"It had lightning chakra in its body. If I hadn't placed that kunai in front of its exit, it would have surely run away," Kabuto said.
"Yup, Sensei did say that animals here could use chakra, but I didn't think even these small ones would be able to use it," Kaida replied.
"Well, if they can, then I'm sure that bear will also use it. We have to be careful with that one," Kabuto warned.
"Let's see how this goes then," Kaida said, picking up the hare they had just killed. "He's huge. This should be enough to lure him out, right?"
"I hope so."
…
"What took you guys so long?" Itachi asked as soon as Kaida and Kabuto came back.
"You think the prey are sitting in every place around the forest? We had to find and then capture this one; of course it will take time."
"Just a single one?"
"Yes, but this should be enough, I guess," Kaida said, taking the hare in front of the cave while making the wound bigger so that more blood would flow out of it.
"That hare used lightning chakra to run away. Since even such a small animal can use chakra, that bear must be able to do it too," Kabuto said.
"Yes, he surely can, and not just lightning chakra, but…" Before Itachi could complete his sentence, a loud blast came from the cave.
Unlike Kabuto, who could not see inside because it was too dark, Kaida and Itachi had their Sharingan activated and could clearly see a bear lifting its paws from the ground and looking directly toward them.
Not because it could see them, but because it could smell them. Bears have a better sense of smell than wolves; along with the blood of its prey, it could also smell three other scents. Unlike a wild animal, this one had intelligence.
Seeing the attempts of three humans to lure it out like a wild beast made it angry.
With slow steps, it started coming out of the cave. Kaida and Itachi jumped back while Kabuto used Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique to prepare an ambush.
But as soon as the bear emerged from the cave, it stood on its hind legs and roared, Graaahhhhhh!
Then, with a single leap, it jumped toward the building where Kaida and Itachi were.
Boom!
With a single punch, the tree was broken into splinters, but Kaida and Itachi had already jumped away by then and were completely safe.
"Its fighting style resembles yours when you use that hammer of yours," Itachi said.
"Yes, it's using Earth chakra rather than lightning to increase its attack power and weight," Kaida replied.
"I will handle it," Itachi said, starting to make hand signs, but Kaida, seeing the hand signs, swiftly stopped him.
"Wait, Captain. Let me give it a try." Seeing the battle spirit in Kaida's eyes, Itachi just nodded his head with a smile, understanding what Kaida meant.
"Kabuto, don't interfere!" Kaida shouted, then jumped right in front of the bear, with the seal on his forehead glowing.
This time, the mark didn't spread across his entire body but just on his hands, feet, and back, forming gauntlet-like markings. Kaida shouted, "Let's see how powerful you are, buddy!" and jumped right toward the bear.
The bear didn't take Kaida's small figure of 1.5 meters in front of its nearly 2.5-meter size seriously and threw its paw right toward Kaida's punch. Kabuto had appeared next to Itachi.
"He's really doing a strength contest against a bear?" Kabuto said.
"He wanted that," Itachi said, then focused on the fight once again. He could easily tell that Kaida was not using even 10 percent of his full power.
When their attacks collided, both of them slid back a little. The bear was shocked at how such a tiny human could exert so much strength.
"Quite good, bro, but that is not your full power, right?" Kaida asked. Understanding his meaning, the bear hit the ground once again.
Many rocks flew out of the ground, but rather than flying away, they stuck to its hand, creating a boxing glove effect. With his Sharingan, Kaida could also see that the bear was using twice the amount of chakra compared to its earlier attempt.
"Now this is what I was talking about," Kaida said, doubling his chakra too.
Once again, both of them jumped toward each other, but this time the bear's punch was harder than Kaida expected. He was pushed back because of that, and the bear kept charging forward, landing a second punch on Kaida's ribs and throwing him back further.
"Should we help him?" Kabuto asked worriedly.
But Itachi, seeing the smirk on Kaida's face, smiled and said, "No need."
Kaida stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes. At the last moment, he blocked the punch so that none of his bones were broken, but it still hurt.
"Let's see how you'll handle this," Kaida said, once again doubling his chakra, which not only increased his strength but also his speed.
Before the bear could react, Kaida appeared right in front of it, and his punch went straight toward the bear's chest. Instinctively, it placed its hand in front of its chest and blocked the attack.
But Kaida's punch was way above its league this time. Not only did the rock gauntlet on its hand shatter, but even the bones of its front paws were broken. The bear was pushed back quite a lot before it struck a tree and stopped.
The bear let out a low whimper, almost a soft growl, as it cowered back. Being an intelligent creature, it understood it didn't stand a chance against Kaida and the group, so it started showing submission.
"Kabuto, go and take the scroll from the cave," Itachi said. Kabuto nodded and vanished from his position, while Kaida slowly walked toward the bear, which was covering a little.
Pat, pat.
"Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you," Kaida said, patting its head. Then he took out its paw and passed his hand over it, channeling chakra to check the status of its injuries. The bear whimpered but didn't do anything else.
After some time, Kaida's hand started to glow green as he used Healing Palm Jutsu: Advanced Version to heal the injured paws of the bear.
"Done. They're fine now," Kaida said, patting the paws.
The bear looked at its paws in astonishment and then started licking Kaida's face.
"Unless you are planning on adopting that bear, we should start going toward our next destination," Itachi said.
Hearing that, the bear stopped and stepped back a little.
"You can understand us, right, buddy?" Kaida asked, seeing everything until now made it apparent.
The bear nodded its head with a profound expression on its face.
"Good. Then you can eat that, but catch something bigger too. We will come back in 2-3 hours… sometime." The bear, hearing that, nodded its head excitedly