The Land of Wave: The Chunin Exams Begin!

Ago Aburame.
Joro Jogiro.
"...Huh..." Ago stood silent for a moment, the world going a little bit.. crazy at the moment... her mind was ticking through what was said at her own pace, she was absolutely certain the proctor was beign tricky. But then again this was a Chuunin exam so she had to be certain... To be certain, she had to watch the others figure it out, collect what information she could and make certain that her thoughts were indeed most probable to be correct.

"Aki, do what you gotta do. Some people might get all crazy-" "AAAAAAH!!! YUKARI ARE YOU REAL!?!?!" a voice called from across the room, a young man was yelling towards his partner, looking like a sudden drama bomb had been dropped upon him. "You know I'm terrible at this stuff! tell me your real!y yukari!" he clenched both fists, looking about ready to fight... BUT THEN! he got an idea!! "I know!!! i know how to prove your real!! Only something Yukari would know of course." the young man snickered, his demeanor changing a mile a minute.

"Yukari, tell me..." he leaned closed and whispered into her ear...
"What color boxers am I wearing?"

Ago stared at the scene before looking again to Aki. "I'm gonna sit at the front until the.. problems work out. Maybe laugh a little, depending whats going on... Oh.." she took out a singular male beetle and waited for a moment... Satisfied she nodded, wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Aki.

"Save your energy, but try to stop Mochi from destroying everything as usual, pretty sure they wouldn't like seeing a destroyed classroom as our first showing of the kemuri ninja." the queen commanded, as she sat atop of a desk nearest to the front to wait, occasionally looking at the clock on the wall and playing with a beetle with rather terrifyingly large pincers upon her palm.

KageYuuki KageYuuki

D3lmoniko D3lmoniko
 
Aki took in the scene, looking around at the chaos that ensued. Nobody trusted each other, it was a complete mayhem. Even he didn't know if his team mate was the real Ago or an imposter. Then Ago started to speak, and Aki looked at her with a suspicious look. He was ready to speak, when Joro started yelling. He put his hand to his ears, groaning. "...Ugh..."

He took his hands from his ears, continuing to listen to Ago. "...Hey how do I know you're the rea-" Then he saw Ago giving him a piece of paper and going to sit atop a desk. Unfolding the paper, he shrugged. "...Fair enough..." He took the piece of paper and ripped it up, putting the remains in his pocket.

Aki went to where Mochi and her team was, and at the same time, kept an eye where Yuuki's team was, so neither would go crazy. "...H-Hey Mochi..." He said to her, smiling, then looked at the others, his face turning to his normal expression. "...Jin...Kiso..." Putting his hands behind his back, he cleared his throat. "...Do you have any leads?... Or suspicions?..."

Jin took one look at the tanuki boy, before scowling. Her eyes went to Kinzu, then to Mochi. "To be honest darling, I'm in a tight spot here. Even so, how can we trust you? For all we know, you might be one of those awful imposters." Jin spoke, with a rather calm but bitter voice. "...I am just here to maintain the peace and not to devolve into chaos and destroy this classroom..." Jin crossed her hands to her chest, her puppet's blades starting to show. "And why do you care so much for this classroom, imposter?" Aki let out a soft growl, eyeing the puppet, then taking a short look at Mochi and then at Kinzu.

"...Try and focus on the bigger picture... This is just what they want... Chaos..." Aki spoke, calming down and adopting a similar posture as Jin. At the moment, Jin and Aki were looking intensely at eachother, as if they were ready to jump in and attack eachother at any moment.

Orikanyo Orikanyo Ganryu Ganryu Kinzu Hekmatyar Kinzu Hekmatyar
 
Mochizuki went from downtrodden to audibly happy as the smoke bomb went off, laughing her head off. She thrived off the chaos!

"This is SUUUPER awesome! Way better than a paper test! Can I be incharge of a paper exam when I'm a jonin?"


She looked at one teammate, then the other as Aki approached them. Her goggles were on, but not for long. They helped against the painful smoke, but Mochi only wore them really when she got serious. It felt wrong to have them on when so much fun was around the classroom. She tapped her foot in rhythm to her finger against her chin.

"Imposter... .imposter.... Gots it!"


As Aki approached them, Mochizuki shuffled through her ninja pouch, awkwardly biting her tongue as she did. Her wings buzzed. This test was going to be so simple.

As he and Jin talked, Mochizuki stabbed her two teammates in the arm, without any explanation. She cocked her head almost confused at the two teammates, then held out her arm.

"Do me next! Make it hard, I suck at doing this myself."


She had enough healing that it probably wasn't going to be too much of a problem.

---------------------------------

Ayumu smug smile was erased as he came out the smoke screen, coughing and rubbing his eyes. He looked at his two teammates.

"Hmm. Logic puzzle. Seems perfect chance to show off my skills. Now.... let's see, who could be the imposter. If we hear anything intelligible out of Ryu's mouth, I vote him. If we hear anything at all out of Yuuki's mouth, then him. Now.... how can I tell who's real, and whose fake..."

Ayumu tapped his foot against the floor, before doing a kai simple. It wasn't genjutsu. Or at least, if it was, it was stronger than anyone he knew. As far as Ayumu knew, he was the best genjutsu specialist in Kemuri. He refused to believe someone better than him had set one up.

"Tch.... It can't be hard...."


He almost wish he'd spent more time outside missions with his teammates.... but then again, that would mean spending time with them outside missions. Ayumu's private life was, well, private. Unfortunately it meant the inverse, so he couldn't ask the two about anything personal either. Meant just the missions.

"Hmm... Tell me the names of the two street urchins from our first mission."
 
Yuuki Mifune

Golden hues warily observed the jounin that stood in the front of the classroom. Yuuki wasn't sure just what it was, but something about the man left him unnerved. The numerous Nami shinobi sitting off to the side did little to help matters. Trying to shake the unease from the older shinobi's presence - and likely some residual nerves over the entire exam - Yuuki looked at the paper laying on the desk. It looked a lot like the kind of tests they had at the academy.

Just... Harder.

....

A lot harder.

Shit...

I should smack you for Mochizuki, Kyoko teased in the back of his mind.

Not helping!

It was then the proctor spoke up and the smoke bombs went off. It took several blinks for the boy's eyes to quit burning once things began to settle down. "An imposter...?" Yuuki glanced between what he hoped were his two teammates. Well, this could get-

That one kid they met at the hot springs last night started yelling and Mochi just stabbed someone.

That didn't take long.

Ayumu's voice was barely audible amidst the ensuing chaos. "That was months ago..." Yuuki groaned, rubbing his eyes once more. Of course, he knew Lynn, it would have been rather bad if he didn't remember his sensei's recently adopted daughter. More or less guessing, he jotted Lynn's name and another down on a piece of paper before folding and passing to Ayumu.

Yukari Hyuuga
Of all the Jounin to pick to run this exam... it had to be one of the creepiest in the entire village. Yukari sighed as she took a seat, scanning the genin gathered in the classroom. Genin from nearly every village sat in the large room. Were there normally so many villages involved? Still can't believe they let that... thing in the exams. Her grumblings were cut short when Riku finally spoke up and smoke quickly filled the room.

"Tch," Yukari winced, something had been laced in with the smoke to keep her from using her byakugan. So much for trying to see just what the hell was going on out there. Her chakra surged regardless, ready to unleash a blast should anyone try to grab her.

As the smoke faded, the chaos only seemed to rise. "Inazami's sake, Joro, shut up." Yukari growled in response to her teammates... predictable freakout. A groan escaped her as he ran up and whispered his question, the Hyuuga burying her face in her hands to hide the activated byakugan. "You are so lucky you have a nice ass..." She grumbled before shaking her head, "Heart print as usu-"

She froze, blinking in dumbstruck silence at Mochizuki's attempted solution. "Did... did that Kemuri girl just stab her teammate?"

The fuck was wrong with that village!?
 
Ryunosuke

Ryu could have done without the stinging in his eyes...

Thankfully, it seemed only a temporary problem. Now came the more real issue: finding the imposter. For just a moment, he felt himself tense up at the prospect that either of his teammates could have been replaced with a double. However, it took just a glance to notice that the room was rapidly falling into chaos, with some teams just hurling interrogations at each other trying to catch them in a lie. No, now was not the time to panic, that would just make things more difficult.

At least at first, he just ignored Ayumu's typical jab at him. If Ayumu was the imposter, at least they got that much about him correct. He was just as much an insufferable peacock as ever. Instead, he took to observing how everyone else handled the news. Obviously, he didn't fail to notice Mochizuki outright stabbing her teammates. It may have seemed to some as lunacy, but at the same time there was merit. Pain would break someone out of genjutsu, and it would interrupt someone's genjutsu if they were using it.

Then he spied Ago. She seemed exceptionally calm for a time like this. Then she was talking to her beetle.

She already had it figured out.

The question was, what did she know? What had she been able to divine from that insect?

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Ayumu attempted a Kai simple. Given his reaction, either it had been unsuccessful, or Ayumu was, in fact, the traitor. When he asked asked about the 'street urchins', Ryu started to piece things together. It was only a hunch though, and he needed a way to be sure...

For now, he would answer Ayumu's question. Of course he remembered the names. How many times had he run that mission over and over in his mind trying to figure out what he could have done differently? He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be worrying about it. He scrawled both names down on a piece of paper like Yuuki had before sliding it over to Ayumu.

"This question and answer game is fine, but if you only ask about missions, no doubt any impersonator would have the answer." Ryu remarked emptying a small flask of water onto the floor while Ayumu checked the answers. "So I propose a different test..." He bit his thumb before placing it into the water. The Water lit up for a moment before two eels poked their heads from the pool of water.

"Each of us will place our hand in the water and let these two wrap around us. Once set, we will say our name, one personal detail, and whether or not we are the imposter. If you tell the truth, you have nothing at all to fear from them. If you lie... Well, you'll find out why you shouldn't attempt to lie to an electric eel..." Ryu remarked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hehe, yeah! You'll get zappity zap zapped!" One of the eels snickered excitedly. Eels were, after all, very sensitive to electrical impulses. As such, if they were touching you, they could detect the minuscule changes in your body if you were to lie. For all intents and purposes, they were perfect lie detectors.

"So... Let's get started."
 
Riku Orochi - Proctor
Riku scanned the classroom, though his eyes hardly moved. It was more he would swivel his head and click every so often, the more chaos in the room, the more was forced to, to make sure things weren’t getting too out of hand.

“Do I smell blood? This early? Seems a little excessive.”

He gave another whiff, and turned to the genin on his desk. She smelled like trouble to him, like a hive of insects. Thankfully the chaos in the classroom was loud enough, he didn’t expect it to be overheard. He couldn’t even hear the entire classroom, and it tended to be a specialty of his. Her teammates had scattered and she was alone. Didn’t seem like she was nervous either. Riku gave a small sigh, and turned to talk to her. He ‘stared’ at her, though he was off and actually looking at a poster behind her.

“So, Ms Aburame. What do you make of the test? Accounting for things like the Byakugan is easy. Things like yourself or the Inuzuka tends to be harder. Well, let’s hear it. Who’s the imposter on your team?”

Ago rose an eyebrow as she turned to look at the blind proctor. She didn’t expect for him to talk to her, but she guess he might’ve gotten bored. “The imposter on my team? Well, thats a silly question.” she flashed a cunning smirk. “All of my bugs are still in place, had they been taken, i would know. And as it so happens, all of my little friends are still right where they were.” she kicked her dangling feet off the edge before slipping off to face the proctor.

“The liar, is yourself. There is no imposter. So do you need to be tied up? Or does that part not need to be done at this point?”
she asked as her hand grasped a clasp on her belt, which lead to her handy spool of wire.

She stopped using rope after a while, to easy to cut, though she did have to wear gloves when working with the wire, she made certain to have them insulated in case somebody gets tricky with trying to zap her… The idea came to her after that one morning that her sensei gave her such a rude awakening…

The proctor reached by his hip in his quiver for an arrow. However, he never reached for his bow, and instead, he just sniffed it. It was a blunt arrow.

“Smells like ink.

Now, there’s no need to be drastic. I’m simply a proctor. I keep things fair for everyone here, and make sure everyone is sure of their answer. I must, however, do this part. As a shinobi, are you sure your teammates are who you think? That a jonin would be unable to fool you? That you trust them, and your abilities to that extent? I’ll allow you this chance. Is this your final answer Ms Aburame?”


Ago scanned the man up and down, he was right… but if she wasn’t certain of herself and her abilities, she couldn’t be relied upon. And in this day and age, if you faltered, you died. “It’s my job to be certain of my allies, my enemies and myself. I must know all, if I don’t, I will fail. That means looking through each trick, be certain of my fail safes and what to do even if my failsafes fail themselves. And it is up to me to always be prepared, for my team and my own sakes. This was a interesting trap, but not one i wasn’t prepared for.”

She made a finger pistol towards the man before confirming. “That is my final answer.”

Riku nodded.

“My, my, such, a serious answer. And here your profile made you sound like such a treat. It was by far the longest of the three. Well, if that’s your answer, here’s mine.”


Riku stabbed at her with the arrow, and with a ‘poof’ she was gone. He quickly drew his bow, and fired the same arrow at Aki, then loaded another arrow he smelt, and fired at Ao.

With them disappeared, he turned to the rest of the room, and announced in a voice to silence everyone else.

“Now, I want the attention of the rest of you. That team was sure of their answer. Now they are gone from this exam. If you are wrong on this exam, you would be dead in the field, and generally you wouldn’t have 30 minutes. Dressing as an enemy combatant is a common trick. I’m rather disappointed with the results. Jonin in the teams, you now have permission to rough up the genin if they do not answer correctly at the end of this exam. It’s a punishments for all the answers I’ve got so far, few and far between they are. So I suggest you answer correctly if you don’t want a week in the hospital as well as failing your entire team.”


----------------

Squad C

After being hit with the arrow, the team would end up standing in a different room altogether after getting hit by the arrow. It appeared to be an old style dojo. It was almost completely barren, except for a large seal on the ground the group was now standing in. The room also had a disturbingly quiet atmosphere, a far cry from the chaos of the classroom a few minutes ago. It seemed far away from the city it was so quiet. The only other person in the room was a wild looking man, who towered over the genin, almost glaring at them. He had unkempt hair, and a gauntlet at his side.
 
Squad A - Unmistakable Animosity


“Tch, I make it a matter to make my private life private. I certainly don’t want any troglodytes prying into matters they don’t deserve to know. What else am I supposed to ask you about? I’m not particularly fond of that mansion full of flowers Yuuki lives in along with a hundred other inbreds, nor am I fond of Ryu’s questionable tastes in emo hairstyles. I mean, would you prefer me asking about the time I stabbed Yuuki out of a genjutsu, or suddenly had Ryu stumble on scaffolding. Or maybe the dress selection from me taking Lynn shopping? Or that hilarious time Lynn asked us to stalk Kazou-sensei for a day?”

He looked down at the eel. His eyes narrowed at it.

“Touch me, and the only spark you’ll see is the spark of life leaving you. Slimy fish-snake.”

Ayumu wasn’t having it touch him for multiple reasons. With his sleeves on, it would be too dirty. Without his sleeves, he had his weights on he would rather keep hidden.

Yuuki silently eyed Ago as she strolled up to the proctor and spoke to him for a minute. It made him wish he’d summoned Surizaamen just for a chance to know what was being said. Granted, with all the chaos in the room the chances of hearing were rather slim anyway. Whatever her answer was, it got the entire team sent out of the room.

The genin clicked his tongue, eyeing Ayumu and Ryu closely as his fingers drummed against the desk. “Sorry, but I don’t exactly have any reason to blindly grab someone else’s summon.” As Ayumu spoke up, Yuuki’s gaze narrowed into a scowl. “Though another comment like that and I might just follow Mochi’s example…”

Ryu sighed, shaking his head. He expected Ayumu to be a pain about this, but he had thought Yuuki would be the voice of reason. “You’re both completely missing the whole point of this test…” He muttered. “This whole damn thing is testing how much we know each other and just how much faith we’re willing to put in each other. If we just stay suspicious of each other the entire damn time, we may as well just leave now, because we don’t stand a chance.” He hissed, glancing from one teammate to the other.

“The unfortunate point is, Ayumu doesn’t know either of us, nor us him, much outside of missions” Ryu spoke as he watched Yuuki. “And that’s why this test is necessary. It’s a simple lie detector test.. So long as you are telling the truth, and not an imposter, they won’t hurt you, and we can move on. I have a theory, but this is the only way I can test it to be sure” He finished. Though, admittedly, that theory was shaken ever so slightly when Ago’s team suddenly vanished. Was it possible that she had been tricked?

“Bah. And what’s to prevent you from getting kicks or giggles from shocking me? Screw you being an imposter.”


Ayumu was getting more and more annoyed. What the hell were they supposed to do? He thought about it. There were jutsu he hadn’t told Kazou about? Yuuki could prove them? Come to think of it, couldn’t Yuuki prove Ryu’s side too? But what if Yuuki was the imposter? What could convince him of that? Yuuki had already proved to have the memory of an idiot. Ayumu raised an eyebrow at a thought. He quizzically raised his voice.

“Guys, is that Tsuki, the moon bunny over there?”

If that didn’t work, he was out of options.

“You two figure out if either’s a fake. If it’s not Yuuki, he can prove my genjutsu. I.AM.NOT.putting my hands in there with those cretins”


“You’re the only one I’m still concerned about.” Ryu finally said as he watched Ayumu. “You already tried to break any genjutsu that were affecting us. If any of us could have broken it, it would have been you, yet your demeanor didn’t change, meaning Yuuki and I didn’t change. So, that leads to only a couple of possibilities. Either someone is better than you at Genjutsu, or you’re the fake, or one other option. I’ll have my answer after the eel test.”

He hated, abso-fucking-lutely hated giving Ayumu credit for his Genjutsu, but credit was due. He meant what he said. If anyone could have recognized a genjutsu in place, it would have been their resident peacock. So, that meant only Ayumu’s identity needed to be proven…

“NO ONE’S GENJUTSU IS BETTER THAN MINE!” Ayumu roared.

He started a myriad of handsigns, clone after clone appeared in the room amidst a rain of cherry blossoms. Slowly their worst nightmares would start to come to life around them with Ayumu dropping to the ground, glaring at the two from a kneeling position.

“I don’t care if you suspect me, I don’t care how slimy those disgusting THINGS are you try to summon, do NOT insult my genjutsu by suggesting anyone could be better than mine. Try breaking it, I dare you! I would take on their jounin in a heartbeat. And Yuuki, you know about my Curtains of Tanabata, Kazou does not, verify this.”


Yuuki groaned, rubbing his eyes at Ryu’s lecture. He was honestly half tempted to say something about it before pausing to glance back for Tsukiyomi. “Not funny, prick…” He muttered under his breath at Ayumu before glancing back at a pair of genin that had their blades locked. It probably wasn’t going to be long before other teams ended up like that. There’s likely would soon if this -



Well, fake or not, the ‘genjutsu button’ was still there…

An annoyed groan left Yuuki, “You done throwing a fit then? Yes, I know about your stupid curtains. Water walking’s hard enough without the damn things grabbing me.”

Ryu just watched everything basically fall to chaos around them as Ayumu blew his temper all over everyone. “Sorry guys, no need for you this time” He patted the two eels in the pool of water, who just poofed away to wherever summons go when they are not needed.

“With that, I have my answer. I know who the imposter is” Ryu concluded. “I figured if you weren’t going to trust the eels, I had to set you off some other way and test your reaction. No one but Ayumu would have pulled that kind of reaction” Ryu remarked casually. “Have you two figured it out, yet?” He inquired, watching his teammates to see if they had figured it out too.

Ayumu ended his genjutsus with a snarl.

“Yeah, Yuuki’s still got PTSD from the dumb bunny. And you are still an ass. And both of you are still plebs. And I call malarkey on ‘you figured we weren’t going to trust your eels’. You were clearly emotional about ‘this is the only way’, pleeb. But no one else is that ‘holier than thou’. Let’s go. Shall we go? Hey, proctor, got your answer!”


Yuuki rolled his eyes as he stood, “Still mad at you about that.” He stretched, “Let’s just get this over with, Kyoko’s giving me a headache…”

It figured. Ryu had actually given Ayumu a veiled compliment somewhere in there, but it went right over the peacock’s head. He had hinged all of his assumptions on Ayumu’s genjutsu, after all. For now, he’d just let Ayumu be particularly pissy. Maybe he’d realize the compliment rendered after he cooled off. They were perhaps the single most dysfunctional group in this entire outing, and yet they were the second to figure it out. Go figure.

With a shrug, Ryu just let Ayumu blow off steam as he followed the rest of his team up to the proctor to see what was to happen next. Granted, he was fairly certain he knew… He hoped those arrows wouldn’t leave holes. Any more things to piss him off and Ayumu would probably scream himself hoarse, and putting a hole in his precious peacock plumage was exactly the kind of trigger to set that off....

Ayumu strutted to the proctor.

“Hey, proctor, we’re going on. All three.”


The instructor raised his eyes.

“Are you sure? To give up without giving an answer? If you say that without finding an imposter, I’m afraid I have to seal you three, it’s not a special treatment, it’s to those I don’t want here..”

Yuuki raised an eyebrow, “The lies are getting a little old. There’s no way you missed . . . that back there anyway.”

“And I’d rather not be here. That was my- our answer, it's a bit insulting you’d questions it.”


“It’s obvious. The only ones you want to keep here are the ones who can’t see through your tricks. You don’t want us here or else there’s a chance we’ll spill the beans and ruin your fun.” Ryu added on with a smirk.

With that, Riku shrugged, and shot all three. It would feel like being hit by a punch, but in the next room, they saw Squad C.

“Sup nerds!” Ago shouts as they came into view.
 
Jin still stared at Aki, when she felt a sharp pain her arm. She yelped, her puppet quickly revealed her weapons, and Aki jumped back, taken by surprise. Both his and Jin's eyes were on Mochi, as she held her arms out. "Mochizuki darling, what was the point of that?" Jin spoke with her usual voice.

Aki sighed, looking at the others. He saw that Yuuki's team was on the case as well, and the Hyuuga girl looked at them, with an interesting expression on her face. "...Mochi, I don't think that solution might be as good... As much I like to see Jin in pain..." Jin shot him a annoyed look. "...But I really don't think that stabbing your tea-" And with that he was gone.

Jin's eyes went big, as she waved her hand where Aki was. "What in the name of-"

“Oh, either I was stabbing an imposter out of a transformation jutsu, or helping ya out a genjutsu. So, do ya see anything different? I’ll heal your hand real quick.”

Mochizuki looked around.

“Where’d Aki go? He was just here five seconds ago? Oh no!”

Mochizuki spied the arrow and picked it up.

“Did the proctor turn Aki into an arrow!? Jin, can you fix this!?””

Mochizuki pressed the arrow against Jin, and in a poof of smoke, Jin disappeared. Mochizuki nearly jumped out her skin.

“W-what? Is this arrow…?”

She tapped her other teammate who likewise disappeared.

“This arrow eats people! I’m coming Jin!”

Mochizuki lowered her goggles, and stabbed herself in the stomach, disappearing as well. She reappeared in the next room, seeing all the other genin. The fact her goggles were down was a rare sight, she only ever wore them in a serious fight. Her own teammates may or may not have even picked up on the queue. The fact Mochizuki was still wearing them….

She turned to treat her teammates first however.

“I’ll get us out of here! It’s a clever genjutsu, but I know where we are. Jin, let me see ya hand.”

Looking around at her teammates, Mochizuki gave a big smile.

“Hey guys, this is perfect, I can show off my new skills!”

She did a series of handsigns, before placing her palms over Jin’s arm. The wound began to heal as a green ball formed over it.

Healing Ball Jutsus

Finishing, she flashed everyone a smile.

“Now to get us all out of here!”

Mochizuki pulled out her gun, and loaded a dart wrapped in paper.

“I won’t get eaten easily!”

Mochizuki took a deep breath, and aimed it straight up at the ceiling before exhaling in a shot. An explosion would rock the room as she would cause the roof to cave in if no one stopped her.

Aki jumped up, going next to Mochi, and put a hand on her shoulder. “...Mochi… Calm down… We’re safe…” Jin was dumbfounded. After being stabbed, transported to a completely new place after being once again stabbed by the same teammate, Jin needed a little time to take in what happened. After a few seconds of silence from her, she simply said. “What the fuck is happening?” Aki turned to her. He never heard her say a vulgar word, and her voice changed from her usual sweet, almost eerie voice to a normal yet shocked voice. Another reason for the change might be the absence of her puppet.

Jin went to Mochi, slapped Aki’s hand away, and put her hands on Mochi’s shoulders. Mochizuki! I saw weird things from you, but this takes the cake!” Her voice now went maternal. “Just let me take the chaos you’re causing in small bites before throwing me into a new creation of your active imagination!” She stopped shaking her, and took her hands off Mochi, closing her eyes and starting to breath in audibly. By now, Aki had retreated, staring at Jin, mouth agape.

(OOC note:someone please stop her. Or don’t. That’s cool too.)

Orikanyo Orikanyo One Mean Ghost One Mean Ghost KageYuuki KageYuuki @Red Kinzu Hekmatyar Kinzu Hekmatyar

Collab with Ganryu Ganryu
 
Ago aburame

Sitting at the "front" of the room, likely just under the banner, Ago looked towards the now filling room with idiots and friends alike. "Looks like everyone is here! glad to see you all didn't die during the test- uhhhhhhhhhh." she was about to finish when Mochi decided to try and... well.. literally bring down the house. "Mochi. Mochi!!! Love look at me! transportation jutsu! Not makearroweatpeople jutsu! We're someplace else! not in the arrow!" she called to the woman across the way, trying to bring her back from the brink of nearly killing everyone in the room.

"Or at least I'm pretty sure we are. not sure where this place is really."
she added, kinda sabotaging her own earlier words. "Plus, they wouldn't try and kill us if we failed the test, more like toss us out on our asses. Plus, this banner KINDA says we passed so......" she pointed above her head. "...So... uh... Whatever happens after this point, remember that I'm in the lead for points." What points? who knows. "So you guys better start to work harder~!" her snickering could be heard from across the room.

"But no really, where are we?"
 
Daisuke Kazehana: Chuunin Exam Proctor
As chaos began breaking out among the confused shinobi, the towering jounin's eyes narrowed in annoyance. Of course, he expected Riku's arrows to cause a bit of a stir to anyone hit with them. But for that girl to think they'd 'been eaten by the arrows'? What the hell kind of shinobi did that mound of rubble send us?

Frankly, he was impressed all three squads made it this far. He glanced at the clock, time was up.

"Alright, you brats," Daisuke's voice boomed over the chaos, "Shut up and follow me." Striding past the gaggle of genin he led them to the next room. The genin would find what looked to be numerous summoning circles on the floor, each having three bento boxes sitting in the center. "One for each team," Daisuke said bluntly as he moved to sit at the head of the room. "I suggest you eat up, It'll be the last decent meal you get in awhile. For some of you, it'll be the last one period."

Yuuki shifted slightly at the statement, not sure if it was another ploy or not. He glanced at the large map hanging behind Daisuke. It showed the topography of a small island, only a single point was marked at the center. Judging by the numerous lines surrounding it whatever was there was at the center of a plateau or something.

The clawed tips of Daisuke's gauntlets tapped against the floor as he waited for each team to get settled. Ten teams in total had passed the first portion... At the absolute most, only half of that number would move on to the finals. "I'm Daisuke Kazehana, your next proctor. As you've no doubt figured out by now, you've passed the first portion of the exam. Unfortunately, that was also the easiest of the three."

Yukari fought not to roll her eyes, of course it would only get harder from here.

"Here's how this is going to work," the gruff Jounin pulled out a set of scrolls and held them for everyone to see. One had black bands on the ends and bore the character for earth, the other was light blue with heaven inscribed instead. "Ten teams, ten scrolls. Five teams with have the earth scroll and the other five will have heaven."

He set the scrolls back down, "To pass this portion of the exam you need to reach the tower at the center of this island within five days." A quiet murmur rippled through the crowd. Daisuke snorted, "Why do you think it's so quiet here? We're far from the village, on a little island just off the coast."

"There's got to be more to it than just reaching the tower," Yuuki spoke up finally, "So what's the catch?"

"The 'catch' is simple: you need both a heaven and earth scroll to enter the tower." Daisuke crossed his arms in front of him, "Try to read either scroll, you fail. If a teammate dies, you fail. If you don't reach the tower within five days or arrive without a complete set of scrolls, you fail. You're free to use any means available to take a scroll.

"Now before I send you kiddies off to go play, a few things you'll appreciate knowing about the island. It's hot, it's humid, fresh water is in short supply and the weather is... unpredictable at best. It'll be embarrassing for your village if any of you up and die of dehydration."
He held up his hand in the sign of confrontation, the seals began glowing a light blue. "So try to use those little heads of yours. I'll see you at the tower."

In puffs of smoke, the gathered teams vanished. Each would appear at designated spots on the island, their scroll waiting for them on the ground.

The second exam had begun.

Heaven
  • Kemuri, Squad A
  • Kemuri, Squad C
  • Oki, Squad 7
  • Sougen, Squad 12 (NPC)
  • Nami, Team Sasuke(NPC)
Earth
  • Kemuri, Squad B
  • Nami, Team Saizou
  • Nami, Team Yahiko(NPC)
  • Chika, Squad 3(NPC)
  • Oki, Squad 10(NPC)
 
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Mochizuki Tonbo - Squad B

Mochizuki, luckily, was stopped by Ago and Jin, who explained the situation to Mochi.

"Ooooh! That makes sense. The banner really makes things clear, whoever put it up gots to be a genius, otherwise it could have tricked other people. But to be that advanced at time/space jutsu, ain't that amazing. Friend Ayame told me about it once, it's SUUUPER awesome stuff. Maybe I should learn some seals."


Mochizuki paused at Jin's shaking, more perturbed at the cursing.

"Come on, Jin, ladies shouldn't curse. We gotta be prim and proper, that's how we get boys to like us!"

With that, the proctor started screaming at them. Mochizuki eyed the map behind him. Cool map, that island looked SUUUPER big. Without a map, someone could get lost there easy, she hoped she'd never have to get sent there. Oh, she was there. That was nice they'd given them a map. Mochi hummed as she stared at it, and received instructions, it seemed like the next test was starting already, and they were getting free dinner.

"Wahoo! Dinner! Imma starvin'!"


The rest of the instruction went without a hitch. She just had to steal a scroll. If they started soon, she could just steal one, then.....

Mochi looked around to realize they were no longer in the room and she was with Jin.

"Well, you heard him, let's eat!"


Mochi plopped straight down, opening her bento box, and grabbing the chopsticks. Mochizuki immediately stabbed the ground with them, and moved it in a pattern. She began to draw a map. While it wasn't pretty, Mochi had the map more or less memorized to its entirety even if it was beyond her artistic ability.

" 'kay, looking at the sun, we're here on the island. Means we're 9.7 km away from the tower, probably the closest coastal point. We could reach the tower faster than anyone else and ambush them. I don't thinks that's a good idea. Everyone's gunna be fighting, and I don't do good in a close up fight.

Don't know why everyone ain't gunna have the map memorized, but people never memorize them, its super easy, just look at it. I hand people a map, and five seconds later they want to look at it again. I mean, anyone can memorize it with a glance, not like its tough or anything. Doubt anyone did though, so we gots that on them too. I don't thinks nobody got sent around us, that would make the test boring. I votes we go here."


Mochi pointed to a point on her impromptu map that was the right of the tower, on literally the other side of the center from them.

"We gots to move quickly there though. Gots a nice large hill, then a small hill we'd go to. Not too fast, don't thinks nobody else gots the map or shortcuts from it. Then we can set up, and reeeeelax.♪ You can set up what ya good at, and I can snipe the teams headed to the tower, that sounds good? Now for some yummy Bento!"


Mochizuki cleaned off her chopsticks and happily dug into her food waiting for her teammates ideas. As soon as she did, she regretted it, nearly choking on the food. She suddenly imagined the mean Jonin in a cooking apron and everything made sense, that guy probably cooked them himself! He should stay out of the kitchen!

Flinching at every bite, Mochi downed the food, and held her tongue out.

"Ew, gross. I'm happy I only gots one of those. Oh!!! Hey, if it rains can ya puppet collect rainwater by the way?"
 
Ryunosuke

Ryu shielded his eyes as the sun suddenly glared down at them as they arrived on the designated spot on the island. The briefing had been, well, brief, but the objective was clear. They needed to find someone with the other scroll and make it to the middle within five days. This was a daunting task. He'd looked at the map during the brief, attempting to memorize as much as he could at least, but he hadn't been able to memorize all of it... Or nearly as much as he'd have liked, for that matter...

"Well, on the upside... We won't have to worry about water. I carry enough to keep us going for significantly longer than five days, including showers..." He remarked looking to Ayumu and Yuuki before picking up the scroll. He thought about carrying it himself, but he knew there was someone better suited to the task, as much as he hated to admit it.

He handed the scroll to Ayumu. "Your genjutsu will make it hell for anyone to take this from you" He remarked simply, already knowing such a statement would likely go right to Ayumu's already swollen ego. After all, anyone trying to snatch it would have to wonder if they got the right scroll, or if they even had the right Ayumu. Of the three of them, Ayumu would likely be the most difficult to snatch the scroll from simply because of his propensity to mindfuck people.

"For now... we should head inland... I think I've got a solid idea on how we can get our hands on the other scroll... I'll fill you guys in on the way. For now, we should get moving. Last thing we need to do is exhaust ourselves trying to chase down teams that got a head start on us" He reasoned as he started for the treeline. No doubt many teams would be discussing plans of attack before venturing in, so getting a head start would allow them to set up before any other teams got in the area.

His plan would take full advantage of those who arrived unprepared for this exam...
 
Ago Aburame​
D3lmoniko D3lmoniko
"...uhh....huh...."

The young woman listened to the newest proctor, pretty much copying an abridged version of everything they said into her said. "You have one scroll, don't open it, find the other scroll you need, have two and reach a certain point or fail." she repeated to herself, scratching her chin as she wondered what scroll they would get. there was also the survival pointers, which she was.. well.. admittedly somewhat supplied for.

She had food, but water was the larger issue,water purification was the main issue, getting enough water for 5 days? they should be fine, as long as they keep it on hand... Actually... An idea! yes, they could totally-

*POOF!*

"...I... Oh! Umm... hello island." she bid the island greetings, not getting one back, how rude. "Umm.. right.. Aki, take these." she tossed two rags the other genin's way. "Wrap em around your legs, they will collect dew and water around for us to get something in us. We can use what rain water we can to hydrate as well." she walked up to the scroll and nodded. "Heaven eh? I'll take it as a good sign." she plucked off her bag before rummaging around to hide the thing.


With a small puff of smoke, she successfully hid the scroll.

"So then, we gotta hunt down an earth scroll, should be fine. tracking bugs made the last test a breeze, this one? Same thing, kinda, this time we have luck of the draw AND the fact we gotta either fight em or steal it from them. naturally, I have a trap in mind, but we first need to find the tower... That shall be our first destination, many may get the same idea as us, but I assure you, they will not be taking advantage of it as much as we would. So, lets make sure we get there first right" she announced her plan to the young man before beginning to walk towards the nearby treeline.

"Oh yea, should we happen upon Mochi and her group, don't hold it against me okay?"
 
Jin Kusarigama

And with a poof, Jin found herself on an island, next to Mochi, who, of course, already started to talk. She fought the urge not to yell again, and closed her eyes, concentrating on what Mochi was saying. Oddly enough, it started to make sense and she slowly opened her eyes, nodding slowly. She just couldn't bring herself to hate Mochi, and she slowly sighed, going next to Mochi, and, smiling, simply said. "Ladies don't stick their tongue out either."

"And I agree with what you're saying." She knelled down next to her, tucking her legs under herself. Looking around, then at her scroll, she flashed an evil grin, picking it up. "I might have an idea darling." She leaned next to Mochi's ear and started whispering her plan. Her puppet was watching over them, it's head turning to look everywhere, like an owl. Jin retreated her head, still flashing the evil grin. "So, what do you say?"

Akihiro Tsubasha

Aki looked around, before he heard Ago and, with swift reflexes, he manages to grasp the rags. Following his teammate's advice, he wrapped them around his feet, then looked at Ago. "...More than surely most of the teams have already started to head to the tower... I am thinking that near the tower there might be numerous traps set by different teams..." He looked around, trying to make sure no one was looking.

"...I am good at stealth... I can easily steal one, but with a distraction we could make this so much easier... We might even avoid a battle..." He followed Ago to the treeline. "...We might even encounter traps along the way... I doubt they would make the second test this easy... It shouldn't be just a matter of a race between a hare and a tortoise... Let's just be careful..."

Aki just looked in front of him when the mater of the other team came. "...Just, try and not hurt them... I am not good at head-on confrontations, you know that... And that puppet of Jin's seems tough enough... We have to try and take a stealth approach... We'll lose if this degenerates in a fight... Especially without Ao..." Aki looked behind him, hopping that maybe their team mate would be there, but he just sighed and looked at Ago, his expression a little sadder. "...You go first, I'll follow... Your bugs should give you enough info to move forward safer..."

Orikanyo Orikanyo Ganryu Ganryu
 
Ayumu Susumu
Ayumu arrived at the shack with his normal elegance and grace, bowing in a flowing movement to their new instructor, who didn't seem that couth. Either way, they had the instructions for the next test. As they teleported to the starting position, Ryu began to talk, and Ayumu rolled his eyes. He fell back into his now normal 'slump', his hands reaching for the ground and his back bent over. Then Ryu handed him the scroll and Ayumu just stood there for a second almost dumbfounded.

"We sure we brought the right Ryu with us? No bickering about how you'll hold up the scroll by your manhood all by yourself?"


The scroll disappeared into Ayumu's sleeves.

"Very well, consider this scroll a genjutsu from now on, ethereal. Not sure what manner of plan you have, but you seem particularly smart today if you entrust it to me."


Ayumu danced forward before breaking into a run. He wasn't going to let down his companions. His weight did seem to become heavier as he ran, however.



Mochizuki Tonbo



Mochizuki leaned in, listening to every word, nodding her head at Jin's every suggestion. Her smile grew as she listened. Jin's suggestion was mean, but as ninjas, they had to be mean. Mochizuki came away with her wings abuzz.

"That's a suuuuper cool idea! Let's do it! Hey, Jin.... I'm glad I'm ya teammate."


Mochi threw the bento box away, and made a sprint to the tree line.

" 'kay, there's a path this way that's pretty well hidden, we should make it there in about about an hour if we rush. Think other people'll take two unless they are suuuuper fast. Let's try and get past that tower fast, I don't wanna fight anyone there. If we do ya idea, we can set up and fire someone down without a problem."


--
 
Yuuki Mifune

Tch," Yuuki winced as they were suddenly thrown out under the bright sun. The Ryugan had never played too well with sudden changes in brightness, an annoying flaw but it's the price to pay for their clear vision. In the few seconds they'd been on the small island Yuuki could already tell it was going to be a long five days.

Now the heat itself wasn't going to be much of an issue. Kemuri was a fairly hot place, especially in the summer, so they were already accustomed to it. But the air felt so thick... It was like they were at a closed off hot spring and couldn't leave. Kazou had said it was thanks to the humidity, being surrounded by so much water was the cause. Hopefully ducking into the shade of the forest would help somewhat.

Yuuki glanced at Ayumu with a raised eyebrow as Ryu started ahead of them but opted to say nothing for the time being. Bending down, he quickly collected the three bento boxes before following after. "Can't say I know what you're planning, but let's just stay far the hell away from Ago..."
 
Day 1 - Night
Night (Day 1)
Darkness swept over the desolate island. The moonlight that would normally light up the island was all but absent as large threatening clouds had quickly concealed the moon from providing the shinobi with any light. The wind whipped through the island, gusting strong enough on rare occasions to knock a careless Genin off their feet if they didn't pay attention. What had been an incredibly hot day had managed to slip away into what was not a quite cool night and threatening to get even colder. It was as if the entire island had shifted from one extreme to the next in a matter of just a few hours. It wasn't hard to tell it was only a matter of time before the skies would open, flashes of light filling the sky occasionally followed by the load crackle of thunder.

If the incoming weather wasn't a danger enough, a sense of unease came from the island itself. While it seemed almost intimidating during the day, at night that feeling only increased. What had been relative quiet had grown a a little bit noisier. Shuffling could be heard through the bushes as various wildlife began to move. There wasn't much as far as life went on the island, but what was there was meant to survive the harsh conditions. It would only take one careless motion to put a quick end to any hopes of reaching the rank of Chuunin... if you might even manage to survive long enough to make it to the next day.
 
Ryunosuke
Ryunosuke had wasted little time putting his plan into action. Of the map, he did remember one key feature: a small depression that would be perfect to gather rainwater. It was quite a ways inland, so he had made sure to take off as fast as the team could handle so they would have time to setup. Upon arrival, he baited his trap. Using one of his precious summoning scrolls, he summoned enough water to fill the depression into a small lake. Given the scarcity of water on this island, this would bring unsuspecting teams right to them.

No doubt, many of the teams had likely not brought copious amounts of water to the first exam. Many probably had assumed they'd have time to resupply before they went anywhere else. Those teams would be hurting right now. Desperation could come quickly on those with a thirst. With desperation came carelessness, and it was this carelessness that Ryu hoped to capitalize on. At the very least, it couldn't hurt to try.

So now, it was a waiting game. Squad A was good at a lot of things, but stealth was not one of them. Ryu was doing well from his spot in a tree, though, keeping himself shrouded in the branches. Once they had a target, they could ambush them while they tried to get water. Given all of the water in that lake had some of his chakra in it, the lake itself was on their side.

Even with this plan in mind, the waiting was far from fun. At with the night came new dangers. Without a doubt, there would be no sleeping tonight.

He just hoped Yuuki's eyes would tip them off before they, themselves, got ambushed....
 
Ayumu Susumu

Ayumu lounged the tree himself. It was fairly relaxing considering he didn't have to put effort lifting those godforsaken weights. Kazou-sensei would forgive a moment of rest, right? A chill touched the back of Ayumu's neck. It was alright though, he had no way of knowing. Ayumu would be prim and proper for the next engagement, preened like a peacock. The dull blaze made him almost feel chatty. Part of it was tension, the air was, afterall, electric.

"I must admit, I hate this exam the most. Seems to match what my brother had to go through. I feel so... dirty. The heats been so bad on these fabrics, and not to mention the sweat. I could probably make a small lake myself, disgusting a thought as it is. Well, on the bright side, at least it proves Ryu has somewhat of a brain. SOMEONE's got to be thristy. Even if its just a small animal, I'm not complaining. Yuuki, would you happen to know something of butchering animals? I'm just assuming with clan named 'the wandering demon' clan they'd have some use in butchering."


A small boom echoed in the distance.

"Ugh... I suppose I should look into making us some shelter. Fabric use IS a specialty of mine."


Ayumu leapt down, gathering a few elephant ear plants around the area, before climbing back up the tree with them. He produced a needle, and started making what seemed to be a tent in the trees.

----------------
Mochizuki Tonbo

Mochizuki lain prone atop a small hill with Jin, a rock formation jutting out over the jungle. She pulled down her goggles, trusting her back completely to her partner. A two man team in this was difficult, why did the other teams have to get 3? Kinzu had dropped out, made it hard, but Mochizuki wasn't going to give up. Other people wanted to prove themselves, Mochizuki HAD to prove herself. She didn't want to think what would happen if she failed. She just might break. In some ways her parents not being there made it more urgent for her to prove them wrong. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Stupid Rei...So what if he's the clan heir? I don't owe'im nuttin'. I see him I'll kick his butt! Just gotta make it to the next round. Just gotta find someone 'fore the rain hits. Sei Tonbo Magnification, times 2.... times 4... times 8!"


Mochizuki lowered her goggles, and her eyes opened wide. Her pupils narrowed as she zoomed in farther and farther. It was like a set of binoculars. Mochizuki finally got the chance to be a real sniper. As she looked she couldn't see any signs of ninja. But she wasn't going to give up! As she continued to look, she noticed something odd. A lake. There shouldn't be a lake there?

Maybe it was new?

Mochizuki zoomed in at the edges of the lake. The soil was already absorbing the water. That meant the lake wasn't natural and wouldn't last long. That meant ninjas!

A buzz sounded from Mochizuki, who then stiffened her wings.

"Silence, Mochi, girl. Hey, Jin! I found some signs of ninjas! We gots to be real quiet after I make my first shot. I mean, we're far enough away I don't think its a problem, but I ain't chancing nutting. I trust my back to ya! We're going to be chunnins."


Glancing around the lake, Mochi looked for the ninja who made it, they couldn't be too far away. Mochi saw a small flash of white, and grinned as she knew who that was. There was Ayumu. Mochi didn't fire immediately. Intel was important to a sniper. Where were the rest of the team?

She glanced a glint of light flash in the bushes, probably an animal nearby. She almost wanted to send a warning message... but no, Mochi was playing keeps. She could always heal them in worst case scenerio.

Surveying them, she looked at the tree Ayumu had been climbing. She spotted another figure crouched amidst the trees. She couldn't make out who, but Ryu or Yuuki.

Looking back down at the animal, Mochi realized it was too high up to be a cat like she thought. That made Yuuki! So the figure in the trees had to be Ryu. That, or they'd adopted.

"Jin, got sights on the whole team. Firing in 3....2....1...."


--------------------

As Ayumu climbed the tree for the final elephant ear leaf, he wiped his brow with his sleeve, it felt like he was lifting a freaking boulder. There went the results of his little nap...

"That's all of them. I do believe we have shelter."


Reflexively, Ayumu swiped to his right with his sleeve as a small object darted at him. A clang was heard as the object banged against a knife in his sleeve. A fraction of a second later, a large boom knocked him backwards off the tree branch, and pushed the sharp object into his skin through his thick sleeves.

Ayumu hit the ground hard with a thud. He struggled to rise back up.

"What on earth.... Someone's attacking!"


Ayumu wildly looked around for the source of the attack. It almost seemed disorienting. As he did so, he yanked the object out his arm, wincing as he did so. A small dart came loose.

Ayumu raised it and muttered to himself.

"Really? Tch. Don't worry too much, it's that winged girl in our class. Even that aside, think they had a teammate drop out. What's her name again?"


Two more darts flew at both Ryu and Yuuki.
 
Squad C
The faint sounds of buzzing wings came to a stop, the little brave beetle, sent forth by its great and powerful queen stared at the forest landscape around itself. The lush greenery, the endless expanse of tree and bush all standing above it, looming over the small insect like a skyscraper would to a human.

This was its domain.

A land where it would go unseen yet would always remain a considerable threat!

Surely, even with its small size, it would remain the master of this lan-

The monologue was interrupted by one of the forest’s many species of birds, swooping down and plucking up the small beetle in its beak to consume later.

Thankfully, the beetle’s place was taken up by the rest of the small scouting swarm sent out to watch for their queen, who was currently cussing out a puddle of mud for nearly stealing her shoe.

Indeed, they were the true rulers of this land.

“Ugh, Aki! Why can’t you make it... NOT muddy around here? You're the earth guy, you have to have something.” complained the young lady as she used the twig to carve the mud out of her boots for what was the fifth time today.

Aki simply kneeled while standing on a branch, looking down at her. “...I can’t control the mud, Ago… That’s more water territory I believe…” He jumps down, splashing some mud around, a few heading towards Ago. Aki stood tall, breathing in slowly, before looking at her. “...Besides, I heard mud is good for the skin…”

After the few months spent in the company of tanuki sages, Aki had gotten used to the fresh smell of the forest. It made him feel relaxed, burning off his usual anxiety. “...If you want, you can do like me and jump from tree to tree. Easier to ambush enemies and protects you from… the elements…” Aki said, sketching a smile.

In the distance, Ago’s bugs would pick up five genin, about to clash. A team of two and a team of three. One of the smaller team walked forward, smirking as he walked. He had a set of wings.

“Oh, two vs three is definitely unfair, would you like to surrender your scroll now, or for us to beat the daylights out of you? Takara, maybe you should stand back, I can see the girl there has it, the bulge in her pack there is a dead give away. Well, bragging won’t get us anywhere, come at me. Takara, support me, or don’t, it won’t really make a difference.”

Takara shook her head, tucking a few strands of cyan hair behind her ear. “Fine, have your fun.”

Ago’s bugs would sense the fight starting to emerge, and as such, they returned to their immaculately cursing queen, whom just finally got the dirt off her boots. The sound of buzzing perked her up, outstretching a finger for it to land upon.

“...Hmm? A fight! Aki, up ahead, to the north west.” she stated as more came back to her with the same message. Leaping from her sticky position upon the ground she stood upon a nearby tree branch.

“Let's see whats what, we can probably grab a scroll while people are messing about~! Let's hurry up and see who's fighting.” the young queen lead the way, remaining up high in the tree tops to keep under cover.

Aki joined her, jumping through the trees, trying to stay hidden. Crouching down on the branch, he looked at the scene that was unfolding with great attention, trying to look for opportunities. “...So the girl has it in her pack... “ Aki’s attention went to the one with the wings, reminding him of Mochi. He tried to spot where the other team had their scroll hidden.

Ago watched the groups for a second before getting a large grin. “Hehehehe I got an idea… trackings wolves… When it comes time to grab one, I’ll back you up with em.”

Rei approached the enemy team with his wings flaring menacingly.

“Well? Do you have the nerve to fight the heir to the Tonbo clan? The title isn’t for show, Steel Wing Rei, at your service.”

One of the three rolled their eyes and rushed Rei, it was the girl he’d mentioned. Rei batted her away with a wing. He then kneeled, covering her behind him with his wing by spreading it out. It was too heavy for her to move away, pressing her against the ground into the mud.

“Suits you. Anyone else?”

“Change of plan, let's sneak away that scroll, maybe it’s the one we need~!” the Aburame pointed to the pinned young woman. “Can you go get that scroll while I prepare?” Ago asked her teammate before sliding down the tree to get started on the jutsu.

Aki nodded and pulled his scarf over his mouth. Slowly but surely he jumped down, peaking at the chaos. He needed to take a chance at taking the scroll. Making a few hand signs, Aki dove into the ground, starting to make his way towards where they were. Aki could tell by the force that was pushing against the ground that there was the wing of the Tonbo.

Gulping, he poked one hand out, grasping a cloth, then what he felt was the bag. Thankfully, he felt something solid, with the feel of a scroll, so Aki quickly took it. He could feel the use of chakra, so he concentrated on not losing control of it. It cost a lot more for moving than just hiding, it seemed. Retreating to where he was, Aki unearthed himself, sweating a little. He held in his hand the scroll. Not even casting a glance at it, he showed it to Ago. “...Here…”

Ago rose an eyebrow and smiled “Ah, my mole has returned, let's see…” Ago looked at the handed out scroll and rose an eyebrow. “Well then, looks like you’ve won yourself a snack, good work Aki.” one might have imagined that as a simple job about him being a pet dog or something, if she didn’t hand him a chocolate bar. “Hmm… but I just completed the jutsu… Meh.” the young lady shrugged and got up to leave. “Come on Aki, let's leave these nerds and get to the tower.”

At this point, the other team was getting fed up with Rei’s new stool and were attacking him enthusiastically, the two remaining teammates using a combination of fire jutsu and knives. They’d made him retreat to the treeline.

“Takara, I may require a bit of assistance. Just a little bit. It’s not as if they are above my ability, but I’d rather not expend the effort.”

A fireball knocked him against a tree.

Rei was barely holding his ground.

Takara rolled her eyes, weaving signs. “Wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t insist on doing this alone…” Long, sharp crystals rained down on one of the advancing genin, pinning him in place. Accidentally piercing the shinobi’s foot in the process.

Aki looked at the others, biting his lip. “...He’s from Mochi’s clan…” Looking at Ago, Aki sighed, raising up from his crouched position. “...Better not to think about it…” Going near Ago, he growled. “...And I’m not a mole…” Aki stated, although he was muddy and some of the earth had left some marks on his face.
 
Yuuki Mifune

Yuuki shifted uncomfortably in his place in the underbrush. Sure, it didn't give him the widest area of vision down there, but the faint glow from his eyes was much more easily passed off as a wild animal's down there compared to up in a tree. That, and he was at least out of Ayumu's range this way. Kemuri's peacock seemed to be sewing up a storm to make a shelter from the rain that threatened to let loose any moment.

"What the-?" Yuuki's gaze snapped up as Ayumu was blown from the tree. It was only a matter of time before they were attacked... At least they had a slight advantage knowing their attacker?

Catching a glimpse of movement, he leapt out of the way of another dart. Only barely avoiding the gale that followed. "Sure, it might 'just be' Mochi, but it's only a matter of time before she starts sending explosive tags our way." The heavily scarred grounds of the Mifune compound were not due to training with their daemonic chakra, contrary to popular belief.

At this range, they didn't have a chance in hell in terms of a fight with her.
 
Team Saizo
Earlier that day....

The sudden transition from one place to another, and then to another, was a tad bit much for joro. Guy felt sick from the get go when they finally reached the forest. Keeping his lunch in he gazed around the area.

A rather nice looking forest really, what were they doing here again?

Why did his pants feel heavier?

Was that a scroll in his pants or was he happy to see the forest?

Nope, it was a scroll.

“Hey, Yukari… you.. Catch anything that instructor said?" Joro asked the young woman. “Ugh, urp… Oh god, my stomach…”

Yukari rolled her eyes, brushing the sand off her as she stood. “Each team is carrying one of two scrolls, if we want to pass we’ll have to have both scrolls when we reach the tower.” Sure, she paraphrased, but it was really all the info Joro needed.

“Right.” the young man recovered, standing up straight once more until he checked his back pants pocket. “So this is it? Guess we gotta keep it safe huh… Ah, I have an idea!” he held the scroll towards Yukari. “You always hide stuff places, it’s like you have a whole weird bag somewhere to hold all your stuff, it’s gotta be safe there.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Yukari took the scroll and stowed it away. “Since we’ve got an earth scroll, seems we need to find and steal a heaven scroll… First, we’ll need to actually find a team carrying one.”

“Uhh.. right… I still feel kinda… ya know..” he mentioned as he looked into the woods. “Man... looks kinda creepy in there…” he noted as he gazed into the darkness that was the forest. “What do ya think is in there?’

“Besides nine other teams looking to kill each other?” Yukari shrugged, “I’m guessing the usual snakes and stuff we find near town. We’re not that far off the coast.” She looked over at Joro, “Let’s just get out of the open before resting.”

“Yeah… I guess snakes aren’t too bad.can at least eat those.” the young man followed Yukari's lead since she pretty much was the leader of the two. Plus she had those eyes.

“So… uhh… What's the plan? Do we go around the forest?”

“Well, it’s not like we can do much until we find a team that’s carrying the scroll we need.” Holding up her hand in the sign of confrontation, the veins along her temples bulged as her eyes became more defined.

Byakugan, the all seeing white eye

“Looks like the forest surrounds the entire cliff, no sense in trying to go around then.” She muttered, perching on a thick tree branch to get a better look around the island. “Place is smaller than I thought if I can see to the other side… Still gonna take a few minutes to find and check out the teams.”

“Oh, alright then, I’ll just do the usual then.” Joro walked off a bit and kept watch around the area…. Though it took roughly 5 seconds before he became bored of that. As such, he then took off his shirt and most of the belts that decorated his upper body and began doing sit ups until Yukari was done.

In no way would this distract the young woman with all seeing eyes.

Nor did his next work out involving bending over for his stretches giving somebody a good view of his derriere.

Most certainly there was nothing keeping Yukari from her task of searching the island.

Nothing at all.

It seemed the closest team to them was one of the ones from Kemuri, of course, they were also carrying an earth scroll which wasn’t going to do them any-



…..

Now that lithe form right behind her? With the lean muscle, those sculpted abs, that perfect ass….

“Dammit Joro, you’re killing me over here!”

“Eh? What’d I do wrong now!? I was about to get to the leg stretches.” the young man took off his pants as to not cause a hole to rip into them. Continuing with his stretches now the closest one could be to naked, aside from the time he once put on those speedo things that secret Santa gave him one year.

He remembered Yukari being sick for a week after that… Did she get a bad gift?
Or was the gift sickness?

What a silly gift.

He thought as he continued to stretch and get ready for the long day of hard work ahead.

Yukari blinked, “I- you…” She sighed, rubbing her eyes. Her teammate’s obliviousness never failed to amaze her. Or… was he aware…?

No, focus!

Honestly, this was proving to be a more difficult test than the exams had been so far. Forcing herself not to look at… that fine example of the shinobi body, her vision started moving around the island once more. Finally, “Closest team to us with a heaven scroll is a group from Sougengakure. Looks like they’re heading straight to the tower, we should be able to head them off pretty easily.”

At her finally being done looking around joro put back on all of his gear. “That's good, get our scroll and have it all done!” he laughed triumphantly, knowing that they would be a shoe in for the next round.

“Sougengakure right? Yea I think I… Nope, no I don’t know it at all.” for a second he would have proven himself not the most oblivious man in the world, but it seems he still keeps the title for some more time.

Yukari groaned, turning to face him. “It’s the village in the Land of Lightning. They’re known for their kenjutsu specialists so we might have our work cut out for us.”

“HAH! Cut, kenjutsu, I get it. So, uhh. Lead the way, I’m all stretched and ready to- Oh wait Yukari! You haven’t stretched yet! Come on! Sensei always says to stretch before a big battle, you can’t pull a muscle when it comes time to fight!”

The level of his foolishness was incalculable, but he was, technically, right.

“Will you be quiet?” Yukari hissed, “The whole damn island can probably hear you.” She shook her head, “I’ll be fine. Actually getting to these guys will be enough of a warm up.”

“Alright, but if you pull a muscle I told ya so!”

***

Still well out of their sight and hearing, Yukari watched the team from Sougen as they seemed to try and come up with a plan of their own. “One seems to be collecting water from a tree, the other two are keeping watch.” She quietly relayed to her own teammate. “Doesn’t look like they’re going to be relaxing anytime soon…”

“Hmm… I think I got an idea, give me a second I’ll have him down in a jiffy!” joro stated as he began to prowl his way across the tree tops, silent as a ghost he went forwards and above the group they were planning to take out he gazed down upon them from the canopy.

Water… very important to survival, though why somebody was collecting it from a tree, joro didn’t know. But hey, you learn something every day. Pulling out some rope the young man fashioned a noose from the rope he had, and pulled out a kunai.

Make the most of your equipment Joro! He remembered his sensei say a long time ago right before the man nearly blew himself up with his latest bomb.

He decided to make due on that bit of advice and tossed the kunai onto a tree a bit off from the watching group.

The guards took notice immediately and sprung to action, leaping forward as the water collecting genin tried to put down the precious water he had collected. As he bent down, he found himself going up, strung by the neck by a rope suddenly pulled taut and pulling the man high up into the canopy, silenced by the rope straining his neck.

With a swift punch and a hold, he was out cold in Joro’s arms.

Having not found anything, the two guards returned, only to be shocked that their friend had disappeared!

“Where the hell are you?” One of the guards snapped, “Show yourself already!”

“Now what’s the fun in that?” Yukari’s voice could be heard as a thick mist rolled out from the trees.

Hiding in mist.

The chakra laced fog was far too thick for a shinobi to see through. Though for one with the byakugan…

“Damn you…” The second guard growled, launching a bolt of lightning from his hand. The shot just barely missed singeing Yukari’s hair.

Don’t have a lot of time here, Yukari wove a single handsign, a shadow clone appearing alongside her. The first one, still blinding firing bolts of lightning, would be easy enough. The clone leapt forward, Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm The lightning genin was sent crashing into a tree, slumping to the ground.

The downside to the vacuum palm was it blew a large portion of the mist away, making her visible. Something the final remaining genin intending to take advantage of. Lightning crackled from his fingertips as he lunged.

Hell stab

Though instead of striking Yukari, his hand clashed with a shell of chakra. A dome seemed to surround her as she spun. Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation. The resulting blast sent him tumbling away from her. Yukari’s clone wasted no time, striking tenketsu and knocking him out before he could recover.

Yukari let out a slow breath, “Joro, I think the one you have has the scroll.”

The sound of rustling came from above and Joro soon appeared, sliding down the tree’s trunk. “Got it, looks different so I bet it’s the second one we need.” his astute observations were indeed correct.

He had in his hands the heaven scroll they needed.

“Well, that was easy. I expected the guy to fight more.” Joro seemed slightly disappointed there was no real fight, but this was one sensei would approve of, most likely.

“They probably would have been a lot more dangerous in a drawn out fight,” Yukari took the scroll and stowed it with the first. “Let's get a move on before someone comes poking around.”
 
Ryunosuke

Ryunosuke watched surprised as Ayumu was quite forcefully knocked out of the tree by a dart. On reflex, he leaped out of his hiding spot just as another dart damn near took off his head. At this range, they were little better than sitting ducks against that marksman, and Yuuki was right, it was only a matter of time before their attacker started to send explosive tags. He hopped behind a tree, looking to ensure his teammates were still standing.

"Ayumu... give her some clay pigeons to shoot at. Make a couple look like me... Yuuki, be ready to close the gap" He called from behind the tree. He held his palm up to his face as his body vanished from sight. At this range, Mochi had a clear and definite advantage. Up close and personal, however, that advantage was turned on its head. The biggest concern was Mochi's teammate, the puppet master. Even still, with three of them against two, they would have the advantage if they got close enough.

Ryu channeled the chakra to his feet, pushing out of his hiding place with his invisibility set. He didn't need to stay invisible long. He just needed to stay out of her line of sight long enough to stop her assault. From there, it would just be a matter of holding out long enough for the rest of Squad A to catch up. Even still, he had to be careful how he moved. Mochi hadn't used explosive tags yet, meaning there was a possibility of traps..

As he got within sight of the sniper and the puppet master, he took to the trees, throwing down a single kunai with a paper bomb attached to land directly in front of her. At the same time, he kicked off that tree so he would approach from the opposite side than where the Kunai had come from. Uncapping one of his flasks, he let his invisibility drop just as the tag detonated.

Now he needed to at least hold out in this 2 v 1 long enough for Squad A to come back him up.
 

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