The Next Generation
Rain
The young ninja crouched in the bush, hardly blinking, as he waited patiently with a kunai in both hands. The headband he wore around his neck would flash every time the sun emerged from behind the heavy and foreboding cloud coverage.
His mission was about to reach its climax as his target for capture approached. The facts were laid out clearly in front of him: his target was the daughter of a prestigious feudal lord of the land of fire and she was being escorted by a seemingly low leveled ninja from the village hidden in the clouds, the winds above were moving with the ninja to provide some shadow in which he could hide in. This could fool some Chuunin level ninja's but not this one, he knew that the ninja was using a basic jutsu, most likely "fuuton: kumoseichuu no jutsu", to control the winds in the sky and hide him but it was actually just broadcasting exactly where he was.
The symbol of grass that was engraved in his headband stopped distorting light onto the leaves of the bush he was hid in as the clouds above were denser and blocked the sun. The enemy was getting closer and closer.
Apparently, half of the world wanted this girl, Hitake, in their custody as her father was one of the powerful daimyo of the fire country. He held an important place in current political affairs and the daimyo could be forced to make a decision he wouldn't regularly if his daughter wasn't in the hands of his political rivals. His village leader, the first Kusakage, had inadvertently accepted a mission that, if successful, would cause another outbreak of war. The balance of the lands of Grass, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Sound, Lightning, and Stars (the eight major countries at that time) was like a frightened cat standing on a pole.
He heard a faint rustle along the path and he stiffened silently, a few raindrops fell on his head, a lucky break since it would be easier to be silent when there was already the noise of rain on the trees above.
He looked down the path and saw a white tiger the height of a man being ridden by a tired looking girl with a parasol running fast beside a cloaked ninja that looked maybe sixteen or seventeen, about the same age as him. He realized that the rain was probably a best case scenario because the trip wire he set between two trees wouldn't be seen in the shadows and mud. He had rigged eight kunai's to launch from eight different angles to ensure a hit when the trip wire was pulled by one of the targets.
As reached the trap with surprising speed, the giant tiger pulled the trip wire seemingly without noticing it and the kunais ahead creaked for a fraction of a second and flew. They were fast but the lightning ninja was faster; he looked dead at the grass ninja and with only a finger prodded each and every kunai lightly so that they all went off course and none hit. It seemed as if time had slowed down.
The grass ninja processed the glare he had received a millisecond ago, that had seemed like half a minute ago and decided that if he was seen he might as well take immediate action.
In a blur he jumped out of the bush with a kunai in each hand, and with his feet tapping along the dampening ground, he followed them.
He clamped one of the kunai in his teeth and made three hands seals with his free hand as well as a mangled phrase from his occupied mouth and two vines grew instantaneously from his back. They formed two tentacle arms and grabbed two kunai from his pack. He sprinted with inhuman speed up to the targets ahead of him and reached for the girl's back. The hazel eyed ninja from the land of lightning glared with a cool ferocity at the blue eyed grass ninja and tapped his finger, effectively shocking him with his Raiton, his bloodline limit, the ability that allows easy transmogrification of chakra to electricity. The pale haired ninja from the village hidden in the grass screamed inwardly and leapt towards a tree branch where he spit on his burn to cool it down and threw his kunai at the ninja. They both were deflected by the tail of the great arctic tiger and that was the moment that Karu, the grass ninja, got serious.
He pulled out a scroll from his waist pouches and bit his thumb to produce blood. He swiped his bloody thumb across the bottom of the scroll and with a muffled cry he summoned his creature. It was a bear, at least twelve feet tall, its black fur contrasted violently with his blue eyes to form an intelligent but wild image. The beast carried a large ceramic jar on its back.
A gravely tone sprung from its mouth, "Karu-san, are these your targets?"
With an enormous claw he gestured towards the ninja, the tiger, and the girl while galloping with shocking grace and stealth through the path.
"Yes, Okamazuki, they are our targets," the shinobi responded with a smile, anticipating the upcoming battle as he hopped on the bear's back. They were catching up with the targets ahead slowly and Karu reread the instructions for his mission:
Capture the Daughter of Daimyo of the Land of Fire Kazanami; she will be under her true name, Hitake. Rid her of her guard(s) as well. Take caution, this is an A ranked Mission.
Karu snorted, he was the best Chuunin of his village. He was able to do any mission, alone. He was amused by the succinct fashion of writing his leader used, to the point and simple. He looked at the stats of the guardian of Hitake.
He didn't know how his boss got the information on the guardians of his enemies but he appreciated it and let it be. He admired his ninjutsu and taijutsu skills and from the chi ranking he figured that he must have a Kekkei-genkai. That must've been the jolt he received on his hand. He had studied the clans of the Land of Lightning and the most common Kekkei-genkai was the translation of chakra into electricity, the very move that converted a slight amount of chakra into a painful burn.
He chuckled once again, his opponent was strong in three sections but he calculated mentally that he could win because his strong taijutsu, weaponry skills, and his ninjutsu could easily counter many of the electrical attacks that were common in the Land of Lightning.
Okamazuki glanced at his rider with a sharp blue eye, same egotistical Karu, as they tensed themselves for the unavoidable future battle that would take place on this very path, between grass and lightning.