Monster

After learning the storage seal he moved on to explosive tags which were one of the most iconic ninja tools. Explosive tags were less complicated to make than the storage seal but, needed more chakra. Meaning that even though he could make them they were basically glorified fireworks and not even worth making.

The storage seal and explosive tag were the only seals he could make right now with all the others being too complicated or needing special materials to make. He could only keep studying the basics until he was skilled enough to try making anything more advanced.

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Two more years passed in the blink of an eye Erik was now nine years old and was sprinting through the woods jumping from tree to tree. He finally had enough chakra to reliably start using the D-rank jutsu and was practicing his "Body Flicker". The "Body Flicker" technique was something that nearly every shinobi learned it energized the users body letting them move at unimaginable speeds. The only flaw was that it was nearly impossible for most ninja to change direction quickly or react to obstacles in their path.

This made it basically useless in a fight and only used for long distance travel. When he first learned the jutsu he always ended up tripping or slamming into trees luckily he wasn't going full speed and only suffered a few bruises.

As he got used to the speed he stopped holding back to see what his limit was. He measured himself and found out that he could keep a steady pace of about 100Kph(60Mph) and had a max speed of 300Kph(180Mph) but, going that fast would use up his little chakra almost instantly.

Ever since he mastered "Body Flicker" he would sneak out every night and fly through the woods. It was an indescribable feeling to be weaving through the tree branches at highway speed while barely making a sound.

One night while he was out as usual in the trees when he felt a strange sense of dread. He stopped where he was and just listened it was completely quiet and the full moon filtering through the leaves gave everything an ominous feeling. Looking around he couldn't see anything except for a small white owl that was nesting nearby.

he was about to leave when a blood curdling howl broke the silence. The blood draining from his face and he had a gut feeling that if he didn't head back right now he might never make it back. Turning around he sped off towards town, however less than a minute passed before another howl rang out and this time it sounded much closer.

Not long after that he began hearing snapping branches and the faint sound of stomping feet, whatever was chasing him was gaining ground. Erik thought about speeding up to his max speed but, quickly threw that idea out. If he'd did that he could definitely gain some distance from whatever was chasing him but, he could only keep that up for about 30 seconds which wouldn't be nearly enough time to get away and worse would leave him completely out of chakra.

Knowing that he couldn't run anymore he decided to hide he jumped to the ground and transformed into a rock hoping that the monster would rush past. Whenever he was transformed into an inanimate object he would completely lose his sight and would need to rely on his hearing to know what was going on.

He waited like that in complete darkness while the monster approached. Not long later it's massive footsteps were right on top of him, the fact that he couldn't see it even though it was right next to him and that he could be found any moment had him completely terrified.

Unlike how he hope when the monster arrived it didn't keep running in the direction he was running it just stopped in the clearing like it knew he was there. It started loudly sniffing and kept circling the area searching for him. Once he could even feel it's hot breath on him as it was smelling him.

His heart almost stopped when it did that luckily it didn't find him and went back to searching around. Unluckily after being unable to find him it still decided to stick around he couldn't figure out what it was doing.

It was making him anxious the "Transformation" jutsu didnt take much chakra but, it was still took some. With all running he did with "Body Flicker" and the need to maintain his transformation he only had a little more that a quarter of his chakra left. If it didn't leave soon he would have to risk it all and make a move.

Over the next 45 minutes Erik didn't relax for even a second he strained his ears every moment to know what it was doing. When he only had a tenth of his chakra left he let out a sigh of relief because it seemed like it fell asleep. He knew this was his only chance he had to leave before it woke up.

He made a silent prayer and undid his transformation the poofing sound that transforming made had never sounded louder to him than it did now. As the smoke blew away he grabbed his knife and readied himself for a fight. He stood there tended for what seemed like eternity before he was sure it didn't wake up.

He could finally get a look at what ever it was. The first thing he noticed was how skinny it was all of its ribs were exposed and the monster limbs looked like match sticks. It was covered in layer of fur but, it was extremely thin and stuck to his body almost like the hair on a newborn baby.

It was curled up and facing away from so he couldn't see any more details than that. Though he didn't care see more of it. Erik immediately started to sneak away and was counting his blessing that he had taken the time to learn how to properly sneak over the years.

He took his time with every step he didn't want to accidentally step in a twig like an idiot. Soon it started to disappear behind him he felt like he was home free. However things always go wrong right when your sure that you've won.

The small white owl he saw earlier was sitting on a branch right above the monster. It looked at Erik in the distance before a small glint appeared in its eyes and it let out an extremely loud hoot.

When Erik hear that he froze from where he was he could see it slowly rising to its feet while the moonlight cast it in a haunting light. It easily rise more than two meters(seven feet) as it stood up on its hind legs.He felt like his soul left his body as it slowly turned its head and cast a him side long and growled.

He held up the knife with his hand shaking and got into a fighting position there was no way to run or hide anymore all he could do was fight.