It was surprisingly hard to focus on life's difficulties while wrangling headstrong goats.
Niko Sensei probably could have gathered all twenty by himself in a couple of minutes, but he sat back and watched the younger Shinobi do it instead. Utakata and Koichi had clearly worked together before, and Rei watched jealously as Koichi created a make-shift electric fence with kunai, steel wire, and his Lightning Style Jutsu. Utakata barely moved from his initial position, blowing human-sized bubbles from a bamboo pipe that floated over the scattering goats and enveloped them one at a time, lifting them into the air and depositing them in Koichi's pen with a smatter of soap. The goats did not appreciate the process one bit.
Rei watched Utakata's actions for a minute, then turned her attention to Koichi, who was guiding one young black goat toward an approaching bubble with little bursts of electricity. What could she do to help?
About half of the goats were in sight and the rest would have to be hunted down, so she turned away from the foot of the mountain and headed back into the trees. She didn't know anything about goats except what she had observed today, so she leapt into the nearest tree to get a better view of the forest floor.
She didn't see anything, so she leapt from tree to tree until she heard the terrified bawling of what she hoped was a goat. She followed the sound through the treetops until she caught sight of what was making the sound: a brand-new baby goat, flanked by its dead mother and sibling. The mother goat and one of the tiny offspring had been wounded across their throats, and blood colored their bodies and the ground around them.
The lone baby had cornered itself between a crevice in a boulder and a tree trunk, screaming its terror as a cougar prowled around the bodies of its family. Its jaw was already wet with gore and it closed the distance between itself and the baby with slow, calculated steps.
Rei's lack of fear surprised even herself. She dropped to the ground fifteen feet below and landed in an easy crouch on the fresh summer grass. The cougar's ears flicked perceptively before it turned its sharp yellow eyes in Rei's direction. It lifted its head, assessing her quietly, as if trying to determine if she were predator or prey.
The idea of killing the cougar soured Rei's stomach. She'd never had the opportunity to formally learn about nature in the Academy, but if cougars were like any other animals she'd seen, it was probably just trying to feed its family. It was a better parent than Rei's own parents had been.
She reached for the new weapons pouch on her hip, feeling out the contours of the new and unstretched leather, until she found the buckle that kept the top closed. She didn't dare look away from the big cat. Its muscles were bunching subtly, and Rei would have bet anything (if she had anything) that it was going to spring in a moment. Her fingers closed around one of the circular balls beside the kunai, and she squeezed her eyes shut for a split second, just long enough to throw the flash bomb and hear it ignite on the ground with a sharp hiss.
Even from behind closed eyelids, Rei saw the world take on an instant white glow. She pulled her eyes open reluctantly (she'd never thrown a real flash bomb before), and saw that the cougar was wheeling around, its huge paws padding silently against the ground as it retreated. It didn't complain or growl at her as it left, and it didn't look back.
The little goat had fallen over, all four of its legs sticking straight out from its body, and its sides heaved as it cried out repeatedly. Rei chewed on her bottom lip as she approached the baby slowly; she hoped she hadn't broken it. There were already two that were dead, and she needed to have something to show for this mission.
It was starting to loosen up when she crouched next to it, and she touched her fingers lightly to one of its velvety ears. It bleated again, like it was dying, then scrambled back to its feet. It made to run, but Rei grabbed its back legs and pulled it back to her, picking it up under her left arm. It was not happy, but Rei supposed that was to be expected.
With one more look back at the slaughtered mother goat, Rei took the surviving baby back towards the foot of the mountain. She wasn't surprised to see all the remaining goats trapped in Koichi's pen when she made it back, but she was a little miffed. She'd only managed to get one measly baby.
Her teammates were standing about anxiously, shoulders tensed, and Koichi shouted when he saw her. "We were about to come looking for you!" He broke into a smile when he saw she carried a goat. "Hey, you found one!"
"I couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes!" Rei handed the baby to Niko Sensei, who set it down in the pen. "It was with its mom, but the cougar killed her."
They all looked to the little one. It was still crying loudly, calling for a mother that wasn't there, and most of the other goats ignored it. "Come on," Utakata said, nodding his head to where the sun would set. "Let's get them to their field and get back to the command center."
The boys took down the makeshift pen and led the goats in the direction of their home. The animals didn't seem to be in the mood to deviate, and they all tramped diligently in the direction that they were directed. The orphaned baby walked along too, trying to sidle alongside an older female.
"Well, that was easy money," Koichi said, flipping a kunai three times in the air before catching it effortlessly by the blade. "The hardest part was getting out here." In the same breath, he said, "So you said you sucked at most Jutsu." Rei looked his way, shrinking inside again. "Which ones are you good at?"
"Well…" Rei thought for a moment. She didn't really think she was good at any Jutsu in particular. "I can handle two or three simple Lightning Style Jutsu, and I can make clones if I concentrate really hard." Utakata scoffed quietly.
"Hey, you're in luck!" Koichi grinned and pointed at himself with his thumb. "Lightning Style happens to be my specialty. Show me what you've got."
As they made their way across the foot of the mountain to a tiny farm near absolutely nothing, Koichi critiqued Rei's techniques and offered suggestions to improve. "So, when you're gathering chakra in your hands, right, I'm pretty sure that you're sending it to your fingertips immediately before converting it into lightning. Try to make that happen while it's still in your palms. That way it has time to strengthen in your fingers before it hits the target." He munched on a flat biscuit that he pulled from his weapons pouch while she practiced what he'd said.
It was much easier said than done. Chakra came from the core, and it moved so quickly that by the time she'd completed the handsigns it was already racing into her hands. Stopping it in her palms felt unnatural, like trying to grind to a halt while running full speed. It took seven or eight consecutive tries before she was able to do anything close to what Koichi had said, and even then, he tilted his head to the side and said, "Well, that's better. I guess it's a start."
But Rei felt amazing. She performed the handsigns quickly and thrust her right hand outward, pointing at Utakata's feet ahead of her. The chakra flooded her chest and rushed into her arm, and Rei tried to keep up with it. When it reached her wrist, she squeezed down on it, slowing its progress. It swirled around the center of her palm twice, something she had never made it do before, and wove the lightning energy into it consciously. By the time it exited her fingers, it felt more powerful than anything she'd ever made before. It raised the fine hair on her arms.
The ground just behind Utakata's left foot exploded in a shower of sparks, and both he and Niko Sensei started, instinctively grabbing for their kunai.
"Ahhhaaa!" Koichi exclaimed with a wild laugh, pointing at Utakata. "She almost barbecued you! You have no idea how much that would have made my day!"
Rei couldn't keep the smile from her face, and she looked down at her palm as she flexed her fingers. "Wow."
"Yeah, wow!" Koichi said. "Look at that crater!" Her lightning attack had kicked up about three square feet of grass and dirt, and its edges were singed and blackened. "Man, I'm a good teacher."
Rei's heart thudded quickly, and she didn't recognize the feeling that squeezed her chest and throat. She wanted to grab Koichi's arm, but she didn't. Instead, she said, "Teach me another one."