Team 11 was camping among the trees. After leaving Konoha, they had quickly advanced towards their mission location, but it was still a long way off, and night was falling. So, they decided to set up camp and continue their journey once the sun rose.
"Kids, I'm going to teach you something that will be very useful for this mission, although only Ryuji and Hikari need to learn it," Haruki said as he looked at them.
This piqued the interest of Ryuji and Hikari, who began to pay attention as he spoke.
"I'm going to teach you the tree-walking technique. Besides being great for reconnaissance, it also helps improve chakra control."
After explaining how it worked, he began teaching the two of them.
Meanwhile, Kaito was training with a wooden sword. He had set up an improvised training field with a circle drawn around him to limit his movements, and a clone was throwing stones in his direction. Sometimes he would dodge, and other times he would defend with his sword. The stones thrown by his clones came from different angles and at varying speeds to increase the difficulty.
Soon, Ryuji and Hikari were learning the tree-walking technique with some ease. After an hour had passed, everyone stopped their training and prepared to sleep.
...
At dawn, they continued their journey towards the village.
"Man, this village is far away. How much farther do we have to go, Sensei?" Ryuji asked as he leaped among the trees.
"I think it's about another two days, but don't let your guard down. Things can happen even before we reach the mission location," Haruki said to the three of them.
"Yes, sir," they replied simultaneously, saluting. The three of them laughed together as they followed Haruki.
"Hey, Kaito, did you know that even Ryuji is becoming famous, hehehe? I saw a bunch of girls, especially from our class, who didn't make it to become genin. They came to talk to him, ask for tips, and even help with training," Hikari gossiped to Kaito while Ryuji blushed.
"Hohohou, so you have a bunch of girls chasing after you now, huh? On that day, you were teasing him, and now you're surrounded by girls, hohohou," Kaito teased Ryuji, who grew even redder.
"Come on, guys, they just want tips to pass the next year, nothing more," Ryuji said, avoiding their gaze.
"Haha, you young folks are so lively. You're barely growing up, and you're already thinking about dating," Haruki also joined in the teasing.
While the atmosphere was lively among Team 11, something else was happening deeper in the forest.
...
Somewhere deeper in the forest,
A massive boar, easily taller than the trees around it, was feasting on the carcass of another animal.
"I've found you, a massive boar. It would make a great barbecue, but for now, you'll serve to catch them off guard," a man said.
After saying this, the man leaped onto the boar and made some hand signs. When his hands touched the boar's back, many marks appeared on it, and before the boar could react, the marks took over its body, rendering it powerless.
"The seal is working well, but I still need to perfect it. This seal only worked because the boar had a low chakra reserve," the man mused, rubbing his chin as he looked at the immobilized boar.
Afterward, the man picked up the boar and headed in a specific direction.
...
Meanwhile, with Team 11,
Advancing through the trees and conversing among themselves, Team 11 moved forward without worry.
Boooom!
A loud explosion echoed through the otherwise silent forest.
Team 11 stopped and turned toward the noise, where they could see a large cloud of dust and falling trees.
"This doesn't look normal. Should we investigate?" Kaito asked Haruki.
"The decision about the path and the mission depends entirely on you," Haruki affirmed.
Kaito looked at his two teammates.
"So, what do you think? Should we head towards that commotion ahead, or should we go around and continue towards the village?"
"I think we should at least investigate. Although it's risky, we can't just stand by and watch. We can decide how to handle the situation once we get closer," Hikari suggested after some thought.
Ryuji remained silent, also pondering the best course of action.
"Well, I think we'll follow what Hikari said. If anything goes wrong, we can always retreat," Kaito confirmed with them and started advancing toward the noise.
Upon reaching the scene, they saw many broken trees and a massive boar, the size of two trees, rampaging and destroying everything in its path, its bloodthirsty red eyes searching for its next victim.
Upon seeing this, the three of them were a little scared, but they kept their composure.
"It's huge, and it seems really angry. What should we do?" Ryuji asked.
"What if we retreat a bit and try to go around it? It looks really tough to defeat," Hikari suggested.
Kaito listened but didn't respond. He turned to Haruki and asked, "Are we still far from the village?"
"Well, considering the time we've spent, it should be about 15 minutes ahead," Haruki replied, looking at his son.
'Damn, we're so close to the village. We can't retreat. If that thing finds its way to the village in its current state, there will be destruction and death. We'll have to stop it,' Kaito thought about the consequences of doing nothing, which could result in many casualties.
"We can't let it go. It's too close to the village. If we leave it be, there will be destruction and loss of life. We have to stop it," Kaito said while shaking his head.
Ryuji and Hikari trembled a bit as they imagined the scene, but they quickly regained their determination.
"Then let's stop it."
"We're in."
The two of them clenched their fists as they spoke.
'They seem a bit nervous, but I guess it's normal. After all, I'm nervous too. This will be my first real fight, and the opponent is huge,' Kaito smiled nervously as he thought.
"Hikari, give us a useful battle plan," Kaito requested
Hikari then began to detail her plan to the two of them, who listened attentively.
After finishing the discussion about the plan, they prepared for the fight.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three of them went to different trees, surrounding the boar, and began to approach rapidly.
As Hikari got closer, she threw her shurikens toward the boar, which hadn't noticed her.
Shosh!
The shurikens landed near the boar's neck, causing minor scratches. The boar turned in her direction.
The boar charged at her with incredible speed, causing the ground to shake. Soon, it was right in front of the tree where Hikari had been, but she jumped to another tree just in time.
Boom!
Another tree came crashing down.
"You have tough skin, big guy," Hikari remarked before launching more shurikens while retreating.
As the boar searched for Hikari again, Ryuji appeared, falling from above with his hands entirely covered in stone. He delivered a descending punch to the boar's head, leaving it disoriented.
The noise of the impact was so loud that it hurt the ears.
After landing the blow, Ryuji retreated. It was clear that the boar wouldn't be defeated by a single attack like that.
Once the boar recovered from its dizziness, it searched again but found no one this time.
But just as it continued to search, Kaito emerged from a treetop.
"Water Bullet Jutsu!" Forming some hand signs, a large rotating water ball formed in front of Kaito's finger. He then shot it at high speed toward the boar's head.
Baang!
With a loud impact, the blood from the boar's head splattered, and it fell to the ground.
Kaito fell near the location of the boar. However, he quickly noticed that the boar had started to rise again; the previous attack wasn't enough to kill the beast.
"Haha, come on, I'll fight you up close now," Kaito taunted as he pulled out a scroll and drew his katana.
The boar became even angrier and charged towards Kaito. However, just as before, Ryuji appeared from the treetops and delivered another powerful punch to the boar's head.
Baam!
The sound of stone hitting skull rang out, and a lot of blood spurted from the boar's head. Despite the wound, the boar still advanced toward Kaito.
"Humpf, you're getting a bit too cocky. Ryuji, step back. Hikari, it's your turn," Kaito commanded. Ryuji jumped off the boar, and Hikari used her mind invasion jutsu to make the boar advance even faster.
"Haha, now, Water Dragon Jutsu!" A water dragon, or rather a water snake, appeared in front of Kaito.
Kaito waited for the right moment and launched the water snake, which collided directly with the exposed skull of the boar.
Booooom!
A loud impact was heard, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking, and the boar collapsed while dragging along the ground.
"I think I overdid it. If I had used the Great Water Bullet Jutsu now, it would have killed it and saved my energy. I guess I need more combat experience. Well, what matters is that we defeated it," Kaito said, panting heavily due to his chakra running out quickly.
Ryuji and Hikari approached.
"These are quite big," Hikari commented as she poked the boar.
Ryuji also came closer to examine the boar's corpse. "We'll have a lot of meat to eat."
"Haha, for sure, let's have a big barbecue," Kaito affirmed.
"By the way, Kaito, when did you learn such a powerful jutsu?" Ryuji looked at his companion with envy, as he only knew E-rank and D-rank jutsu.
"True, that jutsu was really powerful," Hikari added, recalling the jutsu.
Kaito scratched his head and replied, "I learned it recently, but I'm still training with it, so the chakra consumption is quite high."
While they were talking, Haruki landed nearby.
"Well done, kids. You managed to defeat such a big boar," Haruki congratulated them.
"By the way, son, I didn't know your mother had taught you such a strong jutsu," Haruki said to them.
Kaito scratched his head and smiled, "She said it was for my protection, Dad."
Haruki didn't pay much attention to it; after all, having a powerful son would be better for their survival.
"Then let's have a barbecue and continue," Haruki said. After that, all three of them jumped with excitement.
They soon began to prepare the wild boar meat for a barbecue.