Fandom Naruto: Altered: IC

[Orikanyo]

Ryoken
Team Tatsuya


Ryoken wasn't fully certain of what happened at first, the man's words words were confusing, did he mean they had to fight one another? Why would he hurt his friends? he liked Mibu and Haru, how could he begin to try and hurt them?

But then the door closed.

And then the gas started to spray in...

His breathing shortened, he began coughing, this couldn't be real right? How could anybody do this? He wanted out. He wanted to stop. he just wanted to help people, he didn't want to hurt his friends, he couldn't, no he couldn't! No he wont. he wont, he could never do that. This man was bad. This was evil. his lungs hurt. His mind felt cloudy. He felt so very hot with each heavy breath until he mheld it in, his lungs already burning.

The dark room, the smell of the horrible gas filling the room...

His hands went to his weapons...

KageYuuki AtlannianSpy Ganryu

Kazou Yamamoto
Team Kazou


Upon the words from Kohaku the man's head turned up, looking at her. "Ah, so theres one of you." And upon the words from Shizuo he turned his ear towards him. "I see, and here are the other two." the man started to stand, picking up the board and folding it expertly into a small square, before tossing it into a nearby trash can, hitting the bottom of the empty can with a satisfactory thud. The man smiled towards his students, it was a warma nd fatherly smile, but still his full height was intimidating to say the least.

"Welcome to your first day as my students. I understand you were told that you would be going through a final task before your true acceptance, but I am an optimist.

You would not have graduated from the academy if you weren't ready, I know the teachers very well, and they are beyond peer in raising acceptable students. You are my third squad to be taught, and I have great hopes for you three.

As my students I shall help you walk down your respective paths, you shall go down however you wish and I shall guide and provide aid wherever I can, if I cannot provide expert advice I shall find you somebody who can for a time. For as village ninja, imagining ourselves as a singularity is restricting, for we are together as one, a team, and a massive one. Know your allies as well as your enemy and you shall find your back always covered.

This is my first lesson.

Team work!" the man accentuated with a finger pointed to the sky. "From this moment, you are a team! you must work together as one, eat together as one and breath together as one!

In a figurative sense.

As such, we shall be having our first test now, as per the regulations that are required of me. I know you shall pass, so theres no issue. Today we shall be playing a small game called keep away, I shall be walking towards a certain store and picking up a package, your job will be to collect this package from me before I return to this exact point in this park, if you succeed in bringing the package here before me, you shall gain a prize! Should you fail, i fear we shall be performing some extra heavy training for our first week together...

I doubt would want to see this training, no doubt you would find it a great deal of benefit to your stamina.. But... Well heh." he chuckled before turning towards the road.

"it shall take me roughly three minutes to get the package, and three minutes to return here, during that time this pack shall be completely empty, you may prepare what you wish and whatever force you wish to use can be. Do not worry for my well being, I have weathered more than what you could toss my way before." he chuckled again, a jolly and hearty laugh that filled the heart like a warm stew on a cold winter day.

"i shall be off, do not worry for me, I know the way very well- GAH!" he yelped as he held his foot, having stubbed it on the trash can he tossed the cardboard into earlier. "Ah... perhaps not as well.... No matter, one little stubbed toe wont- Oww! Ah.. two wont... never mind. have fun kids! I'll see you again soon! Hah!" and so, he set off, leaving the kids to their planning, whatever they choose, he is confident he would be impressed!

AtlannianSpy KageYuuki AllHailDago

 

[Ganryu]

Mibu
Squad Tatsuya
KageYuuki Orikanyo
AtlannianSpy
​

During the explanation, Mibu's face continued to be stonecold. It was instruction, what was there to be happy or sad about? She'd stated what she believed about their sensei. The test, however, was not one she was going to do. Teammates were precious. Never was one's self stated to be by Hibiki. So that meant the most important thing was to work together as a team.

The antidote would only open to the sole survivor, but their sensei had never said a 'win condition'. He's simply stated facts. If there were facts, what could be easier to deal with? No understanding people, no questioning actions, just what would happen, and the information of how the room was. Mibu could be comfortable with facts.

Mibu felt an odd sensation. Like... like she wanted to taunt him? There wasn't any reason to though. Having him angry meant nothing. So... why? It wouldn't help her teammates any. Still... There was one thing that he'd said that had been plain, and Mibu had already acted before this test began.

"Your test is in this room, with luck at least one of you should be able to pass but I won't hold my breath, although you might want to "

"It would be preferrable for all of us not to fight. This man did not state a victory condition, simply that he did not wish to teach three students. This seems unfortunate. He also stated that the antidote is inside that cabinet, but if we have little need of it, it means very little. Shall we leave then, and come see when he has a set list of victory conditions? "



The kunoichi held a single handsign, and explosion reverberated around the room, sounded from above, as an explosive tag detonated against the hinges of the door.

Spoiler: flashback

As the kunoichi marched towards the test, she uncharacteristically tripped over a floorboard. She instantly grabbed her knee, looking in pain.

"It seems this is not well maintained a minor inconvenience. One has to watch their step."

Slipping her hand past her thigh, a white slip appeared. Mibu grabbed the inside of the metal door, and lifted herself up.

"Apologies, shall we continue?"

She continued to walk forward, her fingers twirling emptily to some invisible music.

Tatsuya had commented on holding their breath, and the metal door did seem to be built to contain, so Mibu had thought a measure of prevention beforehand would be handy. She hoped she was correct, as explosive tags were expensive, above what Mibu could normally afford, she'd only had the one.

"Let us check the door, one of two results lie in front of us. Either the door is sealed from the hinges being destroyed, and it seems hazardous to this man's health to continue to poisonous gas, or the way out is free, and if perhaps there is any familiarity for Ms. Shiori, he would turn it off. It has been said to one such as myself that teammates are precious. Either way, it should not contain gas as the way it was meant to, and his coworker is in danger."

As Mibu started to walk back upstairs, she started to cough, her vision a wee bit hazy. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryoken's weapon drawn, and she was confused. Was he going to fight his teammates? But why? If it was down to the last one standing, surely it would be him? The odds already favored him, did they not? Still, she'd continue up. As she did so, it did register to her that the gas filling the room could be dangerous. The kunoichi grabbed the bottom of her mask, and removed it, throwing it to Haru. It was the first time she'd have been seen without it since she'd started the academy. It was to look professional, Mibu was told she was to be a kunoichi to afford rent, so she dressed the part. Other than being a bit paler underneath, her features under the mask were nothing strange in the least.

"Haru, would you like this mask? Teammates are precious and to be protected. Oh, if this door is sealed, perhaps perchance more force than a shadow might be needed to pry it open. Is this why you have your weapons drawn, Ryoken? You truly must be intelligent then, this was something unconsidered by your humble teammate."

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Team Makoto: Naomi Hanataro
Pulling herself out of the ground with Shinjiro’s assistance, Naomi’s gaze traveled along the boy’s right arm to the injury just below his shoulder, her one visible eye widening. It was the first time she noticed it. She’d been too busy focusing on the genin exam—too busy trying not to make a nuisance of herself—to realize that a friend had gotten hurt.

Silently cursing her inattention, the eye-patched girl reached into her pouch and pulled out a roll of gauze bandage, proceeding to wrap it tightly around the bleeding area as she responded to his inquiry. “I don’t…” Trying to memorize the safe areas hadn’t even crossed her mind. “…but I can find one.”

Assuming, of course, that searching underground for a safe route didn’t count as cheating or attempting to bypass the obstacle. The rules weren’t really clear cut as to what counted as bypassing and what didn’t. When Emerie tried to use her boots and avoid the traps, Naomi had been more worried about the other kunoichi being shot out of the sky by a fireball than anything else. She had no idea where Takenaka-san was or which direction he would come from. He was likely watching though. He was the exam proctor, after all…not that it mattered in the end.

“Either way, we’ll need to stop the bleeding if you’re going to pull her out safely.” Cutting the gauze with a kunai, Naomi finished tying it before putting away the rest of the bandage. Whether he protested the treatment or not went ignored. Wounds were meant to be tended to, in Naomi's mind. With all the mud and dirt around, the likelihood of getting an infection was high. Naomi knew firsthand how troublesome an infection could be. Constantly losing blood was a drain on one’s stamina as well and would only slow them down in the long run. The same could be said constantly using one’s jutsu. Swimming, maintaining one’s chakra… both more intensive than simply running. Naomi’s clumsiness ensured that she wasn’t exactly scratch/mud free either.

Still, it had to be done.

Face toward the deceptively unassuming clearing, Naomi brought her hands together. “I’ll go check if Em’s okay and leave a kunai at all the safe spots I pass. Can you collect them as you go? I only have 5 kunai with me right now and I’ll need to reuse them.”

Hands going through familiar motions, Naomi called, “We’re coming, Em!” before holding her breath and sinking straight into the ground. Occasionally, every minute or so, an arm would pop out of the earth to drive a kunai into safe ground as Naomi swum her way to the pit Emerie was in.

***

If she could pull Emerie through the earth as easily as she could swim through it, helping her would be a lot easier. Alas, Subterranean Voyage didn’t work like that…and Naomi wasn’t willing to risk the worst just because she was curious. They were fortunate that Shinjiro happened to carry a chain with him. Why the boy happened to have a chain was a mystery Naomi. Part of his fighting style perhaps? Chains weren't very common weapons. Then again, her stating that would be the same as a pot calling the kettle black. She pushed her idle thoughts aside as her destination came in sight and kicked upward. The last kunai was placed so that 5 kunais were spaced out evenly on stable ground.

Head emerging from the side of the pit trap, Naomi glanced down at the white-haired girl lying miserably in a pile of mud and winced, knowing how unhappy Emerie must be. A ninja's life wasn't a clean one...and while Naomi was quite used to playing in the mud...especially since she'd practiced to learn subterranean voyage...the same couldn't be said about the other kunoichi.

"It'll be okay, Em." Naomi said, reassuringly. Or, at least, tried to. "Shinjiro-kun is coming with rope."

Well, chain really, but the difference hardly mattered at the moment.

Phayne
InsaneAsylum
KageYuuki

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Miyako Fujihara
Team Miyako

​

"Ya know If you only go where you know what to expect you'll end up walking in circles right?" Asked a female voice from behind the three children waiting outside the gym, without warning all of them were suddenly engulfed in a merciless bearhug, pulling them all in together.

"DAHHHH LOOK AT YOU LITTLE DORKS! MY VERY OWN GENIN SQUAD! THIS IS GONNA BE GREAT!" The perpetrator of the bear hug had somehow gotten her head more or less inbetween the three of her victims so it was an awkward angle for them to get a proper look at her, although a few details could be picked out. The bronze skin of someone who spent a lot of time outside; a wide, flashing white grin and mischievous, jade green eyes. Perhaps most noticeable about the assailant was that her voice was pretty loud and perilously close to the childrens' ears now.

THe woman released the children and then stood back with her hands on her hips to study them, giving them a chance to do the same to her if they were so inclined. She was athletic looking, with toned limbs and hair pulled into two short, practical ponytails; her hands and feet were clad in bandages that gave her the look of martial artist and just at the moment she was wearing a thoughtful frown.

"You're all kinda short though huh? I swear they get shorter every year, we weren't this short when we were genin! Well, Tatsuya was maybe, but he's just scrawny in general. ANYWAY! I'm Miyako Fujihara, your new sensei! Or I will be so long as you pass this dumb test we gotta do. So let's get to it right? No sense waiting around!"

Without really waiting for a response Miyako ushered her three charges into the gym, where an aura of sound and smell hit them like a wall. Sweat, leather, clanking weights, grunts of exertion and music being pumped in over tinny speakers all combined to overwhelm the three children with a potent sensory assault.

"So the test itself is pretty simple," Miyako said, confidently weaving her way through gym patrons and various, elaborate workout machines. She stopped in front of an empty, square space with a wooden floor that gave it the air of a dojo with three people standing in it. "I have three volunteers here: Ryuuga, Shogo and Miho. All you have to do is figure out which one of 'em is the strongest. You can do whatever you like, attack 'em question 'em, whatever, although they will defend themselves and while they won't lie to you they might not necessarily be right either. It'd be boring any other way right? Anyway you each get one guess so don't waste 'em!"

All three of Miyako's volunteers looked fairly strong, there were two men and one woman, all three looked to be in their early twenties, wearing white karate gis. Their builds were noticeably different however; The first man, Ryuuga, was stocky and solidly built, with bulging muscles and a wide frame. The next man, Shogo, was tall and lanky. Although he didn't have the built up muscles of his companion his limbs appeared to have a wiry, lean strength to them and their sheer length would give him impressive reach and leverage. The third volunteer, the woman, was taller than Ryuuga but shorter than Shogo and her build seemed more average. She was also the only one opting for a polite smile over the fierce scowls her companions wore.

"Good luck!" Miyako said with another wide grin.

Arael
Arne
Japanime

Tatsuya Minazuki
Team Tatsuya

​

The explosive tag erupted with a deafening bang and the momentum from the blast was enough to send to the door toppling forward, endling with a loud, metallic crash as it landed on the floor, revealing Tatsuya still leaning against the corridor wall.

"Not exactly in the spirit of the test," Tatsuya said dryly, making another note on one of the folders. "But not a terrible first move either so... partial credit I suppose, you've bought some more time," he continued as gas from the room began to leak into the hallway. "The other doors in the hallway aren't as secure as -I had hoped- this one would be, but they are still airtight for infection control purposes. Break those and you risk contaminating some rather expensive medical equipment... Oh and Shiori I suppose. So that will be an instant fail, but you now have until the room and the hallway fill up with gas, how fortunate you are," Tatsuya broke off to cough loudly into his hand. "On the other hand you've complicated your situation somewhat. Now that I'm exposed to the gas it's only fair if I have a chance to be the last person standing and obtain the antidote as well wouldn't you say? Still if you really are better shinobi than me that shouldn't be a problem for you,"

Tatsuya allowed himself a thin smile.

"Of course I do have the slight advantage of being totally immune to this particular kind of poison. Just one of the small ways I make up for my many deficiencies."

Ganryu
Orikanyo
KageYuuki

 

[KageYuuki]

Haru Mori - Team Tatsuya

Haru flinched as the door slammed shut behind the trio, bright eyes already widening with welling panic. Why didn’t Tatsuya follow them in? Even with the lights on, it did little to ease his confusion.

Then the gas started streaming into the room.

“This...” He coughed, holding his hand over his mouth and face, “this has to be some kind of sick joke.” Sure, Tatsuya wasn’t wrong, the life of a shinobi was one steeped in violence. That said, it was one thing to clash with an enemy shinobi, but to turn his blade against a teammate and ally…? Haru didn’t really stand a chance against either of them regardless.

It would be preferrable for all of us not to fight. This man did not state a victory condition, simply that he did not wish to teach three students….”

“H-he said the last person standing…” Haru choked out, how was she being so calm? His heart pounded in his chest and drummed against his ears. Before he could say anything else, a deafening bang erupted through the room leaving a sharp ringing in the boy’s ears. The door trapping them inside toppled into the hall with a thud that shook the floor.

Haru took a shaky step forward, a pale and panicked expression dominating his features. Mibu may have bought them another minute, but Tatsuya made it clear the effort was in vain. He shot Ryoken a glance as he saw his teammate reaching for the large weapons he was carrying.

“R-Ryo-?” Haru’s nose and throat burned, the room was spinning. He hit the floor with a dull thud. Mibu’s mask landed just out of his reach, not that the thin piece of fabric would offer much protection. Am I really going to die here? Poisoned by the man who was supposed to be their sensei. All because he didn’t want to deal with three students!?

The way his hands shook made it hard to bring them together to form handsigns. Mibu and Ryoken… Haru didn’t really consider them friends but… he couldn’t fight them. He wouldn’t fight them. A trembling finger pointed at Tatsuya, “I’m… not… playing your game…”

Storm Release: Spirit Gun

Ganryu AtlannianSpy Orikanyo

 

[AllHailDago]

Kaoru Issho
Team Sakura ​

Kaoru kept failing to meet Sakura-sensei's gaze. An assassin sensei?! Wh-what kind of crazy origin story was he getting? Maybe he was gonna be a hero who worked in the shadows, misunderstood and despised by many. That wasn't the kind of legacy he was looking to leave behind! He wanted to be known across the land for grand heroics that helped thousands! Millions even!

He cast a further glance at his sensei as he gathered the courage to speak. "M-My name is K-K-Kaoru Issho. My sp-spe-specialty is l-lightning ninjutsu. I'm a-also g-good with th-th-th-throwing tools." He looked away the moment he managed to get the words out of his mouth. Sakura-sensei was scary! Why would she be his sensei? He twiddle his thumbs disappointedly while staring at the ground.

Damafaud IG42 KageYuuki

Kojiro Zanki
Team Kazou ​

Kojiro was very happy when both his new friends agreed to let him use Mental Snippet! Though Shizuo seemed to have the usual misconception about it being able to steal thoughts against a person's will. Kojiro was used to that by now though. He went to make the handsign required for the jutsu, but stopped short when they found their sensei first.

He was huuuuuge. Kojiro was super impressed. He bet their sensei could beat up ALL the other senseis in hand to hand combat. They had to take a package from HIM? Uh oh. Even as nice as he seemed that didn't seem likely. He hoped Shizuo had a plan. He watched their sensei leave before turning to his teammates and finishing the handsign for Mental Snippet.

A small buzz of chakra would press gently on both Kohaku and Shizuos minds. It would fade into the background when they didn't focus on it, but would be instantly noticeable if they did. Like the spot where your head was hurting after taking headache pills! He sent two images a few seconds apart so they'd know it was him. The first was a smiling Kojiro with a thumbs up. The second was a picture of Kazou-sensei with a big question mark over him.

KageYuuki AtlannianSpy Orikanyo

 

[Japanime]

Tomoki Fuji
Team Miyako

Tomoki could hear a female voice behind him and turned to see who it was but before he could even fully turn around he could feel the warmth of someone's arms around him and he was being squeezed against his other teammates. "Huh?" Tomoki asked before he heard a blaring shout in his ear. Once he was released from the assailant's firm grasp he turned to study them. "This must be our sensei." Tomoki said with smile. When he heard their teacher's comment on their height he frowned and clenched his fist. "Who are you calling short?!" He inquired angrily. "Anyways... Yeah. Let's hurry and get this test done so we can officially become genin." Tomoki striked his palm with his fist and grinned.

As soon as they went into the deeper depths of the gym, Tomoki immediately smelled the raw, human smell of sweat and other unlovely odors. He almost instantly pinched his nostrils together. "Ah! It stinks in here!" He screamed with a frown. When they reached their destination Tomoki studied the three people in the square as their sensei gave the instructions and rules for the test. After hearing them, Tomoki was almost sure the first guy was the strongest but he didn't say anything.

AtlannianSpy Arne Arael​

 

[Phayne]

-Team Makoto-

Shinjiro attempted to protest when Naomi approached, her intentions clear as she reached into her pouch to retrieve a roll of gauze bandage. The cut itself was minor, a simple result of getting 'caught' by the barbed wire during the mud crawl and nothing life threatening. Surely they would experience far worse grievances during their career's as Shinobi. That being said, his attempts to convince Naomi that her first aid was unneccesary went unheard as she stubbornly proceeded to wrap the bandage around his cut ensuring that it was tightly wrapped and secured.

"Th-thank you" stuttered Shinjiro as he glanced down towards Naomi's handiwork, his left hand passing over the tightened knot she had left upon his arm. It would take quite a lot of effort to remove and undo the binding yet at the same time it wasn't tight to the point where he felt restriction in his movement. Considering Naomi's quick and strong-willed decision to address a minor injury such as the cut as well as her thorough first-aid, Shinjiro could not help but wonder if Naomi had any aspirations towards becoming a medical Ninja or if she were part of a large family potentially one of the older siblings. Considering the trouble younger siblings tended to get into, it would also make sense for Naomi to be experienced with first-aid. Either way, it was a talent and skill set welcomed in their line of work.

"Will do" replied Shinjiro towards her request.

As Naomi made the hand seals required for her earth jutsu, Shinjiro for the briefest of moments considered asking her for advice on Earth release techniques. All things considering, Shinjiro was relatively confident that he had the affinity for Earth Release and potentially wind release, since the majority of his former clans men who possessed the Magnet release KKG had access to both Natures. If he had the ability to cast Earth Release jutsu in support to that of Naomi's own, the potential for collaboration and team work would increase tenfold. This would be something he would need to discuss after this 'test'.

Idle thoughts shoved aside, Shinjiro proceeded to swing his right arm around clockwise and anti-clockwise gauging just how much flexibility he had in the arm all the while his eyes staring intently ahead of him, awaiting any signal from Naomi. It wasn't long before the kunai's began to appear, their serpentine pattern being left indicating that there was no straight path towards the next obstacle. Blindly rushing forward would have resulted in more pitfalls being activated. Quickly, Shinjiro jumped towards the first kunai, then the second and third; making his way towards the fifth relatively quickly whilst collecting Naomi's tools.

Arriving at the final Kunai, Shinjiro begun to hear the voices of his partners, a large hole a few steps away the source of the 'noise'. "Are you both ready?" he shouted, walking towards the hole whilst proceeding to wrap one end of the chain around his waist. For this to work effectively he would need to act as the anchor. Satisfied that his end was secured, Shinjiro glanced over the edge towards the mud pit; Emerie painted a decent hue of muddy brown; perhaps now was not the time to tell her that more then half her hair had been coated in the stuff.

Stifling any intention to laugh but unable to hide the cheeky grin, -cause lets be honest who wouldnt laugh if someone fell into a pit of mud- Shinjiro lowered the other end of the chain down towards the two girls. "Quick, tie this around your waist Emerie and make sure its secure. This way if your grip slips, you shouldn't fall back into the pit. Naomi, can you make sure its tightened securely as well. Once Emerie is up, i'll lower the chain back down for you. It's best we minimize our chakra usage for further obstacles"​

InsaneAsylum KageYuuki QuirkyAngel​

 

[Arne]

Arata Kawakami
​

Arata couldn't help but frown as the stranger interrupted his team's talk, preventing him from even answering Asami's question with one of his traditional dismissive speeches as she - for the weirdly touchy stranger was most certainly a female in spite of the absurd strength contained in the hug and the hulking muscles he could feel pressing against his body - directly gathered them in a bear hug, instantly removing any ability he had to react as her impressive strength could still hold him in place no matter how much he struggled, much to his displeasure.

It was only the fact that he figured out that the muscular monster of a woman was his sensei that prevented him from directly lashing out as soon as she released him from the hug, as the authority contained in this title was more than enough to temporarily earn his respect and prevent him from complaining. Even if she directly called him short and brought them into the sweat filled nightmare that was the gym, he wouldn't complain or make an ugly face. He had to respect his superiors, after all, so he wouldn't let how absurdly unpleasant the experience was show up in his face... Or so he told himself in spite of how his twitching eyelids and gnashed teeth transmitted a different message.

It was only when Miyako announced what their test was that this dissatisfaction of his finally reached the peak though, and it was at that moment that his far from pleasant personality burst out and completely ruined the serious aura he tried to pass, giving place to the much more familiar dismissive, delinquent-like way of acting that got him infamous in the academy. "Are you stupid or what?" He directly said, his common sense quite obviously going to hell for a second as he confronted the much stronger jounin in such a blatantly disrespectful way. "How the hell should we figure who's the strongest when we don't even know what that means? Do you want the physically strongest? The one with the most powerful ninjutsu and genjutsu? Or perhaps the one who's most likely to kill the other two without them even noticing?" He said, the rough tone in his voice letting it pretty clear that rather than genuinely asking he was just criticizing how broad the thing she asked for was.

"Y'know what's the worst part? It doesn't even fucking matter. Even if we have no idea of the answer it's still a pitifully easy test simply because you gave us each one choice." He continued in a scornful tone, quite obviously infuriated by the sheer amount of loopholes contained in the so-called test. "Even if two of us do get the choice wrong, the third one will get it right unless they're too dumb to live and choose the same option, so we already passed this mockery of a test either way since it's team oriented. You could as well just start teaching already if you accepted us from the start instead of wasting everyone's time like this."


Japanime Arael AtlannianSpy

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Emerie Sairento
~Team Makoto~​

It was a dark world at the bottom of the pit. The wet slick mud sticking to Emerie’s face as she lie on her back in the pit. Never in Emerie’s worst nightmares had she ever dremt that she’d end up in a situation like this. There was no doubt her hair was ruined. She needed to go home, and clean herself up. Of course, that’d involve failing this test and losing her chance at becoming a ninja, possibly forever. Was being a ninja worth ruining her beautiful features. She was long awaited pure blooded Sairento that her clan had been waiting ages for, and here she was lying in the mud contemplating just giving up on her dreams. Her mother would be very disappointed. All her inventions would be for nothing. How could she get this far only to give up because of some mud? How could she be the future clan head and strongest ninja in the world if she failed now? The only thing worse than proving the elders of her clan right would seeing her mother’s saddened face when she heard she failed, and that all of the hard sork was for nothing.

Emerie’s pale hands curled up and clenched, before relaxing again. Her hands pushed down into the mud and she pulled herself out of the mud, and rose to her feet at the bottom of the pit. She felt heavy, and soaked. The mud had obviously dirtied her outfit, but she had more than enough at home.

“Yea, I’ll be alright,” Emerie said grumpily to the familiar face peeking out from the side of the pit. Emerie had almost forgotten sbout the two teammates she had who were counting on her to complete the test. They’d fail if she failed, so how could she ruin their chance at being ninja.

Emerie lifted one of her feet up, feeling the mud pull at her boot as she raised it up before setting it back down. Shi jiro would come and help her out soon, and as much as she’d love to figure a way out herself, they didn’t have time for that.

She’d have to soend hours cleaning up all her equipment later... they couldn’t function if they had mud seeped all between them.

Finally, Shinjiro appeared, and tossed a chain down to her. She was to wrap it around her waist so she could be lifted. Emerie wpndered why he was just csrrying around a chain in the first place. It was odd to Emerie, but she complied swiftly. After the chain was secured sround her, she gave in a tug to signal she was ready to be lifted. She didn't have the will to speak after this incident. All of it was consumed simply continuing on.

QuirkyAngel Phayne

 

[Orikanyo]

Ryoken Sakurai
team tatsuya

​

Ryoken didn't answer, his hands filled with his weapons as his breathing fully stopped, his eyes forwards, his intent full, he stood his first step with each weapon in hand... Towards the cabinet that held their antidotes. He took aim at the locks with intense purpose in his eyes, his mouth closed and breathing stilled, he had only so much strength before he had to breath ocne more. With the door open, he had to escape to gain ground. he could not speak his plans, he would appologize for worrying his friends soon.

But he had to do this for them!

he can't allow them to be hurt like this!

The sound of steel on metal, the door showing heavy clefts into the lock and handle with each swipe, firts the axe, then the tetsubo, first, the axe, then the tetsubo. Like a pick being drove into a sliver in a stone he was forcing his way in, his mind furious, a mad man, he would rather chew his leg free of the hunter's trap than die. The pounds were rhythimnic, but once he found his lungs screaming he pulled back out of the green and breathed, before heading back in.

Death before sacrifice, this teacher would not have his way.

AtlannianSpy KageYuuki Ganryu

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Team Makoto: Naomi Hanataro

"Ready!" Naomi replied happily to Shinjiro as the chain was lowered and Emerie tied metal around herself. “Wait, Em! Let me help make sure the chain’s secur—waaaaaaah!,”

Sploosh!

Forgetting where she was, and the jutsu that kept her hanging on the wall of the hole, Naomi moved forward to do as Shinjiro instructed and ended up falling straight into the mud. Sticky wetness seeped through her clothes and to her skin. To be honest, it didn’t feel that much different from she used Subterranean Voyage—which allowed her to swim through earth like water. There little differences, like the stickiness that weighed her down and the coldness that her jutsu didn’t emulate. However, it wasn’t so bad.

At the very least, the landing was softened by the mud. It didn’t hurt as much as her first pitfall. Things might’ve been much worse if there were spikes or explosives waiting for them at the bottom of the traps. Though, Naomi liked to think that their potential teacher wouldn’t be so cruel as to give them a test that could kill them.

Probably.

Of course, dying of embarrassment was another way to go.

Back of her hand wiping her face(which only served to further spread the mess), Naomi spat out a bit of brown as continued to tread in the pool of mud and wait for her turn to be pulled up. Shinjiro’s logic made sense. Wasting her chakra unnecessarily when who knows what obstacles lay ahead wasn’t very smart. But using her jutsu to scout for the holes was the quickest way to avoid the hidden traps and make their way across the “minefield”. The alternative was to carefully trek through the area while testing the earth for weaknesses.They still had some distance to cross, given that Emerie had only fallen part way into the clearing.

Which reminded her…

“Should we rest a bit after we get through this obstacle?”

Both she and Emerie were in dire need of a good cleaning. Or, at least a brief wiping and drying, to ensure their sticky clothes didn’t weigh them down for the rest of the course. Sure that would eat up more time, but Naomi liked to do things at her own pace. Emerie's silenced also worried her. The accented girl was always so confident that that a subdued version of her felt...weird.

It was too bad that Em’s boots didn’t work. Was it her mother’s invention? Her invention? Regardless, the Sairentos’ bright minds added new technology to the Hidden Crowd’s arsenal. Her grades might not have reflected such, but Naomi knew (in her rose-colored mind), that the white-haired girl was much smarter than she let on. That she was perfectly capable of replicating her mother’s brilliance, if not further it.

Momentarily closing her eyes, Naomi sighed. The mud bath didn’t feel half bad. Colder than she would’ve liked, Naomi always did feel more comfortable in wet places. The smell of earth was nice too. If only she didn’t have a test to worry about.

Phayne
InsaneAsylum
KageYuuki

 

[Arael]

Asami Kurayami
Team Miyako

Asami was thrown off by the woman's voice interjecting itself into their conversation, almost making her jump in place, but she was quickly grounded and pulled into a surprisingly strong. Unlike her two teammates she didn't have the option to struggle as she was stuck dead in the center of the embrace simply praying for it to end as quickly as it began, and whatever powers at be must have heard her prayers as the toned woman soon released them from her grasp which finally gave Asami a chance to observe the woman as she called them "Dorks" and "Short" which was a fairly accurate description of the young raven-haired girl and didn't phase her as much as it apparently did Tomoki, and Arata was seemingly unphased as to be expected since he hasn't shown much emotion unless speaking colorfully towards others as he did not long ago, other than that he was fairly calm.

She followed behind the others into the gym and the heavy odor seemed to hit them all at once but, having sat in on her father's training sessions as a child the smell itself didn't seem to phase her much the music blasting through the speakers, however, gained a slight recoil at first before she readjusted herself and continued to move with the others, weaving through the gym's patrons and machinery stopping only on the wooden space reserved for their exam and her eyes immediately falling on each volunteer as they were introduced and the exam was explained. Personally, the whole exam didn't make sense to Asami as she tried to narrow down what her sensei meant by "The strongest." since that was a very open statement, and apparently she wasn't the only one to think that judging by the irritable look on Arata's face, while Tomiko seemed rather content with the situation at hand.

Asami had already begun examining each person silently, despite her personal feelings on the matter and was just about to ask the woman her first question before hearing Arata's opening statement. Her mind hadn't registered the initial question for a moment and unsure who it was initially directed towards before tuning in to the rest of the rant, her mouth slightly agape from his complete disregard of Miyako's position as their sensei; normally, Asami would've steered clear of such an interaction, but with so much at risk she reluctantly stepped in. "What I think Arata's trying to say is: we all expected a bit more than a guessing game, especially with what we had to go through to get here," she stated calmly as she stepped up slightly, her eyes shifting between her teammate and sensei but mainly towards her more vocal partner who would probably correct her if she was dead wrong or thinking too small for his brilliant mind.

AtlannianSpy Japanime Arne

 

[Ganryu]

Mibu
Squad Tatsuya
KageYuuki Orikanyo
AtlannianSpy
​

The explosion was a success. But other part had been misanalazed. The bond between Shiori and Tatsuya-sensei was weaker than what was observed.. or was it? The man reduced importance of it, maybe it was to downplay it. Maybe it was because it was unimportant. Were bonds precious?

What did Haru and Ryoken mean as far as value? Honestly so far it had been valuable because someone had told her so... but a romantic kunoichi wanted to believe more.

Haru had missed catching Mibu's mask. He saw no value in it, something a teammate was giving. He decided to fight Tatsuya sensei, firing his kekkei genkai at their sensei.

Ryoken chose not to fight and instead went for the antidote with extreme force.

What was one to do to do?

Did she help one? Did she help the other? Did she try to be clever?

It was all so confusing.

The kunoichi jumped atop a file cabinet. The poison fell. That meant it was heavier than air. That meant clean air would be pushed upward. That meant that their beautifully immune sensei would still run out of oxygen as long as he wasn't the highest in the room, poisoned be damned. Unless he had a portable oxygen tank. Why wouldn't he? This had not yet surprised him.

Things had to be analyzed.

" So that will be an instant fail, but you now have until the room and the hallway fill up with gas, how fortunate you are."

This was the first time the actual conditions of victory had been mentioned. There was an instant fail. However, there hadn't been mention of a success. Maybe it was the antidote Ryoken was working on. Perhaps not everything had an underneath. Maybe it WAS some hidden meaning. Maybe he wanted to see teamwork. Or individual skill. He had wanted them to fight. But that the kunoichi refused to do. It was unninjalike.

Then again, did Mibu want to even be a ninja? She was mostly there because she was threatened to be evicted if she didn't. But... if she was going to do it, she wanted to be a proper ninja. That's why she'd bought the mask and wore it everyday. Why her tried to maintain an air around her. Ninja had things they protected. With their lives. Mibu wanted that.

If she was ever going to understand them, now was the time. She had to think. First things first. They had to sort out what the test was.

Maybe the gas was not poisonous in the least. But the way Mibu felt pointed against this. Already her throat hurt, and her heartbeat was quickening. Clearly, though, the test was not to escape, Sensei had already made a fail condition out of it. So Mibu had already been wrong on that.

What was posted was a fight would ensue, the only left standing would open the cabinet to get the poison. It was very possible that was a lie to see how easily they would turn on eachother. But it had to be a possibility their teacher was that cruel. If so, he certainly was no ninja, but he would be passing them. That would require the lock to have some way to detect who was up and who was down. Or their sensei to monitor them and he had some sort of key. Or that this was a test of abilities.

"Haru, get out the room! There exist 3 possibilities of which can be gathered: this gas is not poisonous, our sensei has the key to the safe, or there is a sensor for when only one of us is left. The first has been proven false, the second can be proven or disproven by a monitor, and the 3rd can be taken by if only Ryoken is in the room."

Mibu dived into the hallway, lunging at their sensei, trying to grab his clothing with one hand, and punch with the other. If there was a sensor, only one being in the room would qualify as there being a sensor. If there wasn't, well, it was one possibility down.

There was a small part of her plan Mibu was completely and utterly aware of.... her taijutsu grades were... not high to say the least. Her punch had all the force of a wet noodle. Honestly it looked more like a kindergartener assaulting an MMA wrestler.

 

[Phayne]

-Team Makoto-

*Sploosh*​

Shinjiro slowly glanced over the edge of the hole towards the two mud covered genin below, Naomi the most recent victim of the muddy menace that terrorized two thirds of their team. Like earlier, Shinjiro had to stifle a smile or laugh at the sight of the two girls below, knowing full well that it could be taken wrongly by either of them should he react. Instead Shinjiro took a step back, ensuring that he was out of sight of the two before releasing a soft chuckle. It was inevitable, you'd have to be a humorlous hermit to have resisted the urge to laugh at the sight of them.

Thankfully the tug from the other end of the chain snapped him back into focus, his two hand gripping tightly on his portion of the chain as he began to pull Emerie up. Admittedly he had underestimated the weight from the other end of the chain, forgetting to factor in the weight of the mud which had clung onto the young Sairento, though with a bit more effort it was overcome and Emerie was once more upon dry land. "You.. alright?" questioned Shinjiro, though he already surmised what the answer was as he helped to untie the end of the chain from around her waist. "Don't rush ahead Emerie, I'll quickly bring Naomi back up and we'll make our way to the next obstacle together"

As soon as the chain was untied, Shinjiro returned towards Naomi, dropping the end of the chain to her side. "Give me a tug when your ready" shouted Shinjiro. "We can rest for a bit, but we don't have much time to spare" offered Shinjiro.


Once their rest was over and the obstacle cleared, Shinjiro proceeded to take the lead from the two kunoichi. With the previous obstacles, both Emerie and Naomi had been the victim of a lack of information towards the traps that awaited them, it was only fair now that he put himself on the line for the sake of the team, even if it meant he was the one who would suffer the consequences of not knowing what came next.​

----
The Spiders Web​

The deeper the trio of young genins ventured into the thick forest, the closer they would get to their next challenge; an obstacle positioned close to the end of Area 46's course and designed with the sole intention of challenging a teams ability to coordinate their movements with one another; to test their decision making skills and to ultimately slow them down as much as possible. Speed and strength were not your ally here, you could not simply power through this devilish obstacle with brute strength nor could you rush ahead in front of your allies as it would inevitably lead to their downfall. Perception was key, patience was vital and ingenuity was priceless. Without these three assets, the young genin would surely find themselves struggling to traverse this harsh course.

As they arrived to the densest part of the forest, an area where the tree's rose miles above the norm and their expanding branches blocked out the sunlight the group would soon notice hundreds upon hundreds of thin silver wires intertwined among one another, wrapped around the thick sturdy trunks of the great tree's that dwelled here. These silvery threads were reminiscent to that of a spiders web, a fibre like trap of such intricacy and malice that ensnared any and all prey that dared pass through it. This was the work of a predator, an apex hunter near the top of its food chain that hunted and killed those unfortunate enough to get caught in its silken confines.

To add to the ominous sight before them, the sound of birds cawing above could be heard among the whistling of the tree leaves as the wind brushed past. It was as if the bird themselves knew what was in store below them, the almost comical sight of these human beings snaking their way through this spiders trap, unaware of the dangers that awaited them. It was only from above that you could truly grasp the expanse of the spiders intricate work of art.

The course itself was almost the size of your standard gym hall, a large string maze that encompassed the whole space allocated to it. The aim for the genin was to traverse through the string maze, contorting their bodies into different shapes in order to progress through it. Whilst sounding rather easy at first, the strings themselves are rigged with traps designed to bind their victim in place much like that of a struggling fly caught in a web. Forcing one of the threads too far out of place or breaking the thread completely would cause the other threads around the genins body to suddenly tighten around them, restricting their movements completely in the tight binding. Left alone, the ensnared victim is unable to free themselves from the trap and must rely on one of their team mates to free them from it instead. To free the trapped victim, a shuriken or kunai must be thrown towards a wooden target board that appears on one of the tree's near the trapped victim. Sufficient force will cause the target board to fall and the strings around the trapped victim to slacken once more thus freeing the trapped victim. Moving too far ahead from your allies would make hitting the target harder and would thus potentially require you to go backwards. Moving too fast and pulling a string near yourself may instead activate the threads closer to one of your allies and trap them instead. Thus, patience, perception and the ingenuity to find paths unseen are important assets in passing this course.

Though be warned, those that progress too slowly will too find themselves greeted with a surprise, the labyrinths watcher un=amused by those that thread too heavily on the side of caution.​

------​

"W..wow..." mumbled Shinjiro as he stared at the sight before him, a labyrinth of silvery threads entwined among one another and wrapped around the trunks of the giant tree's ahead of them. His reaction however was not born from the sheer sight that in itself was overwhelming but instead directed towards the tight spaces in between the silvery threads. For a boy of his height, meandering through such small spaces and contorting himself in various shapes was not an ideal task, his lanky frame more than likely going to work against him in this course. "This.. looks like its going to be a bit tricky" he continued, the nervousness in his voice obvious. "How do you think we should proceed?"

Shinjiro glanced towards Emerie, then towards Naomi awaiting both of their input.

KageYuuki InsaneAsylum QuirkyAngel​

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Miyako Fuihara
Team Miyako
​

Miyako had sat herself on the floor cross legged, adopting a placid, even meditative expression that was soon broken when Arata and Asami's questions caused her to sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose with one hand.

"Ahhh you guys are weird! My test is 'pitifully easy'? you want more than 'a guessing game?' you dummies can't even figure out what the question means!

Miyako shook her head, opened her eyes and tilted her head to look at Arata. "If all three of you pick different answers then only one of you will pass! I'm not gonna tell you whose right until all three of you have guessed boy genius! I would rather have a team of one genin that's prepared to be a shinobi than a team of three who aren't." Miyako turned to Asami. "And this is not a guessing game, unless you like games where you're more likely to succeed then fail. Why would you guess when I just got done telling you you can do anything you can think of to be certain of what the answer is?!"

Miyako exhaled softly and then suddenly rolled backwards, spring up into a one handed hand stand. "And that is the last hint I'm giving you: If you take the right actions, you can be certain of which one is the strongest. If you guys can't figure out what that means or what I mean when I say 'the strongest' then you fail! Which won't be the end of the world! You'll go back to the academy for a year which, honestly, would do you and everyone in your class a world of good, and then come back here and try again. But understanding this question is a prerequisite for moving beyond where you are now,"

With that Miyako pulled her free hand inwards into a prayer like gesture and tucked the opposite leg in to balance it out. Once again she closed her eyes and appeared to be meditating. The three martial artists Miyako had roped into her test remained standing impassively in the middle of the gym floor.

Arne
Arael
Japanime

 

[KageYuuki]

Sakura Yamauchi
Sakura regretted telling them to introduce themselves the moment the words left her lips. She knew the loudmouthed one would go first, but did he have to be so obnoxious about it? As the genin continued, Sakura’s expression grew more and more sour. Her eyes twitched by the time it Kaoru had finished. “That old bastard decided to give me a loudmouthed furry, a failed medic that would rather be playing in the dirt, and a pipsqueak that shouldn’t have been allowed into the academy let alone graduate…?” She lightly shook the bottle in her grasp as if seeing whether or not there was anything inside it. Alas, the bottle hadn’t magically refilled. “Fucking fabulous,” She scowled, tossing the bottle aside. The glass shattered on impact with the concrete floor.

“Since I don’t feel like getting an earful from him, I still have to give you brats a test. Should’ve made it much harder if I knew this was the lot I was getting stuck with.” Harsh emerald hues glared at them for a moment. Honestly, she probably had the most straightforward of tests. A clear goal without any tricks or bullshit like the others were using. But would it be the easiest? Maybe if she’d been sent real shinobi…

“You three may have been given those headbands, but you’re still just brats playing ninja.” Sakura stood, the stiff soles of her boots tapping against the floor as she took a few steps forward. “You wanna know what a real ninja is?” In an instant, she was gone, reappearing just as suddenly between the trio. “A ninja is someone that’s steeped their hands in blood and walked the thin line between life and death. Over and over again.”

Vanishing again, she reappeared in front of her chair, flopping back into it. The wood creaked in protest, though Sakura didn’t seem to notice. “But maybe we’ll be fixing part of that today,” she leaned back, crossing her legs and draping an arm over the back of the chair. “So here’s your test: kill me.”

IG42 Damafaud AllHailDago

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Emerie Sairento
~Team Makoto~​

Emerie was very upset with herself for having cost her team so much time. If all people she would never have thought she’d be the one to screw up so badly. Emerie resolved to make sure she didn’y cost them anymore time. They were probably already behind as it was. The next obstacle however, looked like it was going to take ages. Emerie let out a sharp breath through her teeth.

“This is foolishness. So many string wrapped the trees will take too long to get through. We have not time for this!”

Emerie stepped to the front of the trio, and reached into her mud stained outfit. Her hands returned with several shuriken! In an instant, she threw them forwards, slicing through several strands of ‘web’ before striking a tree or falling into the darkness unseen.

“If I get a fireball for this, then at least I won’t have to crawl through all of this, for I am cutting my way through,” Emerie states firmly, retrieving a kunai this time before hurrying forwards.

QuirkyAngel Phayne

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Team Makoto: Naomi Hanataro
Naomi was busying picking the leaves out of her hair as she approached her teammates from a large brush. The forest was surprisingly thick and difficult to travel through. Or, maybe, it was just her. Naomi had never been the agile sort. Hearing Shinjiro’s question, the girl looked towards the next obstacle, blinking at the many web-like wires that blocked their way. She opened her mouth to respond. “Well I—,”

Her eye widened as Emerie made her declaration, threw some shurikens--cutting a couple of wires--, and hurried forward before anyone could stop her. Even more surprising was the tightening/shifting of the other wires near the broken ones. How did wires move like that? Then a…target board?...appeared. Naomi tilted her head.

“…are we supposed to hit that?” Naomi glanced at Shinjiro. “I’m going to need my kunais back, by the way.”

Hands held out to Shinjiro, so she could reclaim the weapons he’d collected, Naomi continued to speak. “The wires look pretty tight…” And Shinjiro looked pretty tall. “If we were smaller, like Em’s shuriken, we could sail straight through. Whoosh~”

Of course, there were many flaws in that strategy. First and foremost was that transforming into a shuriken would require someone to throw them. A strong arm and a good throwing eye would be required for them to sail through the traps to the other side without hitting any wires. Shinjiro did say he had top scores in shurikenjutsu so maybe…but still risky. Second, such a strategy would leave the thrower stranded/alone should he/she attempt to cross. Shave time for some of them if it suceeded, not all of them. Naomi could always go under the trap…but, like before, she wasn’t certain if that counted as ‘avoiding the obstacle’.

Either way, she’d have to wait for the others to finish before moving on—since they all had to cross the finish line together.

Phayne
InsaneAsylum

 

[IG42]

Shinichi Kabuso
At Sakura-sensei's individually tailored insults Shinichi scowled and Shizuka rumbled in warning, getting ragged on for his clan's unique abilities was pretty aggravating and while he didn't really get it he knew Akio was pretty touchy about the medical jutsu thing. "Hey that's a b-yeep!" He jumped as she smashed the bottle on the ground. "Litterer." He said under his breath.

Still frowning as she announced the test he tensed up so much that he nearly took a swing at her on reflex when she flickered over into their midst and back again while giving them a pep talk about how dangerous being a ninja could be, he knew by what he had learned about his own clan that it could be deadly business but it wasn't like they were at war anymore and they'd be well trained up before any serious stuff happened right? Naturally she instead chose to blow that out of the water by asking them to kill her of all things just after having showed off how easily she had moved right up in front of them. "Kill you? Like right now?" He asked a little dumbly but quickly shrugged inwardly and decided that she just want to see how they did in a fight and was being melodramatic.

Shifting into his combat stance he glanced at his teammates, he knew a fair bit about what Akio was capable of from their extracurricular activities together. "Try and trap her in place right?" Pitfalls were so classic. "Alright Shizuka water we waiting for? Time to take our shot!" Moving through a short series of hand seals he held the last one and spewed a stream of water that gathered around his clasped hands while Shizuka perched on his shoulder and did the same adding to the rapidly growing sphere. Having held the pose for less than five seconds Shinichi unclasped his hands as Shizuka jumped into the water and spun turning it into a swirling orb. "Water Style: Pressure Cannonball!" Thrusting his hands forward the projectile blasted toward their lounging sensei.

KageYuuki AllHailDago Damafaud

 

[KageYuuki]

Squad Tatsuya
Tatsuya’s eyes flicked towards the glowing point of light Haru summoned and he suddenly leaned back sharply in time for the bullet of storm chakra to pass harmlessly over his head and impact with the wall behind him. Raising his arms for balance he twisted and converted his downwards motion into a spinning kick that collided with Mibu as she rushed him. Tatsuya’s habit of leaning on his cane disguised somewhat how long his legs actually were and his foot struck Minu long before her hands came into range of him, sending her flying backward to land near where Ryoken was hammering away at the cabinet.

Between his strength and the weight of his weapons, the force Ryoken exerted on the hapless cabinet was certainly impressive and any normal cabinet would surely have been pulverized. But this particular cabinet seemed to be heavily reinforced and withstood his assault, despite taking superficial dents to its frame even as Mibu slid to a halt near Ryoken’s feet.

“It will take a bit more than that to knock me off my feet,” Tatsuya said dryly, slowly lowering his kicking foot and straightening his stance to plant himself solidly on the floor below. Tatsuya was no longer leaning on the cane, in fact, he held it at the ready in front of him with a light and confident hand, the simple wooden stick somehow contriving to look more menacing than most swords.

“And none of you can be the last one standing while I am. Particularly-” he glanced at Haru and Mibu. “If you don’t bother to get up off the floor.” With his free hand, Tatsuya reached up to adjust his glasses slightly. “So what will you do next I wonder? It’s not too late to quit you know,”

Ryoken jumped back, it was true he was doing nothing to the cabinet… But now… Now they had a bigger problem. Tatsuya was now among the standing due to Mibu’s change of scenario. He couldn’t blame her as she had tried something tricky, but, this was the scenario now…

Instead of wasting more time he rushed towards his sensei, eyes focused and narrow like an animal focusing on its hunt each weapon held up and coming down like twin fangs upon the man.

“TATSUYAAA!” His voice full of anger at his snarky bullshit, he was quite done with the cruelty.

"Spirited, but your approach is full of openings," Tatsuya said, his cane lashing out at the stomach Ryoken had left unguarded by raising his weapons. The cane strike was more of a light jab, intended to halt Ryoken's movement and leave him open to the followup: a kick much like the one that had sent Mibu flying earlier which, unsurprisingly, had a similar effect on Ryoken, sending him hurtling back the direction he had come.

"I can stand here and throw you around one, or two at a time as long as you like, it won't get you any closer to passing this test," Tatsuya said. straightening up his stance once again. "You're going to need to think a little harder than that. You want to defeat me which is fair enough, but a shinobi can't let their feelings to cloud their assessment of their own abilities," Tatsuya looked down at the children coldly. "You three should be thinking in terms of the minimum needed to satisfy your objectives. Right now that's all you are capable of,"

Ryoken went flying away, he smashed into the cabinet with a yelp and crumpled to the floor face first, he couldn’t help but gasp for air… But alas… there was naught but the gas. He growled, he grunted, and began dragging himself towards the door, still on his stomach.

And he keeps emphasizing there only being one person standing… Haru gritted his teeth, he heart felt like it was trying to escape his chest. The shaking had gotten to the point he wasn’t sure he could stand.

Ryoken pulled himself out of the room once more, getting to his feet… he was quiet save for small breaths. “Guys… aim high…” he went in for another rush, this time staying low to the ground, hoping the others took a hint.

“Last one standing… Even for a second..”

Trembling hands struggled with the handsigns, Haru had to hold his arm in a bid to keep it steady. The brightly glowing bullet of chakra likely still wouldn’t hit, but he was running out of options. Likely time as well.

The kunoichi groaned from the ground. The single hit took a lot out of her. Combat was not her forte. No ninja should EXPECT to fight. That wasn’t a ninja. And yet here they were…

At this point, there was as much a headache about the test as there was from all the fumes she was collecting on the ground.

What WAS this test? How did this cabinet function? There was no logical reason for it. The poison gas should have been dispersed, but apparently, every room in this clinic was airtight for no reason. Were most clinics like this? Did their sensei foresee this? It seemed such an arbitrary preemption to take.

Before Mibu was kicked, she’d noticed Tatsuya’s pockets, they were empty, so no key. She saw no monitoring equipment of the room inside from out here, so he had no way of manually opening that cabinet with jutsu either. Ryoken had been the only standing in that room. Any sensors in there would have picked it up. According to the test, it should have been opened then. If it was a summon inside the lock, Ryoken’s earlier hit would have shaken it, and there’d at least be a sign of it.

This cabinet magically held the antidote, and so it was the most important object of this test, and Mibu had failed everyone in figuring out how it worked. They were ninja, they were supposed to look underneath the underneath. They were supposed to understand the mechanics of the world around them. But how did this thing work? Now Mibu felt stupid. However, one of her teammates had an idea. Mibu couldn’t understand the logic of it, how was magically making someone stand outside the designated test area going to work, but why WOULDN’T she support a teammate, perhaps he was more intelligent than she.

Hearing Ryoken’s plan, it was as good as any, so she reached into her ninja pouch, and grabbed as many kunai as she could. Teammates were precious. Precious things must be protected. And Mibu was not going to protect them from the floor. Jumping to her feet, and then into the air, Mibu crossed her arms, then uncrossed them, throwing her shurikens as hard as she could. She was technically aiming high, or at least attending to, but with the gas as was, it was more like she was aiming drunk.

Ryoken rushed ahead after the barrage, he sunk low to the ground and swept in a circular pattern with his leg.

Leaf Gale

The cramped quarters of the corridor he was guarding worked against Tatsuya, although he was able to duck under Haru’s jutsu, the movement left him poorly positioned to avoid the shurikens following hot on its tail, forcing him to raise his cane and arm toward them away which in turn blocked his own line of sight for the split second Ryoken needed to close the distance between them and attack the jonin’s legs.

Tatsuya stumbled and dropped to one knee, stabilizing himself with one hand on the ground and letting go of his cane to cover his mouth as he coughed loudly. “Yes, yes alright that will do,” Tatsuya coughed again and then raised his voice as he turned to the other end of the hallway. “Shiori that will do! You may unlock the cabinet and reverse the fans!”

“Okaaaay! But give me a minute before coming out!” Came back the response, muffled by the sturdy door between Shiori and the rest of the group. Sure enough, there was a loud metallic click and the clouds of gas began to recede as fans concealed within the vents began to suck them back in. At the same time, the all important cabinet clicked as well and it’s door slid open easily, revealing a large bottle of milk.

“That should help with the stinging,” Tatsuya said brusquely, attempting to reclaim his dignity by standing up and brushing off his coat. “Milk neutralizes the biological compound I used to irritate your skin and membranes and give the air that rather fetching green shade. Milk won’t do anything for your heart rate, shaky hands and shortness of breath, but those are all more symptoms of fear, which the compound only provoked by convincing you that you were being poisoned more seriously.

Tatsuya coughed again before continuing. “You all did well enough in withstanding that fear and preventing it from clouding your judgment. Attempting to force your way out or break into the cabinet were sensible first courses of action and when they didn’t solve the problem you were able to think abstractly and solve the actual puzzle. Most importantly, you resisted my attempts to turn you against each other. To truly be the last one standing… for a shinobi that is a failure, a team must stand as one or it will fall as many. As long as this team understands that it will serve adequately as my one student… Now,”

Tatsuya coughed again. “I have a lot of work to do and nothing else for you until tomorrow. Please leave, genin.”

This was more of an order than a request it transpired and the newly minted genin were ushered out of the back of the clinic and into the reception, in time to see Shiori, standing on top of her desk and hastily trying to unpin a hand-painted banner that read “Better Luck Next Time!” To replace it with one saying “Congratulations!”

“WAAAH!” Shiori started as the door opened and nearly fell, saving herself by windmilling her arms wildly. “Aww Dammit! I said to give me a minute,” Shiori muttered, hastily hiding the better luck next time banner behind her back and painting a wide smile on her face. “Anyway, you did it! It’s not uh... That I didn’t believe in you guys or anything! But Tatsuya can be kind of a meanie sometimes and I was a little worried he had come up with some dumb, unwinnable test you weren’t supposed to pass,” Shiori frowned and held a finger up to her mouth thoughtfully. “Then again he did leave that out for you,” she lifted a foot and used it to point at a rectangular piece of paper on the desk near her chair. “It’s a voucher for a nearby restaurant, he gets them all the time when the owners are low on cash for their bills. I don’t think he ever actually eats out though so they normally go to waste. You guys can probably use it to celebrate though right? Just go easy on your throats and don’t order anything spicy,”

AtlannianSpy Ganryu Orikanyo

 

[Phayne]

-Team Makoto-

"Emerie wait!" shouted Shinjiro as he watched the white haired Kunoichi take action, her decision rash and lacking in foresight as her shuriken sliced through the wire like webbing that hindered their path forward. The construct of the wires meant that the shuriken only sliced a few threads before they came to a halt, their momentum no longer strong enough to force their way through the thick barrier. Perhaps a meter or two forwards and that was about it.

As the shuriken fell, the sound of their metallic chorus could be heard accompanied by the soft grinding of the wires tightening against themselves in response to the desecration. An ominous and foreboding sound it was, the grinding of the wires eliciting a reaction akin to that conjured when nails are scratched on a blackboard. Shinjiro himself could not help but fidget uncomfortably as the sound resonated through the forest.

This orchestra of noise however hid another more sinister sound; the rustling of leaves from the canopy far above them as dozens upon dozens of creatures moved, their legs scurrying across the leaves and branches above as they followed the white haired girl, their eyes honed in on the perpetrator. A price would have to be paid for the damages caused below. Their presence however would remain unnoticed to the genin below, as apex predators they would wait for their prey to be at their most vulnerable before striking.

"I guess so" replied Shinjiro glancing at the target board. It seemed only logical that a target be hit otherwise why call it a target in the first place. "Maybe it has something to do with the wires, it only appeared after the wires were triggered" he continued, reaching into his pouch for the five Kunai that belonged to Naomi, at the same time grabbing one of his shuriken.

Shurikenjutsu was one of his forte back in the academy, his scores in the upper tier of their year. Confident in his skills with tools, Shinjiro threw the shuriken at the target, landing dead center on the face. As the target board lowered back into its hiding spot the wires began to slacken once more. "It seems like some sort of release mechanism in case one of us gets caught" Shinjiro meanwhile had handed Naomi her posessions.

KageYuuki InsaneAsylum QuirkyAngel​

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Team Makoto: Naomi Hanataro
Retrieving her kunai, Naomi carefully put them back into her pouch. Shinjiro's conclusion made sense. However, it was ideal if none of them ever get caught. Her gaze flickered to the shuriken stuck dead center in the face. How many shuriken did Shinjiro have? Was it enough to cover all of their mistakes if they tried to cross the wires the traditional way?

Naomi thought long and hard about how she could help her teammates— ever since Em’s fall in the mud pit, in fact. She already knew how she was going to cross the wires. Agility wasn’t her strong suit and her attempts at contorting her body would only slow the others down, if not waste all their shuriken. Regardless of whether it counted as avoiding the obstacle, using Subterranean Voyage was the optimal solution and what Naomi would’ve done should such an obstacle present itself in a real mission.

Emerie was also the most agile of the group, brash though she might be. If she believed traversing the wires would take too long, Naomi believed her. It wasn’t as if she could trust her own sense of time. She hadn’t a clue how far they’d already gone, nor how long the other obstacles would take.

“If you two could transform into kunais, or any other small object, I can fit you both into my pouch and take you below ground with me to avoid all the wires.”

Transformation was a basic jutsu in the academy, so she figured Em and Shinjiro would at least be adequate with that skill. Maintaining a jutsu required stamina, of course, but it shouldn’t take her too long to swim across the gym-sized obstacle.

“That way, we’ll all be traveling together across the obstacle...”

Well, below the obstacle, but that could hardly be helped. They all had their weaknesses and strengths. Takenaka-san had said that a skilled genin could finish the course in an hour. He gave them an hour and 30 minutes. If they couldn’t finish in at least that time, it would make sense to send them back to the academy. It didn’t matter of Naomi had to take a fireball. She wanted to pass. Regardless of what they thought they 'should' do, the overall goal of the exam was to finish in the obstacle course in a given time-frame together.

"...and Takenaka-san won't be able to see what we're doing if we use a smoke bomb to hide the fact..."

Of course, if Makoto was listening to their conversation then her statement was moot. It just felt necessary to tack on an excuse, given her suggestion might earn them all a fireball.

Phayne
InsaneAsylum
KageYuuki

 

[AllHailDago]

Kaoru Issho
Team Sakura ​

Kaoru flinched away from Sakura-sensei's tone and bottle smashing. However, he furrowed his brow and stood more firmly when she questioned his ability to be a shinobi. "I-I-I am a perfectly e-exemp-plary shinobi, thank you! I-I'll p-prove I am!" He hesitated for bit a moment on his senseis order. Killing a comrade wasn't heroic. However, neither was disobeying your sensei. Besides, they probably couldn't kill her between the three of them as they were.

So he didn't hesitate a second more, and he surely didn't hold back. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out two shuriken in each hand. Charging the top one in each hand with lightning chakra, and leaving the bottom uncharged, he threw them at Sakura-sensei. They flew alongside Shinichi's water bullet, the sound of crackling electricity buzzing through an otherwise silent room. Kaoru's goal was for the lightning charged shuriken be what sensei paid attention to, while the ones hidden underneath struck home.

That wasn't where he was going to stop however. He sidestepped clear from his allies and began weaving handsigns. As he finished getting felt his chakra supply drop considerably. This was his strongest jutsu so far, so he couldn't use it too often yet. Maybe three or four times total at best. It was guided though, so he shouldn't be able to miss easily with it. A large wolf made of lightning formed in front of his now still hands, a tether of electricity crackling between his hands and the beast. With a twist of his fingers the tether lengthened and the beast leapt in the direction of Sakura-sensei. Lightning Beast: Tracking Fang!

KageYuuki IG42 Damafaud

 

[Damafaud]

Akio Hiraku
Underground Training Facility 13
Hiding;determined
Interaction: IG42 , AllHailDago , KageYuuki
Mention: -​

"I'm not a failure. You can't fail if you haven't started doing it," said Akio sharply.

For the first time since the graduation ceremony, the grin on his face disappeared. He disliked people talking about his medical study. It made him eager to pull something on them. Sakura Sensei wanted them to kill him? Fine! It was unlikely that they would succeed, but he wouldn't go down without a fight!

Akio nodded at Shinichi's signal. A trained combination between them, was for him to made the opponent lose their footing and letting Shinichi shot him with water. Granted, their enemy was limited to cats and academy teachers before, but he thought it could work well if he managed to take hold of Sakura Sensei.

"Fine. Take this!" Akio shouted before he clumsily threw a kunai at Sakura Sensei's feet. It didn't even land near her. The time, however, was what he aimed for.

Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole

A series of hand signal, and Akio vanished from sight, burrowing into the ground. A quick glance to Kaoru revealed that he was preparing to cast a jutsu, too. Kaouru was good with ninjutsu, he thought to himself before making his way deeper underground, closer to the wall. It was his favourite jutsu, and the most difficult one to learn. It took him three months to be able to see beyond the ground while sufficiently hiding the track of his digging.

He would hide now. Sakura Sensei would be busy dodging Shinichi and Kaoru. And when it was time... bam! Double Decapitation Technique!