Day 2 Evening

[Minato Namikaze]

Continued from the Morning thread

It was quiet, too quiet some might say, considering that this place was supposed to be a battleground. He'd been trained on the field of battle, fought in wars, killed other shinobi to save his comrades and his village. The change was welcomed by the veteran shinobi. 'A veteran... and only at the age of twenty four…' He sighed.

'What?' Kakashi responded, thinking that Minato had been talking to him.

'Nothing.' Minato responded hastily.

'Well be quiet, we don't want to scare the animal away.' Kakashi asserted.

He was right. Minato had, after getting caught amidst his thoughts, forgotten that they were hunting for food, and this time it wasn't just some sort of small animal or edible berries. No, this time they were tracking and hunting something much larger, like an angry cow or bore. Maybe a bear even. Minato began to salivate a little as he pictured the two eating something large and tasty for once.

Minato looked to Kakashi, unable to feel anything but pride in his subordinate. Minato knew how to track, and could efficiently track any animal and human alike, if he needed to. But Kakashi's Anbu Black-Ops training made him the ideal candidate for the job. Minato was good but, he had to admit, Kakashi's training ability was better.

'Minato-sensei, stop.' Kakashi said as his hand acted like a barrier, halting Minato in his tracks. He looked away from the silver haired man, and to a cave opening. The stones around it had claw marks identical to the ones that they had found on their way into the woods. 'I think this is it.' The masked man whispered cautiously as to not give away their presence. 'What gave you that Idea?' Minato responded, a hint of sarcasm in his smirk as Kakashi stared at him, disapproval in his eyes as the two ninja entered the cave. The cavern smelled of damp dirt and rotting meat, whatever lived here had been hoarding it's kill. 'Do you smell that?' Minato inquired softly. Kakashi responded with a nod as they ventured deeper into the cave.

It was mostly dark, but what little light did make it inside was enough to, dimly, light their way as the shuffled through dirt and stone. It wasn't long before they discovered that the cave wasn't very large. They had only traveled a total of, roughly, twenty five meters before hitting the cavern's end.

'Hey Kakashi…' Minato said, cringing a little as the words came out of his mouth.

'What?' His companion's reply was soft and quiet.

'Please stop breathing on my neck.' Minato requested as he took a few steps around the figure and back into the small amount of light that had made it that far into the tunnel.

'I'm not…' Kakashi replied as his hand landed on Minato's shoulder. The blonde haired man turned to see his protege standing behind him, the shocked look on the man's face told Minato that something was amiss. Minato looked back into the cave, the bulky figure of a large animal on all fours stood in front of him. The beast trudged slowly towards the two, causing both ninja to step backwards as it stepped forwards.

A bear. Well, some sort of weird, spiny, demon bear to be exact. It's body was riddled with large areas of missing fur, It's skin was oddly red and raw, It's teeth were elongated and dripping with a mixture of what looked like saliva and dried blood. On top of that, it's body had spine-like bone protrusions growing from it, and It's breath smelled of death and decay, not much seemed to survive this animal.

'Hey Kakashi…' Minato whispered.

'Yeah?' The silver haired man responded.

'Maybe we should fight this thing outside of the cave.' The golden haired shinobi breathed as the two men made a dash for the cave's entrance.