The Regal Rper
Mad Scientist
The Walls
Two groups, two separate ranks, ordered by their summoning letter to remain silent till they approached their destination or face expulsion. The order had not been a joke, for those that did talk they were quite literally taken back to the Village as the Genin and Chunin marched through the long pathway of the Training Ground Territories in the direction of a distant wall. The sun beat down on them during a somewhat cloudy and warm day but that was probably a boon given they were headed in one direction. A stone wall, one that stretched almost infinitely to the sky came more into view as the two groups neared. Dwarfing them in size and height, as well as the guards that stood there in front of it.
"Welcome, youth." Said the owner to that soft voice. He moved a foot ahead of his troops and his troops spread out behind him. In doing so, he revealed to be quite young looking. And slightly on the short side. "I am your Adviser. You may call me Hachi," the man stated in his soft and calm voice. When his black eyes turned to the assembly he said,"Genin, behind this wall is your second trial. All of you," Hachi added as his black eyes, those eyes that seemed like one giant orb locked on to the Chunin, "yes" he repeated with a nod. "That includes the Chunin, will be participating in this trial. Chunin you are here for one reason, as the letter You recieved should have made You aware already. You will act against the genin in this mission- aiming to complete the same task I will assign them. Think of it as a competition. A competition among individuals. Push them to show us they are worth the rank they want, and show the eyes that will be watching this trial that you have not wasted your time and ours since achieving your rank. Most importantly, you will also receive rewards, Chunin. should you succeed. The genin have their own rewards waiting for them if they complete the remaining trials. Whether it is a sponsorship from the major clans like the Uzumaki, Ametsuchi, Hyuga or more famous minor clans like the Inuzuka, or better missions in the future for better pay, or otherwise. Whatever your reasons for joining are- show me you Chunin haven't been slacking off since you reached a rank so many struggle to achieve in these times."
And then Hachi smiled, voice just as kind, yet somehow stern, cold: "or we will have a problem."
Then with a sigh, the calm demeanor returned. "On to the goal... Your goal is to retrieve one of these." He moved his arm from his back, opened his hand, and in it was a round object with dotted colors, about the size of a tennis ball. Smiling at it, then at them he continued,these items are odd. They can take a blow but they aren't indestructible. For example," he threw it into the air and then one jonin officer behind him leaped, backflipped and kicked it back down with an audible pow, the dotted ball went flying towards another jonin behind Hachi who caught it in a twirl and then launched it back towards Hachi, who turned and with a hand, stopped the dotted item; "well, you get the point. They can take a beating, but aren't indestructible. If they break- you fail. Because not only will you have to fight your peers to get one, you will also need to fight off the creatures inside that will attack you once they see or sense your presence with one of these. A little note though, the dots change color when the strength of this item weakens, see?" And it was true. Yellow dots were now blue. "There are only a select few of them and there is only one location you can find them in. Behind these walls. I'll show you specifically where you must go. Oh, and warning?" He advised as he handed the item over gently to his allies behind him, "This will get bumpy.
Hachi weaved four signs and then slammed his hands into the earth. The entire group of genin and chunin were carried up in rising pillars of earth above the massive walls, hundreds of feet in the air. Hachi waited for them all to settle, then he pointed ahead on his own pillar of dirt. Straight into the massive forest, where odd lights bloomed barely out from a glimpse within thanks to passing wind shifting branches. In the distance of the forest, at the center perhaps, a silhouette of projected pillars poked slightly out of the forest woods.
"Go in there, retrieve one of those items, and return here within the next 24 hours. We will send you in there through other means, as no one is allowed to climb or enter these walls. Once inside, look for markers. We have markers, maps, and signs put up to help guide you in the direction You all should be going into. These markers are everywhere, color coded. Blue means You are going the wrong way. Red means You are on the right path. These are the only two color marks that really matter. The rest," he stated this part rather bluntly: "Figure it out on your own. You are allowed to work in teams for however long you want, but keep in mind" Hachi warned as he glanced back at them all over his shoulder, a small friendly smile yet equally insidious smirk catching his features, "those balls are not many. You can't share them, and if any of the Observers see you try to attempt to pull any tricks to help your friends, you will be removed. You get your item and return with new instructions to where you should go once you have retrieved the item. There's roughly 16 of you or more here- I'm guessing- and the creatures that harvest those items, they have 8 or more but not enough for everyone. My warning to you all is to be wary when you enter the Akuma Woods. There is a reason you only have a day to complete your tasks. The woods are dangerous, as I'm sure the liability forms you each received before coming to this place might have clued you in. The village will not be responsible for the deaths of the foolhardy. This is your one and only chance to turn back now and choose a different path in your lives", Hachi stated with a query in his voice, earnest in his words, silent for mostly a minute as he watched both Chunin and Genin in this group. Eyeing, waiting to see those that dropped out and those that wouldn't.
"...well then," he nodded, smiling brightly, "try not to die. It's always sad to see potential die early. I wish you all the best of luck, you will need it.
Red Markers: Tell you your character is going in the right direction towards the Goal.
Blue Markers: Tell you your character is going away from the Goal.
All it took was Hachi giving each player in this trial a kunai with writing on its handle, and then in the blink of an eye, they were gone- inside the forest after one hand sign. Inertia or dizziness should have set in for a few seconds but it should have faded quickly. All of them arranged in a circle, back-to-back-to-back. The first thing the cast noticed, was the woods.
Light did not come down from above despite it still being early afternoon day. The sky was nonexistent, where there were gaps in the overhead branches that should have allowed light, there was instead dark blotches that simply didn't allow anything to be seen. The forest ignored natural laws of common sense. It had been sunny outside, but in these woods it was almost pitch black dark. Darker than night, the only saving grace were the illuminating mushrooms, floating furry flakes that acted like glowing candles in the air, and the random glowing fruit or cones or whatever those diamond shaped hanging things that were attached to the branches of various trees were.
They stood in a massive clearing, about the size of a soccer field; bathed in colors of different kinds from luminance of the surrounding plant life. The human eye could see quite a distance with varying clarity, but in this darkness and strange light, they saw very little ahead past the first rows of trees and the general clearing they stood in.
Although the same could not be said for everyone as some might have had different luck if they were from a clan that focused on honing certain senses, others might have had assistance through their KG or summons of their own which were their eyes in this dark, whatever the case was...the woods were silent. Dim and silent, but they did not leave you blind and inept.
Up ahead, in four directions: North, east, south, west- there was light. Red light. A sign, directions. Hachi had teleported everyone square into the center of their destination. This light stood out sharply in contrast to the dimness that shadows casted and the colors the forest provided for its own illumination. The group were in a circle formation, so it was simply a matter of picking where each wanted to go. Four different directions, four different options.
The orb of red light in the distance clung to the first trunk of a row of pencil thin trees ahead just beyond the clearing. It illuminated the grassy pathway, the ground somewhat bumpy and clearly uneven in footing those first few steps- waiting for the first few to start the journey.
Perhaps it was not noticeable at first, but eyes popped into existence. All of them high up in the trees. Yellow eyes just appeared from nowhere, and then they blinked. First it was one pair, then two, then three, then twelve, then twenty. They surrounded the group, were illuminated by the light of the hanging diamonds briefly as small, monkey like creatures, perhaps. The creatures stayed in the trees however. Watching. Circling. Eyeing. None moved. None made a single sound. Nothing did.
Till someone did.