A Solo Mission

Takuma stood in the Hokage Building's mission assignment hall, staring at the densely packed notices on the board. For the first time, he felt the weight of the words "all alone."

"C-rank missions require a three-man squad. You're by yourself, so you can only take a D-rank mission." The ninja at the mission desk flipped through the registry without looking up. "Next."

Takuma tore a mission notice off the board and handed it over.

The ninja glanced at it, then looked behind Takuma—no teammates, no supervising Jonin. Just one little Genin. "...You're serious?"

"Dead serious."

The notice read: "Herbal medicine shop urgently seeks twenty Moonlight Grass plants. Collection site: Konoha's back mountain. Reward: three thousand ryo."

The back mountain lay in the village's northwest corner. Beyond two ridges lay the direction of the Valley of the End. Takuma had never been there, but he'd heard his father mention it. The ruins of the Senju Clan's old estate were somewhere nearby, though they'd fallen into disuse after the Second Shinobi World War. Now, only a few foundation stones remained, buried in the weeds.

He left the village with a herb basket on his back. The shopkeeper had lent it to him. It was woven from vines and bigger than he'd imagined; on his back, it felt like a tortoise shell.

"Moonlight Grass grows by the edge of cliffs. Its leaves glow at night. During the day, look for the silver patterns on the undersides of the leaves." The shopkeeper was a lean old man whose whiskers bobbed as he spoke. "Don't mistake weeds for Moonlight Grass. Last time, some kid brought me a whole basket of wild onions."

"Wild onions are pretty tasty, too."

The shopkeeper glared at him.

The road out of the village was quiet. There were no teammates to chat with, no supervising Jonin to offer reminders. Even the birds called only now and then. After walking a while, Takuma realized what that quiet meant—there was no one to keep watch, no one to check the map. He had to handle everything himself.

That was what a solo mission meant. All the responsibility rested on his shoulders. No one could share the burden, and no one could pass it off.

The terrain in the back mountain was much more complicated than the training grounds. Dense bushes crowded the way, vines dangled from the trees, and the fallen leaves were thick enough to bury his ankles. Takuma used his Kunai to hack through the branches in his path. It took him about forty minutes to spot the first cliff.

The cliff wasn't tall, maybe a dozen meters, and its face was covered in all kinds of vines and plants. He crouched down and turned over the leaves one by one, following the shopkeeper's instructions.

Moonlight Grass was smaller than he'd expected. Its leaves were only about the size of his thumbnail and lay flat against the ground. He'd never have noticed them if he hadn't looked carefully.

There was plenty growing along the cliff, but it was scattered. Takuma searched inch by inch along the edge, crouching as he went. It took nearly two hours to find nine plants. His knees ached, his neck was stiff, and the sun had left his back burning hot.

"Eleven left." Takuma straightened up and rolled his shoulders and neck. His joints crackled.

He'd searched just about all of this stretch of cliff. He'd probably have to try somewhere else for the rest.

Before he could turn around, the bushes behind him shook violently. A dark shape charged straight at him, trailing a foul stench.

Takuma instinctively dodged to the side, but it still clipped him. The tremendous impact sent him flying. He spun through the air and crashed onto the rocky ground at the cliff's edge. The herb basket fell off his back and rolled twice, scattering the Moonlight Grass everywhere.

An adult male wild boar stood before him, over two meters tall at the shoulder. Its tusks were as long as his forearm. It lowered its head and pawed at the ground, its little eyes fixed on him.

The first thought that crossed Takuma's mind was: There are wild boars in the back mountain? The mission notice didn't mention them.

The second was: That boar is ridiculously huge.

Takuma didn't have time to get up. He rolled to the side. The boar rushed past, its tusks gouging the earth and sending rocks flying. Half a second slower, and those tusks would've gored his stomach.

He flipped over and scrambled to his feet, then backed away two steps—his heel landed on the cliff's edge. Pebbles tumbled over the side, and it took several seconds before he heard them hit the bottom.

The boar turned around, snorting white steam and pawing the ground. Takuma stared it down for a second, his mind racing through the options. Shuriken might not pierce its hide. His Kunai were too short. He couldn't use Water Release while standing at the edge of a cliff, and Earth Release required time to form Hand Seals. An Explosive Tag could blow it up, but they were too close. The blast would knock him off the cliff, too.

His gaze went past the boar to the forest behind it. The bushes in the direction it had charged from were crushed into a clear path. At the end of it, he could just make out a fallen tree. Vines covered its trunk, and beside it was a sunken patch of earth.

The boar charged for the third time. Takuma didn't dodge. He leaped straight up. The boar lowered its head and rushed beneath him, its tusks brushing the soles of his shoes. Takuma used its back to propel himself behind it, then hit the ground running.

The boar carried on several more meters before it managed to stop. When it turned around, its prey had already disappeared into the woods. It let out an enraged squeal and gave chase.

Takuma ran hunched over through the bushes. Vines whipped his face, stinging, but he didn't dare stop. The boar's footsteps grew closer behind him. Its hooves crushed dead branches with a sound like pounding drums.

The fallen tree was just ahead. Its trunk lay across the ground, too thick for two people to wrap their arms around. The hollow beneath its upturned roots was just big enough to hide a person. Takuma slid into the hollow and pressed his back against the trunk, forming Hand Seals.

The boar charged straight toward where he was hiding, its tusks aimed at the figure visible through the gap in the tree.

Then it stepped into the trap Takuma had hastily dug with Earth Release.

The boar suddenly lost its footing as it raced forward. Its front legs sank into the earth, and its whole body flipped over. Its back and head slammed into the fallen trunk.

The tree shook with a dull thud, showering them with flakes of bark. The boar was knocked senseless, lying on its back with its tusks stuck in the trunk.

Takuma crawled out of the hollow and stood beside the boar, panting. He looked down at the unconscious animal and fell silent for a moment. Then he suddenly shouted a curse, loud enough for his voice to echo through the empty woods.

As the sun began to sink in the west, Takuma came down the mountain with his basket full of Moonlight Grass. Halfway down, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and went back up.

He brought the boar down, too.

The boar had mostly come to, but its tusks were still stuck, and it couldn't break free. Takuma grabbed it by the hind legs and dragged it all the way down the mountain. The boar grunted angrily as it bounced along, but it was too dazed to fight back.

The Chunin on gate duty saw Takuma approaching, dragging a half-dead boar, and his expression twisted oddly. "...Weren't you supposed to be picking herbs?"

"Complimentary extra."

When the herbal medicine shop owner heard the knock and opened the door, he saw Takuma first—covered in dirt and leaves, with a red welt across his face from a vine and a small piece of dead branch stuck in his hair. Then he saw the boar Takuma was dragging behind him. His eyes widened like saucers.

"Twenty Moonlight Grass plants." Takuma handed the basket to the shopkeeper. "You can count them. This boar almost knocked me off a cliff. I figured I shouldn't take that beating for nothing, so I brought it back with me."

The shopkeeper looked through the basket, then glanced up at the boar. His lips quivered for a long moment before he managed to say, "Th-this is worth a lot more than the Moonlight Grass..."

"Then pay whatever you think is fair."

In the end, the shopkeeper paid him the three-thousand-ryo reward for the Moonlight Grass and bought the boar at market price. He also treated Takuma to pork hot pot, made with meat from the boar—so fresh it was still steaming. The broth had been simmered with the shop's own nourishing herbs. Goji berries, angelica, and codonopsis had all been added in generous amounts, and white steam rose into the air, carrying the mingled scents of herbs and meat.

Takuma sat alone at a low table in the back courtyard of the herbal medicine shop, facing a pot of bubbling hot pot.

He fished out a slice of meat with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth. It was so hot he bared his teeth, but it was delicious. He picked up his cup and tapped the rim with his chopsticks.

The clear sound rang through the courtyard three times.

"To Team 12."