Ask to Join Naruto: One's Nindo

[jade421]

Yua had again been on the move the moment she tossed her kunai but it seemed that Tsuki had began to capitalize on the fact Yua repeated a tactic which the opposing kunoichi had been about to make her pay for. The sticky puddle that seemed to have a mind of its own seemed to catch her kunai as she has tossed it, and launched it back Yua's direction! Oh this is so not good! Yua had to act quickly and her answer was a quick set of hand signs as she decided to introduce a new weapon to this game. "Tameru Art: Poison Spit Jutsu!" Yua seemed to fire a purple wat of poison from her lips, poison mixed in her saliva with chakra as she used it to blast and coat the kunai away from her as it exploded in mid-air away from her and only the tail end of the shockwave bumped into the kunoichi. Yua groaned lightly, but the poison that surrounded it and distance she knocked it away from herself had mitigated the damage. Yua worked to catch her breath and once she had she then fired successive shots aimed for Tsuki herself. Yua had been fighting the strain of this battle and this recent burst from the kunai that nearly blew up in her face had not helped matters, but if she could land a poison blast Tsuki, if she could get her poison wad on her body she might be able to push the damage she had done to her kunoichi she might be able to push her past the brink of tolerance. Even if Tsuki blocked it with her ice whip or a kunai these blobs would burst on impact and she might not only contaminate her weapon but also spray on her for a desired effect.
She might be able to mask it better than me, but I know she's got a bit of poison in her system. All I need to do is expose her to a little more and she won't be able to to focus let alone fight. Just gotta try to tough it out till I can get her in a finishing position.

With a blade in hand Yua charged ahead, keeping an eye on the living sticky puddle but the goal seemed to be to follow up her poison shots as she tried to close the distance between herself and Tsuki while the latter had those projectiles to worry over.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui rolled her eyes theatrically as she dragged herself down the hall after Asahi. “Alas, no rest for those who seek greatness,” she proclaimed dramatically, fingers already searching for the ends of the bandages wrapped around her legs. “‘Tis our burden to bear.” She cast a good-natured grin over her shoulder before stumbling off in the direction Asahi had gone in, off-balance from a combination of bumps and bruises, lack of chakra, and the fact that she was half-bent over trying to unravel cloth that would be best taken off from a sitting position. “Well, us and the cat, now,” she added to herself with a breath of laughter.
(OOC: *sobs* I did it guys I posted)

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi slowed down once she noticed her victory was as clear as the water in the small pond before her. To her right was a small shelve to place your clothes and to the left a small place with a mirror and some buckets to fill up with water and wash yourself, including some hair wash and soap. She snickered while rushing to fill up a bucket with water, looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody was walking in.

Once the bucket was ready, she moved over quickly and stood by the side of the door, waiting for her victim. As soon as the first person stepped in, Asahi splashed the entire warm water she had gather in the bucket. "Gotcha!" She tossed the bucket to the side and rushed to start taking her clothes off as quickly as possible, tossing them over to the shelve and then jumping into the small pond. "Last one in is a Leaf Village Bum!"

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori couldn't bring himself to stop Keito. The boy was clearly in need of some time alone, and he shouldn't intervene with it. Watching Keito leave, the boy turned to face Tomiko. "It might be a good idea to keep an eye on him, I'll try and shadow him when I can. You just worry about recovering enough so that you can do your best in the next fight. Who knows? You might make it to Chunin rank based on your display, and we both know you kicked major ass in your fight with me." Forcing himself to flash a smile at Tomiko, the boy sat down on the bed. He really didn't want to keep talking about Keito's behavior, as it was bound to dampen the mood. "So, got any funky plans for the next match? Perhaps in need of some extra firepower? I'm already out, but there are no rules against helping your allies."

 

[=Nightshade=]

“Ack-!” Karui spluttered in surprise as she strode through a doorway just to be met with a faceful of warm water, thoroughly soaking her to the skin. “Oh, I’m gonna get you so bad—“ she blustered as she began to strip her now-waterlogged clothing and throwing them violently into a pile with the bandages she had managed to remove from her legs. When she was sufficiently bare, she took a running start before leaping, regardless of where she might land, into a tackle aimed to knock Asahi (and herself) under the water. She came up for air and shook her head like a wet dog, sending beads of water like tiny diamonds flying in shimmering arcs — half-hoping a couple wayward hair strands might get in someone’s eyes.

 

[Godjacob]

Tomiko sighed, but she felt Keito had to go to think about this. She only hoped that whatever path he came to, he'd be able to be at peace with himself. That had been a lot to grapple with and while Tomiko had not managed to sway him with her words she trusted he'd be able to find the answer he desired for himself. He had to. Her attention soon shifted to Mori as he seemed to agree Keito needed his space and tried to urge Tomiko to focus on her recover. Though the kunoichi tried to play it off with a light chuckle.

"Honestly most of the pain is gone now, I should be out of these bandages soon and ready to go if the doctor isn't ribbing me." Tomiko said as she tried to assure Mori not to worry about her. She made her way back to the bed and when asked if she had any plans for that Ame girl she had been set to take on in the next round, paused and rubbed her chin in thought.

"Well, being a water user she seems to use those canteen belts of hers to conserve chakra. If I can knock her scrolls away or disrupt her access to those canteens, she'd be forced to make water with her chakra and be more costly." Tomiko said, as she seemed to least have an idea for an attack plan.

---------
Azumi had finished gathering water in one of her canteen belts and sealed it back in her scroll. Satisfied that she had prepared her supply chain for the coming bout she prepared to move and just find a place to mentally prepare before the second round had began. She moved away from the fountain and figured she'd go watch one of the remaining bouts, though out of the corner of her eye she wondered if she had seen a familiar figure.

Is that...unsure, probably best I try to walk around.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

Indeed the young shinobi found himself a fountain; it wasn't the one he'd had his eye on, but that didn't bother him much—aside from wondering how many fountains there were in the Leaf village.

So many thoughts ran through Keito's mind, he felt like he'd taken too much food for his plate and couldn't stomach even half of it. He walked out into the open, down a stone path aligned a row of bushes that led toward the fountain; this one was adorned a lot more delicately than the last. It calmed him, just for a second. The world felt overwhelming—complicated, unforgiving, indecipherable; but there were moments of stillness, silence, an exquisite, natural beauty that he was almost unworthy to bear witness to.

When he laid his eyes on her, he almost didn't recognize her. A blissful smile spread across his face even as she seemed to recognize him in turn and moved to shuffle around him—an avoidant, embarrassed walk. Keito felt a warmness spread in his stomach. It took the genin a second to realize his stitches had opened ever-so slightly, and blood trickled out of the mostly-closed stab wound from his last fight.

'Okay Keito, keep it cool, Keito, you were sorta losing your shit before Keito but you're fine now, Keito. Just be cool, stay cool.' He told himself, even as a bit of color drained away from his face as he turned to look at Azumi.

"Oh. Hey," he said in a sheepish, cracking tone, his voice losing all its strength as his knees buckled beneath him. He'd pushed himself a bit too hard after the injury, just wandering the grounds as he'd been. Even as the young shinobi spoke, the ground rushed to meet him below. "You're the girl who stabbed me!"

Thud.

He fell on his side and let out a soft, pained groan, though quickly rolled onto his back, a wide grin on his face as his eyes gazed straight up.

"Wow," he said out loud, amazed by the sight. "Not a cloud in the sky. What a view."

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Sora-ku (Sept 26 5:35 am, Day after the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

Sagisō entered the bathroom last, still moving at a casual pace. She snickered when Karui got drenched by the bucket of water and carefully retreated two steps to avoid getting soaked herself. Furs molded easy; you know? And clothes molded easily too, especially when you left them in piles on the bathroom floor. “Nu-uh!”

Did they think her warning was a joke? Sagisō swiftly wove a set of hand seals and placed her palm onto the edge of the pool. In the blink of an eye, the water had grown impossibly heavy, rising into a globe-like prison intended to capture both her sisters. Replacing her hand with her foot. She continued to feed chakra into the water prison but her arms freed just enough so that she could cross them and really sell her look of parental reprimand.

Wordlessly, she pointed to the messy clothes the two had thrown asides.

“Neat. And. Folded.”

Another pair of hand seals flashed, and Sagisō chakra sunk by a fourth; the pond began to churn violently, and a sudden whirlpool arose from its depths. An application of the water fang, this sudden rotation forced the water to eject whatever was in it.

With her point made, Sagisō removed her own clothes, folded them, and then put them on the shelf. She threw another pointed look at Karui and Asahi, folding her arms once more and letting her feet patter against the ground in a notably impatient rhythm.

 

[Hecotoro]

"Again!" Asahi called out with a big grin on her face.

Sagiso must've just created the greatest bath game Asahi had ever played. She quickly ran back into the body of water, jumping in and ignoring her sister's instructions. Of course, she wanted to spin around again, not feeling any pain after hitting the wall, made the "punishment" feel completely the opposite. She sucked in enough water to fill up her cheeks, looking like a blind hamster and then shooting a string of water towards Sagiso.

"You should get in also and spin yourself, it's really fun!"

 

[sSoul]

Tsuki
Even though her opponent managed to come up with a way to mitigate the effects of Tsuki's counter, the knockback that the Suna kunoichi suffered from the ordeal made the exchange worth it. However, perhaps due to a lack of effort made to capitalize on what would happen after the fact, Yua was able to fire back with barrage of poisonous saliva. At this point, a trained eye would be capable of noticing the loss of stamina that the Yuki Princess was undergoing, heavy breaths and periodic coughing were key sources of evidence for this fact. Additionally, Tsuki could feel her ears pounding and her vision periodically becoming blurred. Despite this, she wasn't out of the fight yet, though she would be if she didn't make a move quickly.

I feared that this occasion would come, but it can't be helped.

Though her situation necessitated quick movement, it didn't require extensive movement, causing Tsuki to once again utilize the pushup maneuver to evade the first shot of poison. She slowly began getting up so she could keep a better eye on her opponent, but had to roll away from the subsequent shots of poison. Each roll had caused Tsuki to audibly wince in pain as she stressed her leg. By the time she rose to her feet, she had noticed that Yua was once again rushing at her, though this time, she was running straightforward rather than in an arc. Smirking at her opponent appearing to forfeit the match, Tsuki watched as the puddle of sticky water filled some of the space between the icy kunoichi and her advancing opponent. Meanwhile, the Yuki Princess swung her whip once again aiming for the wrist in hopes of disarming and injuring her opponent.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams (Sept 25, Day of the Exams)

Furījia​

A small frown tweaked Furījia’s lips; but, after a moment of internal struggle, she ultimately sighed and then closed her eyes. A single hand-seal to act as a focus and then the world around her was stretched into 360-degree high definition. With the various arenas not too far away from each other, Furījia could watch them all at virtually the same time.

“All the fights have ended...except for two...the ones with Sand Ninja in them.”

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Hm hm hmmm hm hmmm hm hm hmmm hm hmm hmm hm hmm hm hmm hm hmm hm hmm" Hisato hummed to himself for a few minutes nearly spaced out. Hisato was probably sitting there for a few minutes but it felt like weeks. Months. Possibly even a year pass. At least in Hisato's mind it felt like that. Hisato was uber bored. He looked around. Two matches continued to go. Hisato blinked then yawned.

"Sand ninjas. Funny that the sand ninjas are the last to finish their matches. It's almost as if they specialize in... putting people to sleep" Hisato said chuckling.

"They seem to be doing well I suppose. I mean... Like any other match at least. I hope your enthusiasm doesn't die out before these matches end" Hisato said looking over at Taiyo.

 

[=Nightshade=]

“Oof,” Karui grunted as she slammed against a wall, automatically righting herself into a position that would not injure her as she slid down to the ground. She picked herself up with a wry grin and made her way over to her pile of clothes, beginning to fold. “I deserved that.” She piled her clothes… neater than they were before, and off the ground, then reentered the pond, dipping beneath the steaming water like a crocodile with only her eyes showing, and idly blowing blowing bubbles, arms floating just beneath the surface. She emerged just enough to take in a breath through her mouth and say “Give me some advance notice if you’re going to do it again, I’d like to electrocute myself so I don’t feel anything,” she quipped, before ducking beneath the surface again.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Evidently it seemed that Furījia had realized that picking a fight then and there wasn't the best thing to do, which allowed Taiyo to feel a level of relief. The fiery shinobi raised an eyebrow at the comment that the Hyūga made, though out of intrigue rather than confusion.

So I guess this is the Byakugan in action, you can see things even with your eyes closed. Can't imagine why she'd close her eyes since I'm pretty sure they're broadcasting the fights, but its whatever.

Taiyo half-heartedly chuckled along with Hisato as the Mist-nin cracked a joke that he unfortunately didn't get. Still, it couldn't hurt to make his future opponent feel welcome and non-threatened by him.

"Eh, I dunno, I might fall asleep before we get our chance and you may just end up taking the fight," Taiyo chuckled before glancing at Furījia to ask a question, "Speaking of taking fights, are any of the fighters close to doing that?"

I can't imagine what's taking these people so long.

Well our fight was out of the norm, so I don't think its fair to judge others for taking their time.

Maybe...

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"A fight of endurance! A true test of ones determination. Who is more patient waiting for the perfect moment to land the killi- I mean winning blow! A very tedious mind numbing process... I digress. And bored" Hisato said responding to Taiyo's question for Furijia.

Hisato looked around to spot any other ninjas walking around or watching the fights. In despite of Hisato's boredom, this was a nice opportunity to rest up for his next fight. Hisato took a deep breath and paused before leaning against the rail and contemplating what he'd do if he passed the chunin exams. He'd need to get his chunin vest and flaunt it of course, but that was already obvious.

 

[jade421]

"Alright, this is now or never!" Yua seemed to show a rare smile as while her poison shots had failed to connect, but that had mattered not. Tsuki had worked her poison puddle between herself and her foe and as Tsuki shot her whip, as the puddle lunged to try and grasp her foot Yua had worked on her own rapid response! With the puddle in place and Tsuki committed to the attack, Yua had stuck her poison blade just ahead of herself and used it to pole vault over both the sticky grasp and the coming ice whip of Tsuki. Yua aimed to land behind her back! Course the sticky puddle likely claimed her poisoned blade as she placed it in its path, but that had been an acceptable penalty as now she had been able to move behind Tsuki and the blade acted as a shield for the puddle to grab instead of her leg.
"I would surrender if I was you."

Yua had prepared a kunai which, thanks to the poison off her palms, had been coated in her clan's signature infection as she had the tip of the kunai at the back of her foe; prepared to take a stab if she figured Tsuki would try anything. Yua seemed confident that at last, she had put herself in position for victory.

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Sora-ku (Sept 26 5:35 am, Day after the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

Some people could read a room, they had the social grace to pick up on a certain unspoken language and then act accordingly. Asahi was not some people. A twinge of annoyance brought a strained smile to Sagisō’s lips.

“Megami,” Sagisō smiled sweetly. “Fold your clothes neatly before you enter the bath.”

The Skillful Star didn’t immediately move to act again, it had already failed once so she decided to try a nicer approach. Her hands busied themselves with the locks of her hair: fingers sifting through and untangling the few knots she found. She turned to Asahi, watching expectantly as idly wrapped her hair into a large bundle.

In Hasa, disagreements were many, and depending on the severity of the disagreement there were many methods of settlement. The most direct was, of course, combat; she with might was in the right. Sweet, sensible Karui had likely sensed the upcoming conflict. As for Asahi...? Well, three strikes...

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi sunk in her spot, keeping her eyes out as she glared at Sagiso. She knew she had a choice to make. She either had to do what her sisters said or challenge her and start a fight. The decision was tough. Who was more fun? Angry Sagiso or a calm one? The hamster in Asahi's head ran at full speed on its wheel, trying to figure out a solution to the problem. Then again, she sorta did get them in trouble a few times already, maybe it was time to settle down.

"Okay." Asahi finally emerged from the water with a pout. "They're dirty anyways, I don't see the big deal." Her sassy remark was mumbled under her breath. "We should get new ones or something." She knelt down and began folding her clothes neatly before putting them on the shelve. "There, my dirt clothes are put away." Her happy attitude returned as she rushed back and jumped into the water. "Now hurry up if we're gonna wash that big hair of yours!"

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi sighed as the familiar voice of Keito spoke, it seemed her luck was not quite as fortunate as the Iwa Shinobi had crossed paths with her once more. If the awkward greeting line had been any indication, it seemed he was still in good spirits in spite of his injured state, and given how quickly he flopped on his face, he had been about as graceful since.

Azumi turned and saw the injured ninja as he seemed to fall over himself, she guessed that he still carried a soreness with him and his body had not agreed he was well enough to be out and about. With a moment of reluctance she turned to look down upon him.

"I think you should focus less on pick up lines, and more on picking yourself up." Azumi mused, as she none the less offered a hand to help him up. "Shocked they let you out of medical care in your state."

For a nation that had prided itself on medical innovation, this seemed like sloppy care at play. But she had no context for what Keito had been doing out so she presumed there was more to the story.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

"Who's picking whom up, here?" Keito observed, noting the situation as he took Azumi's generous hand with a firm grip. He found strength buried deep in his long, scrawny legs and pushed himself up to his full height, well above the height of the Ame kunoichi—and in close, but only for a split-second as he half-stumbled a step back as soon as he noticed. The Iwa genin shot Azumi a goofy grin, even as he pulled his hand back from hers to check the fresh blood leaking around the edges of his bandages. "I needed the fresh air. Besides, you've seen my summons—I think my standing up is other peoples' lying down."

Clearly the genin from the Hidden Rain was far from pleased to see him. But she could have just kept walking, not even bother offering him a hand back up. Part of him expected it—she'd been leaving his side with a grumpy threat last she'd seen him. Keito felt surprise at that, actually. Holding his hands up as if in surrender, he took another step back. Though not a lot, fresh blood trickled lightly down his fingers.

"I appreciate your help but," he turned to the fountain briefly, remembering he'd walked all that way just to sit by it. Still, he felt silly. "I shouldn't bother you any further. I was just looking for somewhere pleasant to rest a while."

Keito knelt to pick up his sakabatou, trying to hide the wince of pain on his face from Azumi, although he could hardly explain to himself why.

 

[Godjacob]

The two Kenjis had attempted to close in on the Iron Sand user, but as the lid threatened to close they used some improvisation to least ensure one of them avoided being caught. They snapped out of their Fang of Fang twisters and one Kenji used itself as a springboard which helped pushed the other as it managed to jump out before the dome roof closed but had left the other trapped inside.

Still, as the dome seemed to rumble a bit and an electric current shot through it, it seemed to show there was least a newfound weakening of the walls, so the Kenji inside seemed to scout an ideal spot as it had began to spin again, while the Kenji that escaped outside followed its nose and had began to circle the enclosure. Thankfully even in the smoke and chaos it had a trusted sense of smell and knew just where the opponent had fallen.

The Kenji that had punched the dome with its clawed hands seemed to wince, in spite of dealing an impressive amount of electric force it seemed the dome had not so much as crumbled as he hoped; but he had done damage though his hand seemed to bleed a bit as even with he electric coating the iron sand had cut into his palm some. However he had little time to dwell on its as his perceptive senses picked up on Mori's advance and the sound of sand as it seemed to slither his direction.

Kenji had been quick, using his speed as he jumped away before the iron sand could fully surround him. Quickly he dashed within the smoke as he tried to circle Mori while he still had the concealing element to his advantage, he had a kunai in hand and formed hand signs as he seemed to coat his kunai with an electric enhancement and used his nose to sniff out where his foe had been.

Kenji aimed to toss the kunai, as this weapon flew through the smoke with a crackle as his goal seemed simple; land a strike on Mori before he could prepare a defense. But in the event he'd raise some sand the kunai would discharge the electricity around it on impact and leave a shocking surprise.

---------
Azumi herself had managed to avoid giving a...strong reaction, when Keito had stumbled close to her, mostly focused on that question of why herself. Why had she stopped to help this guy? She had owed him nothing and given what trauma he had put her through she had every reason to leave him to stumble for himself.

Perhaps she figured this simply would be enough to make them "even" for the support he offered her post match, a way to put this behind her for good.

"Seems your enthusiasm hasn't taken a hit..." Azumi mused with dry sarcasm as he managed to get himself stable, though when he mentioned he just looked for a place to sit that had been pleasant she noticed his gaze shifted to the fountain and sighed as she had to settle one bit of curiosity.

"And you picked this spot, because?" Azumi asked Keito, as he seemed drawn to the fountain if his gaze had been any indication.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

Slipping the fallen sword back into the meager rope belt tied around his waist, Keito grabbed at his right shoulder and rotated his arm, stretching it as if he were just waking up and staggering out of bed. He was surprised - he had to admit to himself - that Azumi hadn't taken his free pass to disengage from the conversation, for him to retreat and be out of her hair. The Iwa shinobi wondered if any part of the kunoichi found herself feeling neutral to his presence—not enjoying it, per se, but not outright despising it, either. Maybe he'd call it progress, though toward what he could hardly even imagine; something about her pent-up rage made Keito want to scale it like a wall and see what was on the other side.

Foregoing formality in the wake of his weakening physique, Keito half-sat/half-dropped himself down onto the edge of the fountain; with a soft grunt of discomfort, he settled quickly. The genin's lips curled into a smile as he heard the fountain water spouting up with a serene whir.

"For some reason I saw one further away and thought to myself—people have hurt each other, cheated each other, lied and stolen from each other, waged war on each other...but we built roads, we built houses and markets, libraries and parks and fountains. The Leaf, the Stone, we sneer at each other, leaving raging, panicked pain in the wake of our rivalry—and still, there are fountains in Konoha. I can rest beside them and listen to the water spouting up and falling back down into the pool; I can take my hands and run them through the water, splash it on my face. Just like I do back home," Keito said with a sigh, looking up to the sky again, like he had when he'd fallen moments before. Though there hadn't been a cloud in sight then, he saw one now, threatening the sun as it shone. "I did not choose this fountain as much as I happened upon it. I do not say this to beg sympathy of you, as I know you've reason to have none to give. It's my truth—it's almost all I can think about. And in an odd twisting of the knife, fate placed you here as well. Whether as torment to you or I, well, I can't decide."

Right around the word torment, Keito shifted his head from sky-gazing so that his eyes could find Azumi again. He tried a smile, though he wasn't quite sure his mouth worked seamlessly in tandem with his brain, getting caught about half-way into a grin, leaving it looking tilted.

 

[sSoul]

Tsuki
Deja vu is often described as the feeling of familiarity within the events one is currently experiencing. It's often connotated with annoyance, as familiarity is known to breed contempt, especially when circumstances are unfavorable. Contempt, of course, was the primary emotion that the Yuki Princess felt welling up beneath her. Not for her opponent, but for the scenario that was thrust upon her. She had been in this situation before: an ultimatum with the options of surrender or lethal injury. If Deja vu were an immutable fact of life, then this would be where Tsuki would admit defeat or receive a stab wound in the back. However, she had other plans.

Not this time. I've failed myself once before by giving my opponent the power to determine the outcome of combat. No more.

Tsuki delivered a swift backwards elbow aimed at Yua's nose and eye. It wasn't the strongest attack, but it would be enough to disorient the Suna kunoichi long enough to allow Tsuki to escape the immediate range of the kunai. Standing around 7 meters away from her opponent, Tsuki wove a single hand seal and began spitting up a stream of water. Unlike before, the stream took shape, resulting in a watery copy of its source. The clone reached out to the puddle of sticky water that had caught Yua's blade,. The puddle once again loosened its viscosity so the watery kunoichi could grab and throw the weapon. Meanwhile, the original kunoichi began coughing, both because of the water she spat up and the poison in her systems. She eventually dropped to her knees and continued coughing, all while her clone stood by, doing nothing. In truth, the event was largely an act, as she used the cover she got from crouching to weave another set of seals. Tsuki hoped her opponent would take the bait or attempt to deal with the clone, but only time would tell.

Can't leave a job unfinished now, can you..?

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Sora-ku (Sept 26 5:35 am, Day after the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

Sagisō’s lips quirked upward as Asahi stepped out of the pool, dragging her feet but acquiescing all the same. The smirk held until she caught Asahi’s muttered remarks. What was the big deal? The question gathered tension between Sagisō’s brow but fickle as she was, Asahi had already moved onto another topic and Sagisō was more than happy to follow suit. Her shoulders sagged slightly, sinking to blow bubbles into the pond.

“We’ve got a few hours before we move out, so we can go shopping then but for now...”

The surface of the pond lurched as the water gathered in burbling clusters. In the matter of a few moments, dozens of small flowers had bloomed atop the pond’s surface. They each had four petals; petals that were a little too narrow, and a little too orthogonal—overall, they were misshapen little things, but still, they were recognizably flowers.

“Careful, they might be sharp.”

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Yeah, but it's gonna be a bad display if you rush out of those bandages, only for you to trip, fall and tear your skin. Even a mighty bonfire like you can't burn forever, eventually you run out of fuel. I'm not above knocking out a girl if it means that you take your rest." Mori said, shaking his fist before smiling at Tomiko. "In all seriousness though, take your rest. It would be a shame to win an explosive match versus me and then lose because you simply couldn't keep standing on your feet."

"An interesting tactic, but how do you plan on doing that? What if she creates water with her chakra and then just gets the canteens back? I guess you can have like an earth covering? Maybe emptying the canteens by impaling them somehow can work, unless she can just get the water from the ground. You're going to have quite a match coming up, and there's a big chance that she knows what you're capable of. Still, there's something she might not know. I've got some spare bottles lying around, and the tar I use is coal tar. If you try to extinguish the fire with a direct stream of water, you just dilute the tar and cause the fire to spread. It is easier to cover the fire with something that removes the oxygen or with water turned into fog to cool the area. If you're interested, just say the word." The boy said, checking his finger nails as to give Tomiko some time to consider his offer.

 

[jade421]

Yua sighed inwardly as it seemed Tsuki was gonna be defiant. With that, she would aim to stab at the fleshy part of her back but her efforts were in vain as just before she made contact a sudden elbow came and tried to strike her nose which stunned her as she took a step back and Tsuki used this to get away from her as Yua cursed at her missed chance. Needless to say as Yua wipped the blood off her nose there was a bit of frustration as she had not acted on her kunai quicker, but she could not dwell on that as Tsuki seemed to come with a clone that had taken her poison blade of all things while Tsuki seemed to have serious troubling breathing.
"Seems she is having some problems, but I can't account this not being a touch exaggerated."

Yua had to think of how to approach this, if Tsuki was vulnerable she needed to take advantage. But if Tsuki was selling her alignments to try and bait her in she'd be falling for a trap. So Yua decided that she'd need to strike in a way to hinter a possible counter attack, as she reached in her pouch and pulled a slip she dropped before her. The slip soon burst into a ray of blinding light, whether it stunned Tsuki's vision or forced her to divert her gaze to protect her eyes for even a moment, it gave Yua a chance to jump to the side in the blinding light as she fired what seemed to be a pair of poisoned kunai that had brushed against her palms which continued to release her clan's signature poison. Though hidden by the light, these kunai also seemed to have some wires attached to them as well as her aim was to likely try to stab and wrap the wire around Tsuki so she'd get the poison she brushed along the line onto her.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Hisato The Almighty Gato...~

Hisato hummed to himself. There wasn't anything to do. Though that wasn't gonna stop this shinobi from finding something. In the meantime, Hisato coudn't help but wonder how his two mist buddys were doing. Hisato knew Tsuki would be just fine, but he wasn't so sure about Kiro. Hisato leaned against the rail and continued to hum to himself. Occasionally tapping his fingernails against the rail to make more little sounds.

~Some sand ninja...~

Somewhere in the stands, a sand ninja named Lin Arasaka was casually sitting in the stands. She had just made her way to the other side of the stadium after the 6th person she spoke to declined her offer to give them prosthetic limbs. Lin sat in the stands, watching her teammates that still had not finished yet.

"Of course my teammates would be the last to finish their matches... I bet their matches would be over by now if they had better arms, but nooOOOooOoo NooOooOOoo LiiiIIiiiiiIin. That soOounds LiIike a bad Ideeea. smh. Nobody wants thaAat. Hmph!" Lin muttered to herself. The people sitting near her had slowly scooted away. Though Lin ignored this and looked down to the matches. At least Yua's match was somewhat interesting.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams (Sept 25, Day of the Exams)

Furījia​

The chakra in her body slowed to a trickle, then a crawl; the veins on her face shrunk away, and vibrant blue filled her irises. Furījiia threw an impassive gaze towards the direction of the ongoing battles. She’d spent so much effort on securing permission to view these exams and the fights they displayed were merely...sub-par. It was almost as if the combatants were locked in games of invisible 4D shogi, requiring an eternity of time between each move. BOOOORING!

“Hey...” A(n) impish grin magnanimous smile split the heiress's lips as her eyes lingered on Hisato. This...might work.

“You said you wanted to see the other contestants, right? Want to meet one right now?”

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
As if to break the miasma of silence that had fallen between them, Furījia piped up with a suggestion: meeting another combatant. It wouldn't be the worst idea, considering that Taiyo could be meeting a future opponent and could learn about their temperament.

"Sure, I don't mind. I should probably stretch my legs a bit after all this standing. And a change of scenery couldn't hurt either," To compliment his compliance, Taiyo began stretching his legs while looking around at the room he was in, trying to absorb these surroundings for the last time. On the way he noticed Hisato's bored taps of the railing and a faint humming.

Feels like I've heard that tune somewhere...

Probably not, all humming kinda sounds the same so it's hard to really know for sure.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Hisato stopped humming when he heard Furijiah's voice.

"Contestant? What contestant? Where contestant? Sounds promising... You may have my attention. Go on?" Hisato said excitedly not blinking for a moment as he stood there curiously wondering who she meant. Part of him believed it to be a mere joke, as it were possible she were referring to Taiyo, to whom he already met.

He turned towards Taiyo, "Great! That's both of us!" Hisato said.

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi looked at the shiny flowers floating on the surface. She couldn't help but to poke one, which ended in a small cut. So they really were sharp. She sucked the blood on her index finger and pretended it never happened, looking away as if she had been looking in the direction the entire time. After a few moments, when she thought she had managed to deceived her sisters and the cut was no longer bleeding, she moved over to her sister Sagiso.

"Okay, now to face one of the worst challenges we have ever faced." Asahi took a deep breath as she reached out her hands towards her sister. "Karui, you grab her, I'll handle the beast!" She grabbed a brush that was near the end of the small pool and began trying to brush Sagiso's hair, the brush getting stuck every first or second stroke. "We will defeat you!"

 

[DemonicHoneyBun]

Kaito sat at his usual fishing spot waiting for a bite on his fishing rod. “Today is pretty boring. I mean the chunin exam are going on which is pretty exciting but I wish I could’ve been in those fights.” He says as he loudly sighs in frustration. He feels a tug on his fishing rod and immediately pulls on it.

“Finally, I was starting to think the fish were asleep today!” He tugs one last time and the fish becomes airborne. Kaito grabs a kunai from his pouch and tosses it at the fish, which then slams it into a tree. He walks up to the tree and takes the kunai out of the tree and grabs the fish. “Your gonna taste delicious once I grill you. Maybe I can even try adding some sauce and spices as well.” His mouth begins to water just thinking about how it’s gonna taste. He packs up his stuff and begins walking back to his house while happily whistling to himself.

 

[sSoul]

Tsuki
It didn't take long for the Yuki Princess to finish her hand seals, which proved advantageous in reference to Yua's next actions. Though Tsuki noticed the slip coming her way, she couldn't prevent what came next. All the icy kunoichi could do was divert her gaze downward and close her eyes as the projectile released a burst of light, with her clone following suit. Though vision was temporarily out of the equation, their hearing was not disabled, so when they heard the sound of a poisoned kunai flying through the air, both were able to avoid the wired daggers that were aimed in their direction. Ever since she had diverted her gaze to avoid the slip, Tsuki's hand seals were finished, but she needed to get in range to release the jutsu.

It's time to take a risk. Fortune favors the bold...

The Yuki-nin and her clone opened their eyes and rushed towards their opponent. The clone took the lead and intended to fight Yua up close, while the original lagged about 3 meters(3.3 feet) behind her watery counterpart to look for an opening in the Suna kunoichi's defense. The water clone would open with a punch aimed at the eye, hoping to succeed where her opponent had failed in disabling her vision.

I can't remember the last time I've fought at close range, and considering that my opponent has been hellbent on closing the distance between us, my clone will be at a disadvantage. However, I don't need to win a brawl, I just need her to get sloppy once...

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Sora-ku (Sept 26 6:35 am, Day after the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

The Skillful Star stretched throwing her hands high and rising to the balls of her feet, she let out a groggy yawn and shielded her eyes from the still-rising sun. Her hair was a poofy mess, curtesy of Asahi and Sagisō hadn’t bothered to try taming it and simply wore it as a wild mane.

“Alright, we’ve got thirty minutes”—that was a lie, they actually had an hour but Asahi was bound to forget—“do all the shopping you need then we’ll meet back here.”

Sagisō clapped twice, signaling that they were dismissed, and then waved her sister adieu. Her next stop was the weapons shop, her arsenal needed replenishing and maybe, if she was lucky, she’d find a few new toys.

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams (Sept 25, Day of the Exams)

Furījia​

The heiress suppressed a smile and the giddy thrill of success; she was putting her most recent lesson to more practical use—dangle what they wanted in front of them, that was how you guided people—mother would be proud.

Furījia led the way and a few twists and turns later, the trio arrived at a fountain between arenas, where Azumi and Keito stood. “That’s them.” She gestured at the flirting pair, then turned her gaze to another direction and pointed inside the nearest arena. “There’s another one over there, but he looks moody. Might be your friend, he’s wearing a Mist headband.”

 

[Hecotoro]

"Yes captain my captain!" Asahi saluted her sister with a big grin and waited for her to start walking away before shooting Karui a mischievous smile. "Me and Kas are gonna get lots of goodies, don't tell Riceball and I'll save you some." She gave a short wave of her hand before running off down the street.

"Have you considered new clothes? Those seem really dirty." Kas said while walking next to Asahi and looking up at her.

"But, we need to get goodies first. Sagiso never buys goodies all she cares are about weapons and stuff, Meow." Asahi placed her hands behind her head as she looked at the different shops they walked by.

"Maybe because she doesn't want to die? You're a ninja, you're supposed to be ready for everything, not just snacks."

Asahi stopped and looked down at her cat partner while placing her hands on her hips. "Kas! You're right, I can't believe I never noticed that, meow."

Kas was bedazzled by Asahi's reaction while the young Hasa girl walked towards an armor shop. After a few seconds of thinking how she had managed to get through the jinchuriki's head. The young feline quickly caught up to her human partner, joining her in the clothes section.

"I need new clothes right? Then new weapons? I did lose my chakrams, which was a bummer. Maybe I should change it up? They keep getting lost easily." Asahi began going through the clothes, a little disappointed they didn't have any bright colors. "Black, gray or blue?"

Kasu jumped up on the shelf, still having a hard time believing Asahi was taking her advice. "Let's try new options, maybe a new style?"

Asahi's eyes brightened up. "Yes!"

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
After following Furījia for an variable length of time, Taiyo found himself at a fountain where the Hyūga pointed out her targets to the fiery shinobi. Though he glanced at the other person she was talking about, the Leaf-nin was more focused on the two speaking at the fountain. Well, one of the two, the kunoichi was a complete stranger, but the person she happened to be talking to was someone that Taiyo was well acquainted with.

That's Keito, though he's definitely had better days.

I dunno about that one. With the way he's looking at that girl over there, it seems like he's having the best day of his life.

"I know one of the people at the fountain, if it's all the same to you I'm gonna check up on him." Taiyo told Furījia before carefully approaching the other shinobi, as if a wrong step would loosen one of Keito's stiches. The fiery shinobi was aware that the Hyūga could've planned on approaching as a group, he felt like it'd just be easier to talk to the guy himself.

"Hey Keito, I don't mean to interrupt this moment but I just wanted to make sure you're alright." The fiery shinobi sounded uncertain yet concerned, hoping that the Iwa shinobi wouldn't mistake his attempt at compassion for condemnation and lash out at him in response. He also avoided eye contact with the girl, though he found his eyes darting off course and noticing her forehead guard.

That's a new one...wonder where she got it?

Why don't we ask?

Doesn't seem like a good question to ask in my opinion.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui ran a hand through her hair, frowning when it caught on a tangle and tugged at it irritably. Her hair was getting longer again; she’d have to find something to secure it with fairly soon, or else it would end up like a shorter version of Sagiso’s head bush. She pulled fruitlessly at her tangled locks a few more times before giving up, standing and stretching luxuriously. Sleepily waving at Sagiso as she departed, Karui blinked at Asahi’s words, then gave a lopsided smile. “Make sure to get a variety, too much of the same thing and we might get sick of it,” she said good-humoredly.

Left alone, Karui looked down at herself, noting the sorry condition her clothes were in and the lack of kunai and shuriken in her very beat-up weapons pouch. The bandages that usually wound around her legs and feet had been disposed of, thoroughly mired with blood and grime. It was definitely time for a change of wardrobe, and a refresh of weapons supplies. She made sure her khopesh was securely tied at her side before making another idle tug at her hair and heading out, searching the streets and window displays for something that caught her interest.

 

[jade421]

Yua missed her attack but she was not discouraged, in truth when Tsuki charged back at her she was inwardly pleased as she decided to take advantage of the wires she had wrapped around her poisoned kunai. She tilted her wrist and had the wire shift the kunai so that rather than fly away on their forward trajectory, they would be pulled around and come towards Yua and her clone's back. If she could get one of the kunai to stab at the real Tsuki before she could hit her with whatever technique she had planned victory could still be well within her grasp.
"Just gotta keep focused and can't let her get a big blow over me!"

Yua tugged at the patch she had on her shoulder wound as she tighten in while she moved back but the clone came at her as it aimed to strike with a punch aimed for her eye. Yua had felt confident in her Taijutsu given her style so it was easy enough for her to shift her side to avoid the blow as she extended her leg out to deliver a hard kick to the clone's gut. If she could burst the clone with the kick she aimed to hope back to keep distance between herself and the real Tsuki.
"She seems quite determined to win, but so am I and I won't give her anything. I am advancing to the next round no matter what!

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Sora-ku (Sept 26 6:35 am, Day after the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

Sagisō proceeded to go on a shopping spree, hitting every weapon store in sight. Twenty-five minutes later she had bought flares, rigged fumas, additional wires, smoke bombs, paper bombs, smoke tags, flashbangs, kunai, shuriken, senbon, makibishi, 2 kunai blades, 2 standard chakra blades, 2 large water scrolls, one weapon scroll to hold it all and then—thinking it better to learn to fish rather than be given a fish—one booklet on the fundamentals of the enclosing technique and other script-based jutsu.

To say Sagisō had bought a lot would be an understatement, an appropriate statement was that she was a walking arsenal. However, the Skillful star wasn’t willing to stop at that. With a few minutes to spare, Sagisō decided to look into a new wardrobe; one that would, to put it nicely, be more complementary to her style and, to put it bluntly, allow her to weaponize her clothing.

She mentally reviewed her fights throughout the chunin exams, focusing on her encounters with Bao and Kiro. Her fighting style was obviously one that favored close-to-mid-range combat, pairing her mobility with projectile attacks to frisk her opponents and defending with her chakra-enhanced hair.

Her fight with Bao revealed, in her own self-analysis, two weaknesses; one, she couldn’t defend adequately against swift, sudden frontal assaults—his high-speed kunai volley near the start of their fight had rendered her defense obsolete; and two, she didn’t have the necessary control needed to attack and defend simultaneously with her hair. This was evidenced by the nasty stab wound she’d received during her clash with Bao.

So her first issue was to get something that could handle frontal assaults.

The fight with Kiro, however, didn’t reveal a defensive weakness, but an offensive one. She felt that her offensive capabilities at mid-range were lacking as her opponent had been able to brush aside her every offensive until she closed the distance with a sneak attack.

So her second issue was finding a way to add more pressure to her mid-range offense.

To solve her first problem, Sagisō applied very simple solutions. The first was vambraces; she avoided clunky materials like steel in favor of a more organic design that had seemingly been cut from scales. They came as a set of four and strapped right onto her forearms and shins. The second of her solutions was to...move her hair in front of her. She selected a high-neck, shoulder-less top and had cloth loops added through which she could strand of her hair, allowing it to fall messily over her chest.

With that done, Sagisō moved on to her second solution a mid-ranged weapon. Here she took inspiration from some weapons she’d seen and Karui’s bandages. She attached to her vambraces a jōhyō-like contraption, using thicker cloth straps with wires sewn in to replace the rope and a metal dart to act as the weighted head. She equipped this contraption with a loaded spring similar to the ones utilized in concealed kunai holders, it would allow her to quickly reel in the dart after it had been cast. It would take some practice before she was proficient with it, but her mind was already cooking up applications of her new weapon.

For a moment Sagisō considered specializing in the Jōhyō or rope-dart, however, she decided against it. It was good but her star weapon would demand even more.

To complete her new look, Sagisō added a skirt-short with skirt-slits at its sides. She shifted her ninja to her waist, keeping it behind her and largely concealed, and then added two thigh-based weapon holsters, one for each leg.

Satisfied with the improvements she’d made, Sagisō set out to catch up with her sisters. While she strolled through the streets she pulled out her booklet and began to read.

Chapter 1: Technique Formulae, Kanji, and Symbols...

 

[DemonicHoneyBun]

Kaito walked through the streets of Konoha happy about how much fish he caught. He still planned to watch the exams but he wanted to put all of his fishing equipment back at his house, just so he knew it wouldn’t get stolen.

“Today was quite enjoyable, now all I gotta do is put my basket of fish and my fishing pole in my house and then I can watch the exams. I should probably hurry though, don’t wanna miss those battles.”

He closed his eyes and began to whistle to himself again as he quickly began to jog home.