Private/Closed Minato's Survival: A New Naruto AU RP

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito - Riverbank Training Grounds

The bugs made their move; Keito wondered what the young Aburame girl was preparing, even for a second, as her kikaichu buzzed straight toward him, only to split like water cut with chakra around his head. And then, the rustling of leaves on a tree and:

"Woo! Let's go!" Shin cried out with a fervent confidence. The jonin smiled. She had guts. He hadn't quite expected someone from the Aburame clan to make a direct attack at such a young age, facing off against a more experienced foe. Maybe she was hoping that would catch him off guard.

As Shin launched herself through the air at his back, her kikaichu buzzing around either side of his head as they rejoined with the genin, Keito focused chakra at his feet. It almost look like he slipped when he flipped himself upside-down on the side of the tree branch facing down toward the ground, hanging from it like a napping bat. The leaping genin would find herself hurtling toward a suddenly empty space, her trajectory headed for the ground between Sachi and Makoto.

From his upside-down perch, Keito folded his arms and waited for more.

@=Nightshade= @Nilion @Pinch

 

[Stadium]

Miko Rinha – Maze
Like a moth to the flame, the more frequent ringing of Toko's bells drew Miko to the boy. She began increasingly following after and navigating her surroundings using the genin as her lodestone, rather than both him and Clover even if they both still helped her get a better sense of the labyrinth's layout and turns. Unaware of the flicking, kunoichi simply guessed his placement of the bells were responsible. And while blinded, she began looking more frequently, not only in his direction, but at Toko as if she could actually see the ninja without the blindfold.

"I want to... see." She complained in a low and flat voice while incidentally looking directly at Toko. Her eyes would sting while they adjusted, but it'd be worth it if it meant getting rid of the blindfo– A root made her take false step, and she stumbled forward. "Ah...!" Her hand clutched at where the overgrown wall should be, trying to find ivy or roots to use as support. No such luck.

 

[Shikowara]

Chishima Toko - Maze
Toko heard Miko’s exclamation as she fell. He quickly turned around to see that she had stumbled. He held out his hand to her out of habit. His mother taught him to be a gentleman, which he thought was unnecessary for being a ninja, but whatever.

He realized she wouldn’t be able to see it, so he just grabbed her grabbed instead, letting her know he wanted to help. He blushed. Crap.

 

[Stadium]

Miko Rinha – Maze
The sense of vertigo didn't end immediately when she hit the ground. At first the young girl was quizzical and unsure what had actually happened while she felt around. The grassy path they had walked on was soft and the worst she suffered were green blotches on her clothes and knees, which hardly mattered to the blinded girl. Nodding and letting out a confident huff, she began exploring beyond her immediate surroundings.

While sensing around for the wall she had missed earlier, Miko almost knocked Toko's offered hand away after making a wide sweep with her arm. She missed him by a hair's breadth. "Stupid..." She muttered under her breath, the rest of the curse was indistinct. Falling like that had been so stupid of her.

Her first instinct when having her hand suddenly squeezed was to pull away, and attack. But feeling the warmth and kindness of his grip, resisted the trained instinct. It reminded her of an old man she had tended to at the hospital – he had thanked her the same way. But this hand was less wrinkly. She laughed and the resulting cough was more than worth it.

The bells chiming due to the rough movement as she was pulled up let her know who her rescuer was. "Sorry... I fell. Fine now. Thank you, Toko."

 

[Shikowara]

Chishima Toko - Maze
How’d she know it was me?…Oh, crap, she’s close. Why is she so close?! He let go of her hand and tried to act as natural as possible. He looked over at Clover to see if he was watching or anything.
He couldn’t help but imagine the reactions of Clover and Byukia if he ever told them of his crush on the beautiful black haired girl. Clover would probably laugh, or maybe he’d be supportive and try to give me advice. Yeah, like that’d help. Byukia would probably just smile and say something…uh Byukia-like.

He looked back at Miko and started walking again, but this time, backwards. He did turn around after a bit, though. He was most likely going to run into something if he kept it up.

 

[Gamingfan]

Four Leaf Clover
As soon as Toko looked over, he ws greeted by a smirking Clover side-eyeing them.
"Well Well Well..." he laughed.
Clover missed most of the blushing Toko was doing during the walk, but even he couldn't ignore the little stunt they pulled together, giving him front row seats to Toko's barely veiled embarrassment.
He almost began teasing Toko, but doing it near Miko's sharp ears didn't appear to be the best choice, since she didn't appear to notice her flustered savior.
So Clover simply looked away as if nothing happened, snickering silently.
"We should get a move on you two. Unless you wanna keep reenacting your favorite romcom."
Okay, so he couldn't help one little tease. Sue him.


Secret Uchiha
"Yaaaaaaay....we're...gold or whatever..." Zeren halfheartedly cheered. He was surprised they lived this long, but Hisato hadn't killed himself just yet and Yoshi proved able to keep up. That's nice.
He was about to break, but Hisato already began....walking up the mountain. Okay.
Not wanting to be left behind, Zeren grabbed a nearby rock and began scaling. It wasn't particularly difficult, what with the multitude of places to grip and footholds. Still, it was a question of whether his endurance kept up.
Unless something come out of nowhere and attacks.
.....Wolves can't scale rock, right?

 

[Stadium]

Akumo Yama – 37th Training Ground
Wolves could indeed not scale rock. Though doubtful after their encounter, they'd be willing to return when they could instead lick their wounds. Or perhaps they had fallen foul to one of the traps that had caused the Genin so much trouble.

The steepness increased dramatically until walking was no longer an option. And while there were foot and hand holds that could support the young children's weight, they were becoming further apart where simply reaching was no longer an option. They would have to find some way to bridge the gap, reducing it or skipping past it entirely.

Miko Rinha – Maze
"Romcom?" Miko cocked her head to the side as she repeated the word. Clover obviously couldn't hear her, but shouldn't take a genius to infer either her lip movements or questioning expression. The lack of context, from the not-so furtive glances, redding cheeks, and everything else so far entirely escaping her blinded sight and leaving her to draw the wrong conclusion. "Not reenacting anything... Toko," putting her focus back on the smitten boy as took in a deep breath, "are you making funny faces? If so... I'd like to see them... later. Without Clover." She wasn't angry with Koun or anything, but she wasn't against teasing him back either as she stuck out her tongue. A form of non-verbal communication anyone could understand.

Everything that had happened had eased her misgivings from earlier. As much as she continued to dislike wearing the blindfold and the scream from earlier continuing to gnaw in the back of her mind, she could set them aside while the three of them walked through the maze.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Byukia Katzuke...~

Byukia sat there now whistling instead of humming.

"This waaay. Over heeere. Its meee, Katzuke Sensei" Ond of the paramims mimicked Byukia's soft carefree voice

"Yes Sorano kuuun? Me? Proficient? Hoooooo... hmmmm errrr... " Byukia sat there mumbling to herself for a continueos three minutes as if she were having a deep conversation with herself. She smiled.

"Ninjutsu of course. Pretty flowers... Ninjutsu comes naturally and has always proven useful both long range and up clooose" Byukia said. She leaned forward causing her staff to fall forward as well. Byukia caught the ground and her staff before planting it to the ground next to Sorano. Without letting her feet touch the ground she sat back on her staff.

She smiled down at Sorano, seeing how Byukia was higher off the ground by 5 ft. Byukia was relatively known for suffocating ninjas. A rather horrible way to go, and was far worsened when the flower petals were on fire. something you wouldn't expect from a person like Byukia.

"What about you, Sorano kun? What do you specialize in, hmmm?" Byukia asked.

~Hisato Gato...~

Hisato nodded and gave Yoshi the double thumbs up. Hisato was surprised that the secret uchiha Zeren was actually sounding like a team player for once. Hisato grinned. "Nah. They cant climb. Unless you wanna stick around and find out" Hisato said with a chuckle. Hisato reached towards a tree, and swung over to a cliff. There was a bridge near Hisato which slight inclined up the mountain side. Hisato ran to the top of the bridge. Hisato was so hyped that he could almost burst into happy dance.

 

[Shikowara]

Chishima Toko - Maze
Toko blushed with embarrassment at Clover’s comment, bringing his hand up to his face as if trying to hide. Shut up, Clover.
Miko, however, was confused. She asked then asked Toko a question. He shook his head quickly in response, being more flustered than ever. But because she could see, he said “Mm-mm.” Well, he didn’t say it, more like hummed it.

Toko gave Clover a small bump as he continued walking. He meant it as a ‘shut up’. Okay, let’s not tell Clover about you-know-what. It’ll probably be better if I just say nothing to anyone.

Momo Yoshi - 37th Training Ground, Mountains
“Oh, come on, Zeren. You can do it better than that!” Yoshi said to her tall, black haired teammate. Her white haired teammate, however, was perfectly happy by the looks of it.
This was the first time Yoshi noticed that Hisato and Zeren were complete opposites. Even their hair was the opposite! She chuckled to herself.

As the mountain got much much steeper, Yoshi got a little scared. She didn’t want to fall. Falling from high places was one of her bigger fears. She was unsure how she could force herself to move at certain points. She clung to the wall of the mountain every so often, afraid she was going to fall and die. Her heart was pounding and she closed her eyes tightly during these moments.
She would distract herself with humor, though. Hisato’s a monkey and Zeren is grumpy. She giggled. Yoshi probably got some weird looks from at least one of them when she experienced laughter during their climb, but she was unaware of them.

 

[~Nilion~]

Sachi’s vision was jarred by the sudden shift in his Sensei’s position. Sure, he’d seen his Father and Mother run along the side of walls countless times, but Keito-Sensei’s transition into that position was so smooth, it looked as though he had fallen at first.
Shin came tumbling by right next to Sachi in the form of a tightly-packed, Human ball. After giving his teammate a moment to get back on her feet, he trained the end of his staff towards Keito-Sensei. Makoto, Shin, and Sachi were all nearly shoulder-to-shoulder now. Children...with a piñata hanging in front of them.

“Hey guys...think you could help me get him back on the ground?”

The Mud-Nin mumbled quietly, not wanting Keito-Sensei to clue-in on their conversation as he continued.

“Makoto...I think I can help keep him pinned if you use your Black Mist again. Shin...think you could hit him with a larger swarm this time?”

Sachi clearly had something in mind, the question was- would it work?

 

[DarkHydraT]

Flower ninjutsu, huh? Sorano had heard stories about a ninja using flowers to kill their opponents, but she never thought too much of it. However, perhaps she should have. As Byukia asked her what she was proficient in, the Chunin wasted no time with her answer. "Auditory genjutsu with nin-and taijutsu to compliment it. My main way of inflicting genjutsu is with my pan flute, it is made of a special type of reed grown in a secluded oasis in the Land of Wind that I found during my travels. The reed is highly sensitive to chakra and gives the noise more range as the lower pitch travels further. If you want, I could play on it as a demonstration." The Chunin offered, already having a song in mind to play.

 

[Stadium]

Akumo Yama - 37th Training Ground, Mountains
Bounding across the bridge was a precarious choice, the wood was creaking and rope dry and old enough to begin snapping. One of the wooden plank fell underneath Hisato's feet, but the Genin was already taking his next steps. Once he had left it, it continued to creak and sway. It was a way to get across, but it was doubtful how long it would last with another careless pre-teen wildly running across it.

But clearing the hurdle, did mean he had overtaken the other two. He was above and ahead of them, which he could also potentially use to his advantage and help his teammates.

Hisato also had a clear view of the landing: the ground was nearly flat and had opened up, allowing them to comfortably stretch their limbs without risking a fall or hitting one of the other once they all reached it. A few crevices opened up into small caves and crawl spaces, but couldn't be determined how far they reached from here. The clearest road ahead had more sheer sections requiring climbing, but also steep nature trails that could simply be walked until they reached the top.

More worrying were the accumulated gravel and chunks of broken rocks from rock slides strewn across the landing. As were the sealing tag sitting prominently one of those rocks. Up until now, all of the ninjutsu barriers and trap were either of the Earth or Fire element. Vibrations from the former, could easily cause another rock slide.

Miko Rinha - Maze
More noise, this time Byukia was calling for them. Or what she thought was their Jonin sensei. Miko felt elated, that must've meant they had finally completed their task navigating the maze! "Are we finished?" No more blindfold! "When you have taken off... your bindings tell me. So I can... too." The girl had more energy in her steps now. Though she continued to follow the ringing bells, still unable to exactly tell where the turns were.

Must be a strange sight seeing her suddenly happy. Or hearing what she said while they were still no where in sight of the goal.

 

[Pinch]

At first, Makoto felt the blade sink into Keito's back. Feeling that he'd successfully won his team the fight, he dispersed both of his Genjutsu only to reveal a small wooden log sitting where their sensei once was.

"Damn, a substitution..." He thought to himself. He should've known better than to think he'd get a hit in that easily on a Jonin. It looked like he'd be fighting for a little while longer.

Makoto nodded begrudgingly in response to Sachi and turned his attention back to Keito. Although he was discontent with following Sachi's lead here, he didn't really have a choice. In a fight, he had to put his feelings aside to win.

"Black Mist Technique!"

Makoto was beginning to feel the strain of the continuous use of his Genjutsu. He had maybe two thirds of his chakra left at that point, though hopefully it wouldn't be too much of an issue.

"He must have some sort of ability that can see through my Genjutsu, even if it's just a tiny bit." He explained, talking in the same quiet tone as Sachi just was. "It's not having the same effect it does on others, so be aware of that when you attack him."

 

[Shikowara]

Chishima Toko - Maze
He had heard Byukia, like Miko, as well. He signed. I hate this… He looked back at Miko. He could still remember the shine in her masked amber eyes. But he was so use to the blindfold, it was hard to imagine her without the blindfold. Clover’s eyes were blue. They go well with his blonde hair, he thought. His own eyes, however, were a bright green. He liked them, being one of his favorite colors.

Momo Yoshi - 37th Training Ground, Mountains
This is the worst outfit for climbing, was another one of her many random thoughts.

The bridge made Yoshi nervous. Was Hisato going to fall? Please don’t fall. She silently prayed to whomever could hear her. “Should Zeren or I come across too?” She called to Hisato, who had made it safely to the other side. She looked at Zeren, then to the bridge. “Oh boy.” She said quietly.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Hisato saw the condition the bridge was in. He smiled before making looking over at Yoshi, "Try jumping across! A big leap and I'll catch you! Nice and simple! Get a running jump!" Hisato said before readying himself.

Byukia Katzuke...

"Geeenjutsu...? I see. I see. Hmmmmm... Okay! Play a song please" Byukia said cheerfully looking over at Sorano, hands clasped together.

 

[Shikowara]

Momo Yoshi - 37th Training Ground, Mountains
Yoshi backed up as far as she dared, putting almost complete trust in Hisato and his shadow clone. She cracked her neck. "Let's do this." She mumbled. "1!" She started running. "2!" She was this close to the edge, about to jump. "3!" She jumped, pushing off of the ground as hard as she could.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Hisato Gato...~

"Whoop whoopdie doop!" Hisato yelled as he jumped. He reached out for Yoshi with one arm, and reached for the mountainside with the other. After catching Yoshi, he kicked off the mountain edge sending them towards on the cliff edge. Hisato nearly tripped as he landed on solid ground, but sure enough, only person left was Zeren.

"Team 12 golden, baby! Your next Zeren!" Hisato cheered.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Everything seemed to slow down as Shin fell through the air. The risk I took was calculated, she thought, but man, am I bad at math. She pulled herself into a ball, somersaulting to disperse the impact across her body rather than take the fall head-on. She blew a piece of stray hair out of her face as she straightened up to face Keito-Sensei, who was… upside-down? The girl gave an involuntary gasp, eyes sparkling. “Woah, you can do that? That’s so cool!” she exclaimed before clearing her throat and covering her mouth. A bit late to save her pride, but it didn’t matter; her respect for her sensei had just increased tenfold.

Shin shook her head again, straightening up to her… ah… impressive four foot eight, getting her head back in the game. The few straggling kikai that had been trailing her since her unceremonious drop out of the tree alighted on her body and burrowed under the skin. “A bigger swarm…?” she pondered aloud. “That shouldn’t be too big of a deal… I was only using about a third of all of ‘em. I could send out more no problem.” The girl spread her arms, and a new, larger swarm of beetles began emerging from her skin at an alarmingly rapid pace. She had decided against using her kidaichu in this fight; she still wasn’t 100% confident in her control of them, and the last thing she needed was to have her beetles go berserk and start trying to eat people because she provided them a little too much or too little chakra. I’ll save those for the real enemies. But for now, my kikai’ll have to do.

 

[DarkHydraT]

As Byukia requested a song, Sorano got up from the ground after putting her weapon back on her hip. Taking a deep breath, she put the pan flute up to her bottom lip and started to play. The tunes were not enhanced with chakra as Sorano knew better than to try and inflict a genjutsu on anyone hearing it, but it still sounded slightly ominous due to the low frequency of the notes. Normally the notes would be higher, but Sorano's instrument did not allow them to.

The song would last almost four minutes as Sorano had closed her eyes and was starting to really get into it, swaying her body along with the music. This was what she always wanted as a child, playing music and entertain people. However, life seemed to have different plans for her and made her a shinobi. That didn't mean that she couldn't still satisfy her inner child anymore, she just had less opportunities to do so.

 

[~Nilion~]

Sachi couldn’t help but shiver at the sight of bugs emitting from such a small, innocent-looking girl. He wanted to get as far away from her as possible, in all honesty, but for now he’d just have to suck it up. Those bugs were useful.
The Mud-Genin didn’t remain idle as his teammates went on the offensive; he was busy collecting the kunai he’d thrown at his Sensei earlier. After which, he quickly rumbled around through his back pouch to retrieve a paper bomb, which was then wrapped around the handle of his recovered weapon.

“Second try.”

The kunai was sent whizzing through air moments after Makoto and Shin’s attacks had been cast. Like earlier, this projectile was aimed to jam into the tree just few feet to right of Keito-Sensei, which also happened to be directly at the base of the tree branch he’d been standing on.
This time, however? It wasn’t a distraction. The moment the kunai made contact with the tree branch, it would detonate in an attempt to remove the perch Keito-Sensei had claimed.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito - Riverbank Training Grounds

Again lacking hesitation, the genin of Team 13 moved in synchronous action. Their jonin leader watched as closely as he could before his eyesight was once again cut off by the black mist of Makoto's genjutsu, and his hearing obstructed by the loud buzzing of Shin's kikaichu flying right toward him in full swarm. In doubt over his position, Keito knew he'd need to move fast. The Worm Sage prepared to make a flashy entrance, holding his right hand in front of his face and forming a two-finger hand seal.

Sachi's kunai whizzed through the air, its sharpened tip digging deep into the base of the tree branch that the jonin balanced on with a satisfying thunk! It was during the short hiss as the bomb set off, just before the big bad BOOM, that Keito made his move -- the Body Flicker Technique; a desperate measure called for by desperate times.

BOOM! The explosion rumbled the whole ground for just a moment as bark and branches and leaves went flying in any which way as disjointed debris. When the smoke cleared, the genin would see the remnants of a second puff of smoke, an empty space where Keito's branch had been - as well as a larger chunk blown out of the tree in general - but no sign of their jonin.

Keito had moved to even ground with Team 13, maybe about ten feet off to the group's left; with haste he bit into his thumb, smoothly weaving the boar, dog, rooster, monkey and ram hand seals. The jonin slammed his palm down on the soft riverbank ground, and called out, "Summoning Jutsu!"

The Great Worm Ubontobo erupted from the underground in another cloud of smoke and flying soil, the earthworm rising up almost forty feet high with Keito-sensei stood on its 'head'. Its long, slithering body - maybe thirty feet at its most stretched-out, weaving between some trees and dipping on end of itself into the river proper - shuddered, like the worm had awoken from a long nap. Although featureless, colored an earthy brown, Ubontobo had an air about him that oozed age and widsom, and a vague frustration.

"Why have you called me here, little worm?" Ubontobo didn't speak aloud, but the genin could understand the huge earthworm; they could even feel his sleepy annoyance with Keito-sensei.

"Apologies, Master," Keito bowed apologetically, as if he hadn't interrupted the sparring session with his own team for this, "I thought these three could handle it and I wanted to make things...interesting."

'We'll see...' Ubontobo harrumphed, and then:

The ground started to shake under the genins' feet as Ubontobo's body itself rumbled groaned, and then -- split. The huge earthworms' body divided; first into two worms, then ten, fifty, a hundred, two hundred and so on, until thousands of regular-sized worms cascaded down upon all of Team 13 like a rainstorm. Shin's kikaichu started to get knocked out of the sky by the force of the falling worms, or the ones who stayed in the air simply started to absorb too much chakra from what seemed to be an ever-growing number of worms that had spawned from the singular Ubontobo. The worms were heavy, and slimy, the more they accrued on the ground, the more they started to resemble a thick pit of obsidian black tar, waiting to drag the genin down into oblivion.

While he fell from the sky as well - his trajectory aimed just outside the range of the raining worms, so as not to step on any of his friends or family, guided away by their telepathic communications - Keito fretted about still having to release Makoto's genjutsu. At the same time, he bridled with an excitement he hadn't felt in quite some time indeed.

@Nilion @=Nightshade= @Pinch

 

[=Nightshade=]

As soon as Keito-sensei bit his thumb, Shin had a slight idea of what he was about to do. What she didn’t have an idea of, though, was that his summons would be none other than a giant worm. And not just any giant worm— a telepathic giant worm! Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she looked up at the huge worm. “That’s…” she began in a whisper, “so COOL!” she finished, almost squealing. If the standing upside-down had increased her respect by tenfold, it was inconsequential to the awe she felt now. It was then that she realized why his name had sounded so familiar; her parents had often talked about the Worm Sage, and he was well-liked among the Aburame, though Shin had never paid much attention to their conversations.

When the giant worm began to split into smaller worms, Shin shut her awestruck mouth and braced herself. She couldn’t let herself get distracted. The moment she noticed her kikai beginning to drop as worms knocked them from the sky, she started to recall them, deft hand motions trying to direct them around the falling worms. As the last few of them reentered her body, her breathing picked up. So much chakra. The air was saturated with it, practically vibrating. Her beetles were reacting to its density, and it took almost all of her control to continue feeding only the exact amount of chakra to the kidaichu that otherwise might begin to grow out of control.

Shin had lost about a quarter of her total kikai in the hail of worms, which would be inconsequential in a few hours once they had reproduced to fill the gaps, but for now, the number of regular kikai and kidaichu were almost equal. Gotta keep focus here. Even as worms continued to fall like raindrops, landing on her bare shoulder and head, she felt more than heard a high-pitched ringing at the back of her mind, and the colors she saw seemed to be overly saturated. Every inch of her wanted to move, bounce off trees like a little kid on a sugar high, insects buzzing overzealously. And she granted that desire gladly, as the worms on the ground were almost halfway up her shins, and felt like slimy quicksand trying to drag her down. Nope, not gonna happen. She pulled her feet free and used some of her remaining kikai to boost herself up and off the ground, and into a tree on the edge of the river.

The girl shook her head, sending worms and slime alike flying off her now worm-gelled, far-spikier-than-normal hair. She picked another off her shoulder and flung it back to the ground. Under normal circumstances, Shin wouldn’t have minded being covered in worms. Might’ve enjoyed it, actually. But she knew they had all been a part of that giant worm once, and didn’t want to take any chances. The worms were still falling where she was, but the few worms that fell through the branches and leaves above her either missed her completely, or were easily plucked from her body and tossed lightly back into the group of them, mostly unharmed. They were bugs after all, and she had a soft spot for bugs.

“I’d say look out for the worms but that seems pretty obvious,” she called down to the others as she idly flicked a new worm off her nose. We need to counterattack, but that also seems pretty obvious. It’s no help if I just keep stating the obvious. We need a plan. Also obvious. Only plan I can come up with is to jump in the river and go under… and do what? We can’t have any more than five minutes left. A wet squelch as a worm landed on her foot, and she shook it off. The ringing in her ears grew louder for a moment, making her wince, before the sensation eased. Frustrated, she lightly pounded her fist against the trunk of the tree… just in time for a worm to land on her forearm. She picked it up between thumb and forefinger and dropped it back on the rising tide of practically never ending worms. Think, dumbass. All you… no, all we gotta do is hit him once.

 

[Stadium]

Akumo Yama – 37th Training Ground
The ground began to quake and shudder. Loose rocks, and boulders rolled from their previously stable perches. Some fell where the Genin were, and would require them to take cover or dodge or risk being hurt in the rock slide. For several tens of seconds it was a cacophony of bellowing noise, the mountain itself seeming to groan as its roots were disturbed and reshaped. A winding staircase was hollowed out of the mountainside. A combination of actual steps and horizontal pillars emerged from the cliff faces, leading inexorably higher up the mountain and towards the peak.

The sun still stood above the horizon, but was casting a deep and red shadow across their side of the mountain.

Akumo sat cross-legged, his eyes closed and he focused entirely on breathing in the crisp air. The scent of steaming ramen coming from the bowl between his legs was familiar in ways few things were. The small restaurant selling it had been a fixture for almost two decades. Teuchi had come far since his half-price ramen, Yama mused. He hadn't been much older than the Genin when it was first thrust on him. "Hoooh..." The man opened his eyes and poked a narutomaki with his chopsticks. The fish bobbed up and down, "Kushina had mentioned wanting to name her child after this thing. Strange woman." He laughed, remembering the Hokage's late wife fondly.

Another trio of white bowls with a swirling red pattern, filled with ramen, stood on a flat rock. They all overlooked the sea of green, red, yellow from the forest the Genins had passed through. Despite all the horrible traps they had endured, it seemed untouched by the chaos caused by the Jonin's traps. And further in the distance lay Konoha. The faces of the previous Hokage hewn into the cliff which overlooked the village hidden in the leaf was visible even from here. Yet compared to the rest of the Land of Fire spreading out beyond the horizon to north, east, south, and west, it was a only a small part of their country. Though not insignificant as each of the ten thousand of lives, both civilians, like the Ramen shop owner, and ninja, like the Genin, could attest.

"This is yours to protect and care for now." Akumo said once he heard the Genin arriving, not turning around to face or greet them but simply waiting for them to join him or not. "The Land of Fire is one of the five great Shinobi nations so missions will also come from far away by those seeking our protection, but this will be your home."

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Byukia's maze...~

Little did the genin know, just a few paces away from them was one of Byukia's nonlethal dancing petal bombs. Ready to spray flower petals in all directions. The flower petals did no damage to the those involved though some of the flower petals would stick to the victims nearby. Byukia loved making the nonlethal traps as a sort of joke/prank.

~Byukia Katzuke...~

Byukia sat there quietly listening to Sorano's music. She sat there kicking her feet back and forth to the sound of the instrument. It was a nice pleasant tune which seemed perfect for the scenery there were at.

~Hisato Gato...~

"Watchooout!!" Hisato yelled. He ran to avoid the rock slide. He stood where he believed to be safe. He took a low defensive stance to brace himself for the just in case worse.

"Woooah! Look at that... Come on guys!" Hisato said pointing towards the stairs. He began running up the stairs and climbing atop the horizontal pillars. He felt the crisp breeze hit him. Once reaching the top he turned and saw Akumo Sensei. Akumo Sensei spoke to the group. Hisato saw the bowls, and ran over, "Sensei!" Hisato said sliding across the ground before looking over at Akumo Sensei, "Top of the peak! Team twelve iiis golden, baby" Hisato said holding the peace sign up at Akumo Sensei.

 

[Stadium]

Miko Rinha – Maze
While following behind the pair of boys and standing further away than them, the blind kunoichi was completely unprepared for the explosion. She stood directly in the shockwave's path, her fluttering sleeves and skirt were showered in pink and sticky sakura petals. There was a distinct pause before Miko nearly jumped out of her skin and sprung into action.

She rolled out of the way, pressing her back against one of the ivy-clad walls to at least shield one of her flanks. Calling on her energy reserves, she forced the flow to focus on the pressure points in her hands and expelling it into a pair of chakra scalpels. "Toko...," she took a heavy and deep breath, "...is Clover safe?"

 

[Gamingfan]

Four Leaf Clover
Clover once again followed behind his team, who appeared to hear something of interest again. Since he wasn't sure what they heard, he simply looked around as he walked, lagging behind slightly in doing so. Fortunately, this meant he was outside of the petal's range. It did startle him, though.
Clover took a step back, trying to see his team through the wall of pink.
" Are you guys okay?" He called out, forgetting he wouldn't hear a reply. The petals began settling, and he couldn't help snickering at the petal-covered Miko.
" Well, at least no one got hurt." he sighed, looking around for Toko.

Secret Uchiha
Zeren groaned as he climbed. How high was this stupid wall? With the gaps between climable platforms growing, he had to get inventive. By that, he meant stabbing his sword in the wall and using it as a platform, and pulling it back with chakra string. It wasted a fair amount of chakra, but it was that or ask his team for help. No thanks.
The wall groaned.
That's not good.
As if on command, rocks began falling. Zeren sighed, preparing himself. He could work with this.
Zeren leapt, grabbing onto the nearest rock. He couldn't attach himself to stuff using chakra like Hisato, but a strong grip worked just as well. Before he could lose too much height, Zeren pushed himself towards a falling rock above himself and reapeated his actions. He managed to raise himself higher until stairs suddenly materialized nearby. With a grunt, Zeren leap a final time and landed on the stairs. While constantly slamming into stone left his front with a fair number of bruises, Zeren's spirit seemed no worse for wear, as he actually grinned and cheered as he walked up.
" YE-HEAH! That's the stuff that gets the blood PUMPING! Golden Twelve or some such!"
He still had yet to get that down.

 

[Stadium]

Akumo Yama – 37th Training Ground
Akumo chuckled when he heard the spirited voices. The elder Jonin believed that enthusiasm was infectious and was glad this had proved the case her as well. He turned and craned his neck, his dark eyes sparkling when he laid them on the peace sign that Hisato made. So that was what kids did these days.

"All of you look awful." Inspecting the scrapes, torn clothes, and bruises they had gathered over their journey to the mountain. Although very much aware whose fault that was, he added, "I know an old grandmother who can mend your clothes. But eventually I'll expect you to be able to do so yourselves, if you can not do so already." He coughed and stopped himself from launching into explanation into maintenance of their ninja tools and gear.

"Tomorrow will be easier. I expect the Golden Team Twelve will be rescuing kittens. " D-Rank missions were poorly disguised odd-jobs rather than ninja work, but they helped establish team dynamics even if not actual teamwork in combat. Situation was somewhat different following the Nine-Tail's attack though. "Hooh... but I'll see what we can find."

Miko Rinha – Maze
The snickering told Miko all she needed to know. Turning her head to where she last heard Clover's voice, the twelve-year-old girl made another dirty grimace, but began relaxing. She made no motion to clean away the sakura petals covering her clothes, seemingly unaware of how she looked after she rose.

 

[Shikowara]

Momo Yoshi - 37th Training Ground, Mountains
Yoshi screamed as she did a shoulder roll out of the way of the falling rocks. Wasn't the best shoulder roll but hey, it got her out of the way.

She smiled as she saw the stairs, and rushed up them with her teammates. Happy to have finally reached the end. She wondered if--
She didn't have to wonder. Akumo was right there at the top of the stairs, talking to them. He seemed to look over the path they had walked, Konoha in the midst of it. This is awesome... She thought, looking at the view as well. She wasn't sure what to say to Akumo's speech. All she did was nod.

Yoshi chuckled as Akumo mentioned they looked awful. She had to admit, they were all a mess.
She only knew a bit of sewing, so she probably wouldn't be able to fix their clothes--

"Kittens?! I love kittens!" The moment she heard the word spoken, she burst out with happiness. She was actually quite excited for D-ranks. They were easy and usually fun.

Chishima Toko - Maze
As they flower petal trap activated, Toko jumped about a mile and rolled backwards, hitting a wall and his head. He let out a small grunt of pain.
He was too busy trying to figure out if he was bleeding or not to hear or answer Miko's question. Luckily she got it thanks to Clover's snickering.

He didn't want to stand up. His head wasn't bleeding but it was throbbing with pain. He clutched it as he just sat there in silence.

(Sorry that I haven't been posting. Stopped getting notifications.)

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Hisato Gato...~

Hisato looked over at Zeren, sticking his thumb up with a grin, "Yeeeeaah!" Hisato cheered. Hisato looked back at Akumo Sensei with a grin, "Please... I always look fabulous" Hisato said snapping his fingers.

Hisato looked at a rip on his vest, the hole was big enough that Hisato could poke his finger through, in fact he did.

"Kittens!" Hisato said. For some reason, Hisato assumed Kittens was slang for drug dealers. "Sounds like a plan!" Hisato said.

Hisato chuckled when Yoshi said she liked kittens.

~Byukia's maze...~

As the genin neared the end of the maze, a few fire mice scurried past them deeper in the maze. One of the fire mice let out some sparks as it ran past them. Near the exit was another one of Byukia's non-lethal dancing petals. After they got past that, the exit was within clear shot view.

 

[Pinch]

"Huh? Worms?"
Makoto was confused. He certainly wasn't expecting this. One of them landed on his back with an audible squelch and he shuddered. He had to make sure he didn't get caught up in all these worms, or else things would get bad really quickly.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!" He yelled as he weaved the necessary hand signs, releasing a volley of flames from his mouth at the worms already on the ground, in order to create an opening for everyone to escape from. When he was finished, he quickly dashed across the small opening to the cover of the trees and gestured for Sachi and Shin to follow.

"I have a plan!" He called out, hopefully loud enough so that his teammates could hear, but not Keito. "We need to try and coordinate to attack him all at once. If we hit him from every side, then he'll have nowhere to run. We need to move quickly, so I'm attacking regardless. If you're with me, move!" And with that, Makoto began making his way toward Keito fast. They had to do this before his Genjutsu wore off, so he wouldn't see them coming. He jumped and swung both of his kusarigama at Keito in an X, hoping to cut him off as much as he could.

 

[Stadium]

Miko Rinha – Maze
After shaking herself, Miko continued to walk though it didn't take long for her to notice the sudden silence of one set of bells. Taking another few seconds, noticed that the quieted silver chimes belonged to Toko. "Toko... I don't know where you are... are you hurt?" She did her best to summon the concern she felt for her friend in her soft voice. Her blind gaze swept over the crouching genin several times, unaware he was there. "Know you can't speak... bu–."

–One of the fire mice dodged between her feet, sending sparks against her sandaled and exposed feet. She cursed and stomped her feet to catch the skittering critter that had already run past her. Miko paid for her earlier excitement with a series of coughs. She raised one of her arms, shaking loose several of the pink petals as she hide her face behind her long sleeves. They sounded, and looked, rough. "T-toko...!"

 

[Gamingfan]

Four-Leaf Clover
After a bit of searching, he caught sight of Toko, who was gripping his head in what appeared to be pain.
"Dammit! Me and my big mouth..."
He hurriedly made his way towards Toko, looking over him before realizing he had no idea how to doctor.
Okay, Plan B. Call the actual medical expert.
"Miko! He's here, and I think Toko's hurt. Can you like...do something about that?" he requested that last part awkwardly. As far as he saw, there wasn't anything to heal, but Toko looked pained nonetheless.
He backed off, giving Miko and Toko space for...completely practical reasons that had nothing to do with more possible teasing, and began to look around, looking between passages for his gut to decide on.

Secret Uchiha
"Cats huh? Well...at least it'll be easy. Basically a day off." Zeren noted eagerly, still hopped up on adrenaline. "Better not go so easy on me next time though."
Although Zeren didn't view his teammates with completely scorn anymore, he still had yet to really consider himself as part of their little group yet. He still wanted to graduate as fast as possible, go off on his own, and...do...something.
Well....he'd figure it out eventually.

 

[~Nilion~]

Sachi was awestruck by the scale of the summon Keito-Sensei had produced. He couldn’t help but feel bringing forth a creature such as this was a bit much. How could they even begin to attack it?
Then, it burst.

“Awwww....”

Sachi let out a quiet cry of defeat as his whole body was slowly cloaked in an even layer of clear slime. The dried dirt smattered across his skin, hair, and clothes quickly began to soak up the moisture produced by the worm-storm. If he looked dirty before, it must’ve looked like he was sweating pure mud now. He’d have to clean off...

“Attack together? Sure. Isn’t that the idea?”

Sachi replied to Makoto, only half-joking. Keito-Sensei knew what he had just done. This was war now.

Securing hold of his staff firmly with both hands, the Nendo boy quickly stamped the hardened wooden pole straight down into the semi-firm earth in front of him. His staff now stood at attention on its own, revealing the weapon was nearly as tall as its user.

“Earth Style! Stone Warhammer!”

The Leaf Genin shouted proudly whilst carefully casting a long string get of handsigns. After gathering a fair amount of densely packed earth style chakra into his hands, Sachi quickly grabbed his Staff once more, allowing the energy to surge throughout his weapon.

“Ah, now that’s better. Hrg-“

As he ripped his weapon back out of the earth, it was revealed that a large chunk of rock, taking the shape of a cylindrical mallet-head, had come with it. Said mallet-head was etched with a, surprisingly intricate, tree bark pattern to compliment it polished wooden handle.
He quickly propped his newly revealed Stone Warhammer up on his left shoulder, and followed closely behind Makoto.

“I’ll hold off for just a moment and try to predict how he’s gonna react to Makoto and Shins attacks.”

 

[DarkHydraT]

Sorano kept playing her music, unaware of what Byukia was thinking or doing. It was just her, her instrument and the music that she created. The music would be able to be heard inside the maze, giving the genin inside a way to find an exit if need be. After a while, Sorano stopped playing and put her pan flute away, turning to Byukia as she signed. "What did you think, Katzuke-san?"

 

[=Nightshade=]

Shin blinked herself out of her thoughts at the sound of Makoto’s voice. Her insects were still vibrating within her body due to the excess of chakra in the air, but the sensation was easing. Her control, slowly but surely, was returning to normal. It was a good thing, too, considering Makoto had called out a simple plan that the Aburame girl was certainly on board with. She leaped off the tree branch she had been on a second before, using momentum to bound sideways off the trunk of another tree and up into a third. Wasting no time, she repeated the process, bouncing off tree trunks as she released a third of her remaining kikai. Her constant movement meant that any worms that landed on her were quickly flung off, and the number of them that even landed was reduced. She made a few hand motions as she leapt from tree to tree, directing the beetles to circle around Keito-sensei in an attempt to drive him towards the others.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito - Riverbank Training Grounds

The jonin landed with his left palm grazing the ground, his right hand once again making the hand seal for genjutsu release; that, however, was about as much time as he had before the members of Team 13 prepared and made their own counter assault. Though he'd been able to hear Makoto calling out their basic attack formation - what without Shin's kikai buzzing about his head - Keito still had to prioritize dealing with the Black Mist obstructing his vision first.

As the worm rain came to an abrupt conclusion, the fallen worms (unburnt by Makoto's flames) themselves tunneled into the earth with a carelessness: Makoto charged straight in at Keito with his kusanagi, while Shin sent out her chakra-sucking beetles to cut off the angles encircling the jonin. Sachi prepared a threatening, earth style warhammer in the meanwhile, hanging back to see how best to follow up from his teammate's attacks.

With nowhere else to go, the Worm Sage maintained the hand seal held in front of his face, Keito pushed his left palm further into the ground, shouting, "Worm Art: Furious Burrowing!"

Like a drill, the Worm Sage's body spiraled violently into the softened earth just as Makoto's kusanagi blades crossed together into their x-pattern, slicing through the air where Keito had been. Underground, he shot through the soil with the ease of a seasoned swimmer passing through water. And to think, when he was a genin, he'd considered Ubontobo's burrowing training useless. With a diver's grace, he emerged from the ground again on the opposite side of Makoto and Sachi, facing their backs.

In-all unscathed - for now - the sweat on Keito's brow had grown apparent. He'd used up a great deal of chakra to summon Ubontobo, and more for his Furious Burrowing technique -- far more than he'd initially expected to expend in a battle against a trio of genin. And the tricks up his sleeve grew fewer and farther between. With a tired pride, the Worm Sage prepared himself for what would likely be the final volley of attacks.

@Nilion @Pinch @=Nightshade=

 

[~Nilion~]

“Bad move!”

Sachi noted internally as his Sensei tunneled into the earth beneath everyone. He immediately rested his hammer in front of him and began weaving handsigns in hopes of trapping his Sensei in a slippery pit. Unfortunately, the Jonin was impossibly fast, even while underground, and quickly burst up from the earth directly behind Sachi. He couldn’t trap him on a hole...but maybe that didn’t matter.

“Mud Style! Quick Slick!”

Without missing a beat, he directed the chakra he’d gathered for the hole towards the ground behind himself instead, causing the earth Keito-Sensei was standing on to instantly turn to Slick.
This was different than the version he’d used on Makoto though; it was of a higher caliber. One couldn’t stand, crawl, or jump without their arms and legs sprawling out under them. It was far from impossible to escape, but it caused nearly anyone who entered to falter even for a brief moment.
That moment was the chance they needed.

“NOW!”

The Mud-Ninja had begun to feel the stress of casting repeated Jutsu, and knew he likely couldn’t prepare anymore ‘bright ideas’. This was it.
In one swift motion, Sachi grasped his hammer and spun on his heel, using the forward momentum to send the hammer careening over his head and right for Keito-Sensei. Just for good measure, Sachi pumped what little chakra he could into the end of the weapon, hoping that even if he missed, the shockwave from his impact would still connect.

 

[Stadium]

Akumo Yama – Day in a Life
A young child's bubbling laughter rang through the forest of the thirty-seventh testing ground. Then it sounded again. And a third time. "Think that is enough for today, or we'll scare away th wolves." Akumo caught his grandchild in the open palm of one of his large hands when she descended again, seeming to not notice the girl's weight as he held her up for an inspection. "Think you've grown at least two inches since last time. If you're not careful, you'll be as tall as me."

The girl grimaced and shifted uncomfortably in the hand before shaking her head. Her feet dangled in the air. "Rather be short like dad. Easier to sneak around." She couldn't reach his belt where he kept a few of his weapons, so instead held out and cupped her hands. "Wanna practice justu. They say its fine if it's with you."

Unable to even consider rejecting his granddaughter's request, Akumo shifted the elk carcass he carried in his other arm and reached for a set of shuriken. As soon as he placed them in the girl's hands, she immediately began testing their sharpness by pressing her fingers against the gleaming metal tips and drew blood.

"Doesn't taste good." She noted after sucking her finger clean before again becoming absorbed in the throwing stars. The first time she had tried it, his little granddaughter had bawled her eyes out and asked him to blow her 'boo-boo.' Akumo missed those days, she was already five and becoming more independent by the hour. And at six she'd enter the academy.

"I'm gonna hit that branch! Hey, grandpa! You heard it right!" Her technique could use practice as rather than sail and cut through the hair, the sharpened piece of metal wobbled and curved far off its intended path. "... I was distracted. It doesn't count!"

"Hooh...?" The girl tried to escape from the steady gaze her grandfather leveled at her. It was difficult, especially considering she sat perched on his hand. "Well, then let's clear ourselves of any distraction. Deep breath focus on the target in your mind. Know its hard, but push your chakra as far out into your arms as possible." His granddaughter nodded and followed her instructions.

"Think I'm ready?" It was less of a statement when she opened her eyes again and searched Akumo's inscrutable and dark eyes for confirmation. "Umm, then... IYAHH!" Her grunt almost instantly turned into a shout of joy as she traced the shuriken's path through the air, knowing it'd hit its intended target before it had left her hand.

And as Akumo passed the severed branch, reached down for it and handed the trophy to his victorious granddaughter. Apparently kenjutsu was next on her list of practice as she swung the branch around. She certainly had her preference about which shinobi disciplines she'd pursue. But he didn't have long to consider the topic as a set of yellow eyes were inspecting them.

In response, Akumo released some of the pressure of his chakra. Preferring to subdue through sheer force rather than violence. "Hooh... first time seeing Zeren ninjutsu work up close."

"Who is Zeren?"

"One of my genin student. He is part of the golden Team Twelve I told you about." Pride brimming in the Jonin's voice.

"Sounds stupid!" His granddaughter shot him down without mercy. "Rather you'd just teach me!" She pouted, completely ignoring the dangerous wolf and its companions that prowled along a side of the road. After throwing the carcass to them, Akumo patted her on her head. They were a roughed up bunch, including the alpha who had to endure Zeren's lightning release. But they were eager for their first meal in a while and despite their wounds tore into the dead beast. "Are we done now? I wanna meet the hokage. One day I'm gonna be an ANBU and protect him from all the bad ninjas."

"Hooh... I'm sure. But first we're gonna go into the pen and check the other animals before we release them. Some bunnies there I'll let you feed." Her expression brightened, sounding like a much better idea to the five-year-old.

 

[Pinch]

Thinking quickly after his attack missed, Makoto spun on his heel and leapt into the air while weaving hand signs. It was time to end this.

“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!” He yelled, spitting the fireball at Keito-sensei from an upward angle, just above where Sachi was.

Makoto hoped that an attack like this would be just enough to catch him off-guard, especially with the amount of chakra he seems to have expended. Not to mention his own, of which he had pretty much used it all.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito - Riverbank Training Ground

'Quick Slick, huh? I saw this before, but this certainly seems more useful than a child's prank.' Keito thought to himself, his feet suddenly caught up in a slipper muck of thick mud; while his students prepared their counter-attack, the jonin struggled to gather the correct amount of chakra to balance throughout his body, and in his feet. It allowed him to stand upright, but any attempt to move without further gathering and balancing chakra would result in a nasty fall, even further into the quick-slick-mud most likely -- and Keito didn't have the time:

Sachi hurled his formidable stone warhammer, and Makoto went over-top his teammate to unleash a Fireball Jutsu down on the Worm Sage. If he knew more about the special mud he was caught it, Keito might try to go underground once more, letting himself slip into the ground and burrow deeper. But was that in itself a trap? How much control did Sachi exert over the quick-slick-mud after he'd made it so?

Keito wove hand-signs and fought against a natural imbalance with proper chakra distribution through his body, moving to hunch over the ground and slam his palm into the normal earth a few feet in front of the area Sachi had effected with his jutsu.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" Keito shouted, the ground sprouting up in an earth-rumbling rush, trees and their leaves and even the water on the river trembling as the chakra-infused wall rose up to protect its caster. Though Keito himself had only spawned the wall, it was imbued with several dozen of the worms spawned from Ubontobo's division, who in turn infused Keito's wall with their chakra.

It withstood the might of Makoto's fire style, the worms' chakra-infusion aiding greatly in diminishing the jutsu's power; on top of that Makoto himself had cast multiple jutsu during their training, and likely had to be running on steam himself. However, the fire style struck the earth-wall just before Sachi's stone warhammer, weakening the wall's defenses and draining the smaller worms of their respective chakra.

Then the warhammer struck the wall with the might clash of stone on hardened earth; a thunderous crack! split through the air as the offensive force of the hammer met the defensive force of Keito's wall. Both began to split open at the source of their collision, when the chakra Sachi had infused in the tip of his warhammer pulsed with an extra power the jonin certainly hadn't expected. The warhammer's face pushed about an inch into the wall.

Keito squinted.

'Hmmm.' He thought, moments before part of the back of his earth-wall burst open, sending shards of stone shrapnel slicing past and into his body, as if he were being pricked by dozens of needles in the stomach, chest and arms.

For a tense second, silence filled the air again. Keito's wall still stood facing his students, who could see that Sachi and Makoto's attack had affected the defensive wall, but couldn't quite make out what happened on the other side. Even Shin wasn't sure, as she'd lost contact with the kikai she'd attached to Keito a while prior, without a hint of what had happened.

Then, Sachi's weapon dropped to the ground, and the wall rumbled back into the earth with a solemn speed. As it did, however, the genin of Team 13 could see where the warhammer had buried itself into the wall -- and where it had finally burst through on the other side. When the group could see the jonin of Team 13, they noticed he stood to his full height; they couldn't quite tell if he was frustrated, but there remained a certain amount of pride on his face -- specifically in the hint of a smile at the edges of his mouth.

Center mass of his body, they could see stone shrapnel embedded in the Leaf chunin vest he wore under his coat, as well as all the coat's tears and rips made by shrapnel that had nicked him but ultimately missed.

"Ow," The jonin said with a sheepish smile, scratching the side of his head with one hand while he moved the other to hold at his chest, "Next time I'll have to come up with something less painful for me. Anyway, would you believe me if I told you you've passed?"

@Nilion @Pinch @=Nightshade=