Victory Declared
After finishing the battlefield cleanup and ensuring the area wouldn't affect the surrounding environment, Shirō sealed away the alpha wolf inside a scroll and slipped it back into his ninja tool pouch.
Without wasting a moment, he rushed toward the next mission site.
This one was classified as an expulsion mission: a tiger on the verge of becoming a ninken-class beast. If a shinobi had already tamed it, the matter would've been settled quickly. But no one had stepped forward, so the bounty remained open.
Unlike the earlier wolf pack extermination, this mission was easier to pinpoint. The target never left its orchard territory. That was why the village wanted it driven out rather than hunted.
Shirō soon reached the orchard. From a distance, he spotted a massive tiger sprawled beneath a tree, sleeping. Its coat bore yellow and black stripes like the tigers from his previous life, though this one stretched nearly three meters from nose to tail.
An impressive candidate for a potential Summoning Beast, Shirō thought—but he already had contracts with Ryūchi Cave. He had no intention of wasting chakra taming another.
Instead, he unrolled the mission scroll and map, studying the expulsion route. The beast had to be driven toward a canyon. Simple enough, except for one problem: the river crossing.
He scouted ahead, but when he reached the "river" marked on the map, he discovered it had dried up years ago and changed course. The village hadn't bothered to update their charts. Fortunately, aside from this discrepancy, the terrain remained consistent with the mission details.
When Shirō returned, the tiger was awake—doing something that froze him in place.
It was munching on fruit.
"A tiger… eating pears?" Shirō muttered. "Is it sick, or just trying a new diet? Well, whatever. Time to move it along."
He circled behind the beast and raised his hand like a gun.
"Biu."
A crimson orb shot from his fingertip, striking the tiger's flank.
The beast roared and spun around in fury—only to see Shirō flashing through hand seals.
A monstrous serpent materialized before its eyes, coils winding tighter and tighter. Its fangs bared, the snake lunged, biting down with bone-crushing force.
The tiger froze in terror, then bolted in the opposite direction without a second thought.
Of course, there was no serpent. Shirō had cast Genjutsu: Snake Fear Technique, one of his few genjutsu. He wasn't highly skilled in illusions, so he rarely relied on them in battle. But against wild beasts, intimidation worked better than lethal force.
As the tiger fled, Shirō guided it toward the canyon, occasionally firing another crimson shot to steer its course.
That was Gandr, a curse technique Shirō had adapted from Norse magecraft—one Rin Tohsaka herself had used. In Type-Moon records, Gandr projectiles could hit with the force of bullets, even scaling to rocket-level destruction in the hands of a master.
But Shirō wasn't Rin. His version packed the force of a tossed pebble, though he had reworked it: less damage, more curse effect. Instead of wounds, the target suffered sharp jolts of pain, perfect for driving animals without killing them. The technique sometimes misfired, but Shirō welcomed the flaws. Only through trial could he refine it further.
In this way, he herded the tiger step by step until it crossed into the canyon. Mission complete.
Satisfied, he withdrew the next scroll—but frowned. The following assignment site was too far to reach before dark. So he made camp, setting up a small fire and resting until morning.
---
At dawn, Shirō carefully organized his gear, arranging each item within reach. His next task was another expulsion: a wolf pack. Unlike the alpha he'd fought earlier, this group hadn't harmed anyone. In fact, several had strong chakra potential—possible future ninken contracts for other shinobi.
That meant killing them was forbidden. He would simply drive them away.
But wolves moved in coordinated packs. Using Gandr risked riling them into a frenzy. Instead, Shirō decided on a different approach: barrier-based herding.
Upon arrival, he surveyed the landscape, calculated quickly, then formed a cross-hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Several clones dispersed, planting barrier tags around the perimeter. When they dispelled, Shirō confirmed the setup was complete.
He stepped forward and inhaled deeply.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The gale didn't strike the wolves directly but slammed into the ground behind them, echoing like a thunderclap. Startled, the pack scattered—except the barriers funneled them into a single direction.
Exactly as planned.
Shirō shadowed them quietly, ensuring no stragglers slipped past, until the entire pack crossed into the designated relocation zone.
Another mission completed.
From then on, Shirō relied on these two methods—Gandr curses and barrier-guided illusions—to handle most expulsion tasks. His other experimental magecrafts had failed, but these techniques struck a perfect balance between ninja practicality and sorcerous ingenuity.
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