muttered, crouching to examine the scene. Torn tents, scattered supplies, and claw marks all over the place. He poked at a burned-out fire pit with a stick. “At least they had s'mores before things went sideways… is this the work of a bear, I wonder…”

Footprints surrounded the campsite—small, panicked ones mixed with enormous clawed ones that screamed, Don’t follow me unless you want to regret it. Jun sighed but followed the trail anyway because, well, he was already here and what could go wrong? He kept following the trail until he found a young woman tied to a tree, apparently unconscious. The Chunin swiftly drew his kunai and freed the lady, who woke up upon being rescued by Jun. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around groggily. When her gaze landed on Jun, her expression flickered between relief and panic.

“You… you’re a ninja, right?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

Jun offered her a crooked smile. “Yup, Kumogakure’s finest, Jun Shibasaki at your service. Well, one of them. But I’m the one who saved you, so I guess I’m top-tier today. What’s your name?”

“Emiko,” she replied, slowly sitting up as Jun helped steady her. Her hands trembled, and her face was pale. “Did you… did you kill it?”

“Kill what? What happened out there?” I just found you randomly tied to a tree when I was following the trail of a destroyed campsite…”
Emiko swallowed hard, her eyes darting nervously toward the shadows of the forest.  “We were attacked,” she began, her voice shaking. “I was with my brother and a few others—ten of us in total. We were just out here camping, trying to enjoy the wilderness. It was peaceful at first, but then… things got strange.”

Jun arched an eyebrow. “Strange how?”

“We started hearing noises at night—deep growls, but they didn’t sound like any animal we’d ever heard. The trees were marked with those claw marks you must’ve seen. My brother said we should pack up and leave, but we thought it was just a bear. We didn’t realize how wrong we were until it was too late.”

She hugged her knees, her voice dropping to a whisper. “It came out of nowhere on the second night. Huge. Fast. Those glowing red eyes… I’ll never forget them. It wasn’t alone, though. There were… people with it.”

Jun straightened. “People? Like, humans?”

She nodded, shuddering. “Three of them. They wore tattered clothes, like they’d been living out here for years. But their eyes… their eyes were just like the creature’s—red, glowing, and filled with hatred. They didn’t speak, just grunted and growled like animals. They moved like a pack, working with the beast. They tore through our camp. My brother and the others tried to fight back, but…” Her voice broke. “They were too strong. The people—they grabbed us, dragging us into the forest. That monster chased anyone who tried to run.”

Jun frowned, piecing together the story. “So, you’re saying the creature has a pack of humans working with it? That’s… new.”
“They weren’t normal humans,” Emiko said, her voice rising slightly. “There was something wrong with them. They had this… this feral strength, like the beast had infected them somehow. And they kept screaming at all time: FOR THE DEER KING… FOR THE DEER KING… over and over as they attacked our camp…”

Jun crossed his arms, his mind racing. “So how’d you get away?”

“The others… they distracted it,” Emiko said, guilt flickering in her eyes. “My brother told me to run while they fought back. He said he’d catch up, but… I don’t think he could. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the beast roaring and dragging them off deeper into the forest.”
Jun’s jaw tightened. “Hostages. They’re keeping hostages.”

Emiko nodded. “I don’t know why. They could’ve just killed us all, but they didn’t. I was captured by one of the humans on my escape, but he didn’t kill me... instead, he just tied me to a tree and said “You will be useful for the ritual…. They… they took them somewhere.? I don’t know where. All I know is, they’re still alive. My brother is still alive, just I was sparred…”

Jun stood, brushing off his pants. “Well, that changes things. I thought this was a chill day, but now it looks like I’ve got to go look for the hostages… do the right thing, you know, being a ninja….”

“You can’t!” Emiko grabbed his arm, panic in her eyes. “You don’t understand. It’s not just the creature. Those people—they’re dangerous. And there might be more of them. You don’t know what you’re up against.”

Jun gave her a reassuring grin. “Hey, I’ve faced weirder stuff than this. Trust me, feral humans and a big bad monster aren’t going to keep me from doing my job. Plus, your brother’s waiting for someone to bail him out, right?”

Emiko hesitated but nodded. “Just… be careful. Please.”
 
“I’m always careful. You stay here and rest. I’ll handle the beast’s weird little fan club. If anything happens at all…” Jun did a few handseals and summoned a Shadow Clones at his side… “Clone Jun will take care of you!”

As Jun headed back toward the trail, Emiko’s words lingered in his mind. Feral humans, a beast with unnatural powers, and hostages—it wasn’t exactly the relaxing day he’d planned. But hey, at least it wasn’t pumpkin related.

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WC: 1190