Ask to Join Naruto: One's Nindo

[Grand Master Koop]

Hearing a new voice appear, Shiho turned her head around to find a big back wall flying at her coated in the Starch Syrup she had shot earlier. "Whoa!" Thinking fast, Shiho coated her feet in chakra before leaping towards the Iron Sand Wall. Using it as a platform, Shiho jumped off it to get herself higher up the tree with a few handsprings. Now perched up on a higher point of the tree, Shiho observed the situation with a confused look. "The Sand Shinobi, I thought they were going to help us. Damn now we're very outnumbered, what to do." Shiho though. "Well at least Raiku is still with me, if we work together there is still a chance we might get out of th-" As the thought crossed her mind, she heard a popping sound before looking up to see that Raiku was gone. "Oh."

Now alone against odds heavily against her, Shiho was left with two choices: follow her teammate's example and leave or stay and fight her way to her objective against all odds. Shiho's brows furrowed. "You know what, I'm seeing this through now matter how many of you try to stop me." She shouted. Seeing Karui charge at her again, Shiho began to handspring her way up the tree trunk, launching a wave of chakra at the bug girl with every spin as both an attack and a means of propulsion.

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi used her air to push herself away from the flames left behind by Raiku and the poisonous mist the new ninja had left then landed safely on a branch. She watched as Karui fought that one girl from before. Asahi watched them closely until she noticed Shiho's eyes. Asahi's heart dropped, along with her Byakugan being turned off. She understood what Karui was doing now. She began to feel pressured by the incoming mist, specially since she couldn't see it anymore and decided it was best to leave her spot.

The Hasa girl realized she needed to get her sisters to safety. She noticed the girl she ran into before back at the registration site. She wasn't going to attack someone who had helped her earlier. With that in mind Asahi took advantage of Shiho's distraction and left a clone in her place as she jumped off to the side and rocketed towards Karui using her air, inspired by Raiku's movements. Asahi arrived after some weird looking boy was talking to Karui. Not caring for his safety, she rushed into the scene and tackled the boy out of the way.

"Notimetoexplainwegottago!" Asahi explained as calm as possible as she grabbed Karui's hand and blasted them away as much as possible. "Flyustosagisoquicklyandletsgooooo!" Asahi made sure they landed safely on the ground and began jumping up and down waiting for Karui to continue their escape.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui took all of two seconds to register what had happened, then her grip tightened around Asahi’s hand and the wings emerged again, humming low and loud. The moment they touched the ground they were off again, made nearly weightless by the vibrations of the wind chakra on their way to Sagiso. “Come, we must go,” she shouted calmly to be heard over the buzzing of her wings, free hand outstretched. It was more of an invitation than anything; Sagiso was fast enough to keep up without Karui’s help, but she could carry the both of them with little extra effort.

Whatever decision Sagiso made, the next second Karui turned tail and shot off into the forest through a small gap in the flames, away from the fight. She had to admit that she did feel just a little guilty leaving the Sand shinobi who had made the idiotic decision to turn against their natural allies to help them. Hopefully they were strong enough not to die and smart enough to run if need be. But Karui did allow herself to release a wisp of chakra that formed vaguely into the shape of a wasp and headed for the sand boy— not enough to actually do anything, but enough for anyone else to get an impression of her presence, so their… “allies”… wouldn’t attack him and their enemies… well, it didn’t matter what their enemies did if the boy was as strong as he seemed to think he was. As far as Karu could tell he had an ego the size of the village he came from.

The medical nin didn’t check to see if they were being followed. If anyone was dumb enough to follow them alone, it would surely be to their death.

 

[Godjacob]

"Earth Style: Pillar Force Jutsu!"
​

No sooner had Mori and Tomiclone sprung their trap than had the real Iwa-kunoichi sprung into action. Appearing out of the foliage she and Mori had taken refuge in as she grinned and slammed her gauntlet down on the ground before the charging Ashima; the ground cracked from the force of the punch, but more importantly a slab of earth rose as a small pillar shot forward which caused Ashima to widen her eyes as she was struck in the gut as Ashima cried out and was launched back a few feet though she had managed to land on her feet.

"Gggg...d-damn...." Ashima cursed, but she had no time to dwell on that as Tomiko charged her way as both kunoichi exchanged hand signs in this determined faceoff.

"Ninja Art: Grass Shiruken Jutsu!"

"Earth Style: Stone Slab Jutsu!"

As Tomiko slammed her palm down on the ground, grass around their area seemed to rise from the ground and the blades of the grass sharpened as Ashima fired them like projectiles as they zoomed toward Tomiko, but a slab of rock rose from the ground she had slammed her palm on as it formed a small rock wall and it blocked the sharpened blades of grass they they had, and just before Ashima could prepare another offensive, Tomiko slammed her gauntlets together and prepared her own counter attack.

"Eat this!" Tomiko yelled after she struck the back of her own stone slab, and the gauntlets she had were able to smash through the stones which launched smaller rocks Ashima's way which caused the Kusa-Genin to widen as she jumped to avoid it as Tomiko flung broken rock after broken rock her way which had kept Ashima on the run.

Eugo in turn seemed to have more luck with Tomiclone, as while the clone managed to get into position before it had a chance to pull a weapon and stall Eugo had moved in to knock her aside. That itself was a bit of an understatement, as a slab of rock rose up from him and slammed into the clone as it coughed out before it broke apart into a pile of mud, dirt and rocks which seemed to only annoy the grass ninja as like his partner he became a touch too single focused.

"Damn dumb clone..." Eugo mused, though as he prepared to move he seemed in prime position for another ambush from the third member of the team...

@EnviousWorm @DarkHydraT

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

With a flip, Sagisō and Suigisō switched trees as they were pestered by a Leaf shinobi. The virago wasn't opposed to swatting a fly that had grown far too bold, but her attention was arrested by the sound of Karui's voice as she uttered a single word—Hyūga. Senses snapping in every which direction, Sagisō attempted—with some success—to capture everything that was going on.

Her vantage point allowed a good overview of the battle; but, the need to keep moving compounded the confusion produced by the melee maelstrom. Flames burned fiercely through the undergrowth and the wind wailed as attacks tore through it, the forest was in agony. Sagisō spotted her sisters keeping an eye on them as they battled until they joined up for a hasty retreat. That was her cue.

Sagisō and Suigisō leaped into the air, and the latter was tagged with several paper bombs as they intersected. The suicide bombing clone rushed into the midst of the melee, positioning herself between the retreating Hasa and the battlefield they were leaving behind. While the paper bombs sizzled on the verge of detonation, Sagisō raced after Karui. Moments later a defeating BOOM covered the viragos' retreat.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shiho was finally getting close to the top of the tree when from the corner of her eye, she saw Asahi jump down towards the Karui. "Hey where are you going?" She yelled. The girl watched as her pursuer and target more decided to flee. " What are you guys doing?" She yelled again, very confused about the actions of the Hasa girls.

Before she could fully process everything, a water clone suddenly ran in strapped with paper bombs. Moving quickly, Shiho rotated to the other side of the tree trunk to shield herself from the explosion. "What is going on with them? All I want to do is ask simple question." Climbing onto a branch pointing towards the fleeing Hasa Shinobi, Shiho was determined to see her objective through. With a running start, Shiho jumped off the branch while weaving hand signs. Taking a deep breath, the girl exhaled a wave of bubbles from her mouth which formed a path in front of her. "Here I come!" She shouted internally as she ran on her bubble bridge towards the trio of fleeing shinobi.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

One would think that a swift vacation combined with a scorched-earth style bombing of their path of retreat, would've spelled out a clear message—'don't follow.' Unfortunately, no matter how many signs were put up to discourage action, it wouldn't stop people who simply couldn't read.

"Someone's on our heels," Shiho's persistence had earned her the team's attention, and then, it's ire. "get ready to take them down."

Sagisō threw a water-shuriken forward, creating a wall-like film of water between the trees—another water trampoline, nearly invisible in the forest lighting. She speed ahead and plunged into the film of water which began to show its preternatural resilience, even at full speed, the girl couldn't tear through it with blunt force. Instead, the water distended as Sagisō slowed, the water acting with a rubber-like elasticity as energy was distributed among the connected tree-branched.

The result was a makeshift slingshot that Sagisō used to change directions. In nearly an instant she was rocketing towards Shiho at nearly twice her normal speed. It might've seemed like a reckless charge, what with the lack of maneuverability and the many obstructions in the forest biome, but her solution to these was simple. She curled into a ball wrapped in hair, hair that she'd been refilling with chakra while her 'slingshot' had been charging. Fashioning her hair into a spikey exterior, Sagisō became a human-sized morning star, shredding branches and gouging tree trunks as she moved on a high-speed collision course with Shiho.

@Grand Master Koop

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
As expected, Taiyo had managed to grab the attention of the water-using kunoichi. Although the kunoichi seemed uninterested in attempting to flex her dominance, he did manage to kindle the tree, which remained unextinguished from the water user. However, that would have to wait until later, given that he noticed the explosion that was set off, culminating in Raiku's teammate flying out of the collision towards a nearby tree branch. This kunoichi seemed to be chasing someone, though Taiyo was unsure of who and why. Shrugging, he decided to follow after the Hyūga, not necessarily to assist her, but more to find out the motives of both parties. As he was approaching the chase, he realized that there was a spiked ball was careening towards Shiho and neither seemed to show a sign of stopping. He wanted to shout a warning, but the words of his master echoed in his ears.

"Shouting 'look out' is often more distracting than helpful"

Reluctantly heeding his master's advice, Taiyo firmed his stance on the branch he was standing on before leaping ahead. He was aiming to essentially tackle Shiho from behind to get her out of the way.

Can't believe I'm doing this right now...

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi let go off Karui as she heard Sagiso's words, landing on a nearby tree branch and watched as her sister lunged herself towards the one chasing them. To her surprise, it was the same Hyuga that had caused them to flee from the seen, making sure she didn't have her Byakugan on, Asahi prepared her last three shuriken. Before throwing them however, she noticed a second shinobi had joined the battle, starting to feel annoyed and taking a more serious look, Asahi combined her Buddah's Palm technique with her weapons, using the wind pressure to speed boost her ninja stars as she rapidly threw them one after another towards Taiyo.

"Cottonball!" She called out Karui, "Stay safe, in case things get worse we need you well and alive."

She quickly made quick hand signals before making a fist and putting it up to her mouth, "Buddah's Breeze!", she blew into her fist and a strong thin line of pressured wind came out the other side, going after Taiyo also. The attack was made to send the target flying backwards, not designed to do damage.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Gotcha!"

The ground underneath Eugo began to crumble and collapse as a deep pit was revealed, a dark liquid lying on the bottom as Mori popped out of the ground like a dolphin breaching through the surface of the water. The goal was for Eugo to get caught in the tar at the bottom and make him a non-factor in the fight, which would turn the fight in their favor. Weaving hand signs, the Iwa genin's cheeks expanded after yelling the name of a jutsu. "Earth Style: Tar Blast!" A stream of sticky tar was fired at Ashima as Mori unsheathed his weapon and covered it with tar. "Shall we turn up the heat?" Biting down on his teeth, the boy spat out a concealed mouth ember and ignited his weapon, alongside the tar that he just created. Whilst he did not expect a grass user, it did not hinder his strategy in the slightest. Flaming weapong in hand, he ran over towards Ashima and slashed at the girl.

@EnviousWorm @Godjacob

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

Taji stopped in surprise as the wolf tracks turned into human tracks. The situation changed from a three to one in her favor to a three to one against her, and she was not stupid enough to mess with human wolves. She specialized in ranged attacks, not suicidal charges. She'd leave those for those who were less willing to slow down and assess risks. Changing direction, the girl went away from the tracks and decided to look for easier pickings.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

"Aw, shi-" Eugo felt the ground disappear from under him, and he hung in the air just long enough to get a quick glimpse down in the hole before his weight carried him. He stuck out all his limbs in a desperate attempt to catch himself, sliding near to the bottom from his downward momentum. Inches from the liquid, the big, berserking Grass genin came to a halt. He let out a sigh of relief, and struggled to concentrate chakra at the base of his feet. Not quite the ninjutsu savant, this took a little bit.

Ashima, already on the run from Tomiko's onslaught of projectile stone, barely had time to notice Mori's sticky tar in time to dodge, a whole tree and surrounding bushes covered in her place; Mori's resulting ignition would send the whole area up in flames, not just his weapon. Even as embers and black smoke crackled and floated off of the tree engulfed in fire, Keito focused his attention to the fleeing Ashima and wove his hand signs: Tiger, Boar, Hare, Monkey, Rat, Dog, Snake.

When Keito slammed both of his palms down onto the ground, he cried out: "Earth Release: Knights of the Stone Shogi!"

As the shinobi of the Grass retreated from her two Iwa attackers, Ashima found her back up against a thick wall of carved stone. And flanking her retreat were two more stones -- each one about six feet tall, four feet wide and three feet deep, with faces carved depicting the kanji of the knight pieces from shogi.

Now with her back against a literal wall and Tomiko and Mori coming at her, Ashima waved her signs; she didn't have much chakra left, having expended quite a bit trying to pin Keito down.

"Earth Release: Grass Stalagmites!"

Raising her palms toward the sky in an exhausting effort, the grass jutted up from the ground like a spike trap springing, needles of grass thickening and sharpening as they rose - first the size of normal grass before widening into a four-foot diameter, reaching nearly ten feet tall.

Keito's Shogi Knights withstood the barrage for their part, being chipped away and pierced by Ashima's last-ditch attack, but ultimately standing tall enough to keep her pinned back from retreating -- now Mori and Tomiko just had to finish the job.

And then, from Mori's trap hole, Eugo rose from from the ground heaving and coughing; not quite the chakra master, he used up a lot of his excess rage to escape the trap. Still, when he made eye contact with Keito, the furious Grass shinobi's blood seemed to start pumping again.

"You little weasels," Eugo snarled, charging in at the concentrating Keito, "I'll crush you!"

"...Oh boy," Keito said, gritting his teeth to weather the coming storm.

@Godjacob @DarkHydraT

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Unfortunately if not unsurprisingly, the retreating kunoichi were as enthusiastic about Taiyo's intervention as he was about Shiho taking a spiked ball to the face. The fiery shinobi was aware of the three shuriken coming his way, but since he was on a straight course for the Hyūga, he was unable to dodge them. Gritting his teeth, he quickly and tightly grasped Shiho's waist once he was in range, which was simultaneous with Asahi sending her Buddha's Palm towards him. Keeping his grasp tight, he allowed himself to be blown back from the gale, knowing that his target would be coming with him. As if he hadn't taken enough of a beating thus far, he managed to cushion Shiho's fall with his body.

Ow...saving this girl is proving to be a lot more trouble than its worth...

Shouldda left her when I had the chance.

Placing the kunoichi to the side, Taiyo surveyed the shuriken wounds before removing the weapons from his body, placing a heated hand on each wound before moving onto the next. Once he had prevented himself from bleeding out, he decided that he needed to get some answered out of her.

"Why'd you chase them? You couldn't take them when you had Raiku on your side so what made ya think that you could handle them now? I mean, seriously! Where's your survival instinct?!"

 

[jade421]

Well it seemed both her "target" in the Uchiha and the Hasa ninja managed to escape the mist wall she surrounded both in, not too shocking given she had just began to set it up and it was more an basic method of just letting her poison aroma work than a serious offensive. Regardless it seemed her teammate had done enough to sour the mood and as other ninja began to move for what she guessed was a chase Yua decided to take action herself. And for now the best way to save face would be to get the hell out of here, as she quickly made her way over to Mori. Much as she had half a mind to leave him, as she could hear sensei chew her out now if she had done so and dashed behind to grasp Mori by the arm. "Okay if you are done making enemies of everyone, we gotta go now!" Yua said, and as she dropped a pair of smoke bombs to conceal their escape she aimed to tug and "guide" Mori into the forest so they could get distance on both parities as they needed to regroup. And maybe, if this was successful, she'd be able to talk some sense into this guy for a change but she'd not been optimistic about that...

@Schrift

 

[Grand Master Koop]

A myriad of event happened in a very short time. Shiho was running towards the fleeing Hasa Shinobi when suddenly, a human sized spike ball came hurling towards her. "Woah what is that thing?" The girl said out loud in surprise. As she was about to move to defend herself, the young Hyuga felt a tugging on her waist that resulted in her being pulled away from the action.

After landing, Shiho quickly got back up and was about to jump back into her pursuit when she heard a voice call her out. She turned around to find Taiyo. "Huh? But I need to check something to make sure whether or not what I saw was real." She replied.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
To say that the fiery shinobi was surprised by the answer he was given would be an grave understatement. Not only was Taiyo taken aback at her reasoning, but her nonchalant, matter-of-fact delivery nearly caused him to collapse.

"Are you fucking with me right now? 'Oh I saw something strange with those girls that I was fighting, I better check just to make sure. Its not like we're enemies, what could go wrong?' Pull your head out of your ass and enter the real world! Even if they weren't running away, why would they tell you anything? Take a fucking hint, they're not in the mood to be taking questions. If you value your life in any regard, you'd let them run away, or even you'd run yourself, considering the fact that they tried to murder you for your troubles. Which just so happens to bring me to my next question, do you even value your own life? For the girl that discussed the tactical advantages of retreating, you seem to be completely unaware of that."

After finishing his rant, Taiyo let out a deep sigh whilst putting his hand on his face in exasperation. Noticing that there was little time before the next assault came, the leaf shinobi resolved upon his next course of action.

"You know what, fuck it. Don't answer my question. Even if you do, it seems to be in some dark, neglected corner of your mind. Fortunately for you, I'm here to pick up the slack, in more ways than one." On the heels of his remark, Taiyo scooped up Shiho in his arms in a bridal carry before running away from the Hasa kunoichi.

Maybe we can find Raiku or something, I dunno.

This bitch better be grateful for this...

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shiho's brows furrowed as she listened to Taiyo's rant. While his points are true, this isn't a case where Shiho can just call it quits. The Byakugan were probably more important to her clan than the lives of most of their members so if what Shiho saw under that makeshift mask were truly their clan's famed eyes, something truly unnatural would must have happened. "Of course I know that, but I can't just let them go. You see what I saw were-" Before she could finish, she felt herself being dragged off her feet as her fellow Leaf Shinobi carried her off without another word. "Hey wait let me down!" Shiho cried out.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Admittedly, he found Shiho's insistence to be put down funny, a fact that he made no effort to conceal, letting himself chuckle as he ran.

"What good is the information you have if you're not around to pass it on? Look, if what youre trying to confirm is that important, then you can bring it up to the Clan head and they can send some Jonin to investigate it. Bottom line is, you need to survive, and I'mma do what I can to make sure you do, got that?"

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui grit her teeth, but landed lightly at the base of a tree. Asahi was right—she shouldn’t be in the thick of the fight, but that didn’t make her any less intent on protecting her sister’s secret. She took the opportunity to cover half her face in chakra to heal the burns and the slash in her ear, then dropped into a relaxed but battle-ready stance, remaining still to replenish chakra faster, but ready to move at the drop of a hat.

When the newcomer boy grabbed the Hyuga—who didn’t seem too keen on being rescued—and ran, Karui’s gaze slid over to Sagiso for guidance, flicking between the both of her sisters. It may be more beneficial to make a tactical retreat and get out of the Leaf while we still have the chance… but if we don’t kill her here and now, things could get complicated, and fast. But killing her and not the boy would definitely arouse his suspicions, especially if she told him she has intel… this is already a mess. But she would go with whatever her sisters decided; Karu was not the big-decision-making type, especially if there wasn’t enough evidence one way or another to make the consequences of each action obvious…

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shiho wanted to talk back but couldn't think of anything to say. She let out a sign. "Alright fine, I'll bring this up with Lady Hinagiku when I get the chance." She looked back towards the direction team Hasa was fleeing towards. "But were those really the Byakugan? The eyes I saw weren't stark white like a regular Hyuga, but those veins around the eyes, there's nothing else like them. I hope lady Hinagiku will be able to clear some things up for me." Shiho thought.

 

[Schrift]

Mori was preparing to fight until well... he was tackled down by some flying Hasa girl. Man there goes his hope for an epic battle. He landed on his back as he lay there confused for a second before he stood back up. GREAT I LOST THE HEALER ALLY I WAS TRYING TO MAKE. Mori wasn't a fan of this, as he was preparing to go chase after. But then off went the explosions, so much was happening he was starting to wonder if he should just turn to murdering any shinobi he met. But then came Yua. Mori chuckled nervously at her sight, he really had messed up. He had just made them an enemy to many nins. Mori followed after her when she dropped the smoke bombs, following her as best her could. "Hey hey! Easy up on the touching! I'm not looking to get poisoned", he said as they had left the skirmish. For a brief while there was silence before Mori came to a halt in a small opening. "Alright... so before you chew me out... I thought it through and maybe that wasn't the best idea", he said, laughing nervously. It was around that moment did he realise the small chakra wasp near him. He observed it, was this her doing? "Holy shit, the plan wasn't complete failure! We have a healing nin ally!", he smiled as he looked at the wasp. "Haha! That's great, don't you think? Say, did you weaken that leaf nin?", he asked. Mori was expecting shouting, he was expecting her to give him a bloody ear to last for the rest of his life. Oh boy hopefully she wasn't angry, that would be nice.

@Sarah316

 

[Retro Master]

In a few weeks time, the final round of the chūnin exams would begin. It was usually a huge event where people from all over the shinobi world gathered to watch the tournament. Already, plenty of tourists had flooded the gates. This year in particular would also see all five Kage gathering in the hosting village. Needless to say, it was even more imperative that there were procedures in place just in case things went awry. Shikaku Nara would be the one in charge of the village’s security.

Currently, they were letting just about any tourist enter as long as the right type of identification was provided. Obviously, that wasn’t enough to stop potential threats from sneaking into the village. Of course, over the years, ever since a particular incident, the security of the Leaf had seen some drastic changes. For example, the sensory barrier around the Leaf had its formula edited by the Fourth Hokage himself multiple times over the years. One of the significant changes was that the barrier now registered all native chakra signatures in the village. With a recent update, the barrier would also temporarily register the chakra signature from each visitor who entered the village.

Of course, that last change would theoretically allow any visitor to go in and out of the village as they pleased. However, the trade off was quite worth it. Especially when that chakra signature could be saved if necessary. The end goal was to incorporate the Hokage’s seals into the formula, temporarily marking everyone’s chakra with a certain seal, but that was currently still in the works.

Combined with the plethora of chakra sensors that discreetly monitored different areas of the village and the Uchiha police force patrolling the streets, there was essentially no where for anyone who threatened the village to hide. Especially when many Leaf Shinobi had accepted having a seal placed on them by the Hokage. Outsiders would probably be more hesitant to enter the village if they knew about this. Not that any of them needed to know they were under constant surveillance.

“With the seals from Lord Fourth, this should be enough. I doubt anything will happens anyways, but he wants us to take precautionary measures just to make sure we’re never caught off guard like that night again.”

Shikaku spoke to himself as he reviewed the plan that would be set in place a few weeks from now. Any type of unauthorized intrusion would be dealt with in the blink of an eye. Perhaps even literally. After all, the clans in the Leaf also played a pivotal role in protecting the village alongside the Hokage. With the current oversight in place, the chūnin exams should be able to go on without any trouble.

 

[Godjacob]

"Ninja Art...!?"

Woosh!
​

Before Ashima could complete her hand signs, a kunai flung through the air which was aimed for her hands as the Grass ninja internally cursed as she was forced to deflect with one of her own given she was a bit pinned by Keito's slabs and as such she managed to get in range as she flashed a grin and curled her knuckles.

"Eat this!" Tomiko called out just after she slammed her gauntly right into the gut of Ashima, who coughed out from the blow, and that was just the start. Before Ashima had a chance to answer Tomiko wailed on the Grass Ninja with gauntlet blow after blow as she rained punches all along the kunoichi before a jaw rattling uppercut slammed into her as Tomiko knocked Ashima high into the air and the force of the blows kicked up a current as Ashima seemed to just about have her lights knocked out.

And if that feeling had been true, a tooth or too knocked loose. Tomiko turn turned to Keito, she'd attempt to close the gap but Eugo she'd trust that Mori could get there.

@DarkHydraT @EnviousWorm

----------
"So far for a forest of death I feel things have been a bit...lacking."

"I'd be careful if I were you, that kind of talk is set to bring trouble."

"GOOD! I want trouble, the sooner it comes the sooner scrolls for us come to."

A pair of Ishi-ninja seemed to be conversing with one another, one a muscular blonde kunoichi who seemed to wear a sleeveless grey top, the other a more lean yet not less athletic young shinobi who seemed to fix a pair of goggles over his short black hair. The pair had worked to try and mask their presence well. They had used a pair of trees to cover their flank and seemed surrounded by foliage which worked well to keep them out of sight, but unfortunately what had been on their tail needed to not see to track them.

Kenji made a signal which stopped Lightning and Thundra, as the pair seemed to sniff out the scents of a pair close by them. And their noses seemed to point by the pair of trees among this thick area of concealing foliage as Kenji scanned it from a distance and smirked.

"Well then, let's see what we have waiting for us~" Kenji mused with a crackle of electricity...

----------
Azumi dashed quickly, jumping from tree branch to tree branch as she moved with a determined focus. Azumi worked to keep herself out of sight out of mind, both her needed scrolls secured as she knew she was close to making it beyond this exam. The finals would be all that stood between her and ascension to the next level.

A chance to show the world what Ame could do.

And these visions seemed to shine as the tower that lied at the heart of the forest drew closer and closer. Azumi's focus only seemed to grow as she drew closer, she just needed one push and she'd be home free...

 

[jade421]

"After your stunt you'd be thankful if a little poison was all I'd do to you." Yua said with a clear frustration to her tone. The fact he had the gull to ask if she weakened the Leaf ninja, as if he still considered this insane plan of his was enough to make Yua consider leaving him then and there, but more responsible judgement had won out. Especially when he seemed to begrudgingly admit his idea was a mistake, granted he had not used mistake like she would've but it was a step in the right direction. Then he seemed to consider this wasp a sign that they had made allies with Hasa, and at that moment her thinly vailed composure seemed to bend as she faced Mori. "Okay just...just stop. Stop. All your ideas up to this point have done nothing but put us in needless trouble and alienate actual allies off the off chance of maybe making an ally from a nation we had no history with. And it nearly got you knocked loose over it. So I am not suggesting what we do next, I am telling you what we are going to do. Forget those Leaf guys, forget who they are fighting and we move to another area of this Forest. We find some other targets who don't already have motive to beat us down, and we try to get some scrolls." Yua said to Mori, as it seemed she had made executive action on that matter. Though had held restraint from striking him with her staff, so in her mind he needed to consider himself lucky.

Though she had kept an eye on where she seemed to sense this...chakra wasp?

@Schrift

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

Before either of his teammates could turn their attention from Ashima and close the gap between he and Eugo, the large brawler crashed a huge shoulder into that of the kneeling Keito's; though a rather thin kid, Keito still considered himself sturdy -- 'a different kind of bulky,' he tried to call it sometimes. However, Eugo must have been well over six feet tall and bordering on three-hundred pounds, and the force of his charging onslaught was enough to send Keito reeling into a nearby tree with the thunderous cracking of bark.

'Okay,' He thought to himself, breathing heavy, 'Alright, all my bones hurt; I wish I could take a nap in the rain.'

He didn't have a second more either, because Eugo charged in again, leaning in for a vicious right hook. Keito gathered himself just enough to move his body aside, but the Grass genin caught Keito by the collar with a giant left hand and lifted the tall, Iwa shinobi up off his feet and into the air.

Keito focused some chakra in his hands, and even more in his vocal chords as Eugo wound in for another right hook.

"Why don't we just go to sleep, buddy?" He asked, his voice having shifted several tones lower while he wrapped both of his hands around his opponent's gigantic left arm.

"Wha-?" Eugo, taken aback, gripped his fist so hard all the muscles in his right arm shook with tremendous force, "You're going to pay for Hashiro and Ashima, you-"

Eugo's eyes grew wide, his pupils dilated; he didn't scream, but instead the tremoring of his muscles turned into a shivering fear as he released Keito from his iron grip and dropped to his knees in a frightened daze, mumbling incoherently as he swayed. The Stone shinobi clutched at his own head in response, fighting off what looked to be a sudden onset migraine.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

Sagisō uncoiled from her hair-ball of certain death and landed on a nearby tree, her chakra network quieted as a sensible Leaf shinobi forced the suicidal girl to flee. Her eyes followed them until they disappeared into the forest and she sent them off with a derisive snort. She quickly made her way back to Karui and Asahi.

"If we want to leave the forest, the fastest way will be to get scrolls and head to the tower. Any plans...?"

@=Nightshade= @Hecotoro

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, "I actually came up with something..." she said as she began to jump from tree to tree, "Just wait for the enemies to be distracted and take them out."

The Hasa ninja went in the direction opposite of their earlier encounter, while using her Byakugan during the previous fight, she had caught a glimpse of a few shinobi in the direction they were now heading to. Her mind went back to some of the conversations she had with her mother about men. Her mother apparently knew very well how to control them to a certain point, even getting money out of them or to her luck, even got Asahi. Of course, Asahi got "the talk" and knew very well where the limits were.

After a few minutes of moving, she finally got sight of the small group she had seen earlier, they had been even further away so it had taken her some time to find them again, specially without using her Byakugan. The girl landed quietly on a tree and waited for her sisters to get acquainted with the area and their targets. It was a group of three male Genin. Asahi looked back at her sisters and nodded, letting them know she was moving in for the distraction. She circled the group, until she was in front of them, they were already aware of her presence as she landed, having them face her and giving their backs towards Sagiso and Karui.

"Hi!" Asahi greeted them with a joyful tune. "I'm Smiley, I heard that you guys were some of the best around." She saw the one in the center keep a serious gaze on her while the other two proudly smirked. "I'm from Hasa and in case you didn't know, we are a nation made up of woman." She kept talking while the three Genin looked at her with a confused look, slowly dropping their guard as Asahi didn't show any intention of attacking. "So, to keep it that way, we are only allowed to reproduce with males who have strong genes and can help us procreate a stronger generation after ours." One of the boys nodded his head slowly with a goofy smile as he seemed to be imagining a certain situation while the other two looked at each other with disbelief. "And I saw you all and said to myself, now they look like they have great genes, so I decided to come over and make an offer you can't resist." With those final words Asahi pulled her shirt up while the three boys dropped their guard completely, along with their jaws.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

A simple distraction. Now that was a plan Sagisō could get behind. Seizing the opportunity created from an opponent's momentary carelessness. Asahi went ahead and Sagisō turned to Karui, conveying a message with a few hand signals—a simple and silent medium; 'You go right, I'll go left.'

With Asahi as the distraction, they would be able to flank the targets she'd discovered and snatch their scrolls. The only uncertainty would be the breadth of the opportunity. Sagisō's chakra flowed freely through her body, invigorating her muscles and tapering her nails to a deadly point. Her movements were light reducing noise to a minimum and what sound she couldn't eliminate was drowned out by the Asahi's voice. A voice that caused Sagisō's brow to furrow as it regaled the boys.

Moments later, as Asahi had revealed her masterstroke, Sagisō's jaw dropped. Her faculties were scrambled by her sister's complete deviation from any move that would've been sane and logical. Her eyes quickly darted over to the group of boys, expecting to see them on the verge of flooring Asashi, after all; 'There's no way that would wo—'

'It worked...' The Skillful Star groaned, her years of deadly training had clearly been put to waste if all it took to take out these ninjas was the drop of a few tiddies.

Sagisō promptly turned her mind off, unwilling to rationalize the situation in front of her. Her eyes dulled and she bent at the knees and launched herself from the tree, intending to drop the pair of boys beneath her harder than Asahi's—

Her thoughts went silent as she landed on the boy to the extreme left, his bones releasing unhealthy cracks as he cushioned her drop. He wasn't out of the fight, but it would take him a moment to recover—a moment Sagisō had no intention of giving him. Springing from his body, the girl spun into the air, her hands passing through her locks as she used her rotation to release a deadly shower of senbon created from hardened fibers of plucked hair.

The result was the creation of two rather unfortunate pincushions as neither boy was able to react to her sudden assault. Not that they hadn't tried, but her senbon shower had interrupted the previously unharmed boy's hand seals and moments later, Sagisō was a gorgon, her hair fanning out as it struck down the two boys.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui’s poker face almost slipped into a laugh for a moment as Asahi made her speech. As if their genes would be worth more than a couple rotten figs. From where she was hidden in the bushes, making any sort of noise to alert the enemy would not have been smart. She silently drew her khopesh, cloaking the blade in chakra, ballooning around her hand while coming to a needle like point six inches past the tip of the blade, in a shape reminiscent of a wasp’s stinger. If the boys weren’t so dumbfounded by the sight Asahi was treating them to, they might have noticed the wisps of golden chakra curling away from the stinger like smoke from a fire, or a very quiet rustling from the bush… but boys would be boys, she supposed. Disgusting creatures for the most part, but they did have their uses. Like to steal scrolls from.

The medical nin sprang from the bush on Sagiso’s signal, aiming for the boy on the far right to spear him with the very sharp chakra on the end of her sword and leaving the others for Asahi and Sagiso respectively. The tip of the stinger found its mark on his shoulder as he turned, and Karui allowed herself a small sound of victory. Before the kunai in his hand was halfway out of his pouch, his muscles seized up, and he fell to the ground, paralyzed. “It’ll wear off in a few minutes,” Karui said coldly to the twitching boy. “I didn’t inject enough of my chakra to kill. You’ll be sore for a good long while, though. Good luck not getting eaten.”

His mouth worked erratically, trying to form words that came out like gibberish, his tongue not cooperating, as Karui rummaged on his person for his scroll. Having your entire nervous system scrambled by an overload of lightning chakra would cause that to happen. “Heaven,” she said, loud enough for her teammates to hear. Her stinger remained activated in case one of the others tried to run, though it didn’t look like they’d be recovering any time soon.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

"Both Earth," Sagisō noted, brandishing a pair of dark scrolls.

Including the heaven scroll they'd taken from Bao they now had all the scrolls they would need to clear the forest trials. With that being the case, there was no reason to stick around. Sagisō tuned to her sisters, "We should have everything we need so—" and then frowned as Asahi was still holding her shirt up, "hurry up and put those away!"

She threw a punishing slap at her wayward sister before gesturing to the tower that peaked out over the forest canopy.

"Let's get out of here."

@Hecotoro @=Nightshade=

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi adjusted her shirt while rubbing the sore spot Sagiso had just left and rolled her eyes. "Sheeesh as if you hadn't seen them before. I will call this, Boobie trap jutsu!" She laughed at her own joke as she took the scroll she had just earned . "Whiskers is just too typical." She said out of nowhere, "I think I want a unique name, but cute also, you know?" She began making her way towards the direction her sister signaled, following along with them. "Like, Smiley! But cats don't smile, what about Cat, with a K? No, too confusing... How about Klar? Still doesn't match, then again maybe I should get the cat first."

After finally arriving at the tower and presenting their scrolls, the three Hasa girls left the forest. Asahi kept on talking about her cat, trying to decide on the color, breed, size and even considering bigger felines like a tiger. She of course took out her bag of candy and shared with her sisters, a small celebration for their quick victory.

"None of you better get a dog." Asahi said out loud as she walked next to the other two. "Because T-bag might not like it, get it? T for tiger and bag because he will ride in my pouch until he is bigger of course." She grinned before popping another piece of candy into her mouth. "So where to know all mighty leader Riceball?"

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

Sagisō blinked and snapped out of her chatter-induced stupor. It had been thirty minutes since they'd left the forest and Sagisō was certain this was the first time Asahi had shut up long enough to breathe.

"Your mastery of wind release is most impressive," she derided. "And who the hell is Riceball? Are you tryna start something?"

It was no surprise that even now the only thing on Asahi's mind was stuffing her face. Sagisō scoffed but rather than give her sister the beating she surely deserved, the scowl on her face soon melted into a smile. With the exams behind them and no immediate dangers, the Skillful Star could finally loosen up.

"Let's get out of dodge and then we can find some food...and some horses."

After the mention of horses, Sagisō licked her lips greedily. The Hyūga issue aside, they had successfully passed the exams and that was grounds for celebration!

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi giggled at her sister's reaction before giving her a full hug and squeezing her tightly. "I call dibs on choosing the first horse! I will call him Longface..." She began running ahead of the group.

Asahi was the first to leave the village, crossing through the gates and waving a friendly goodbye at the guards. She was active, doing cartwheels to make up time while her sisters caught up. She stopped a bit to look back at the village, the idea of her father being there lingering in her mind, before it was replaced by the image of her mother waiting back at home making dinner for her. Asahi smiled and kept walking with her sisters for a couple of hours.

"That smells good!" Asahi called out as she pointed towards a stand of fried fish up ahead, "I say we eat there!"

Without waiting for a confirmation, she rushed ahead and took the middle sit, greeting the cook and starting a small conversation about where she was from and why did she have a burnt jacket around her eyes.

 

[SageNeb]

Raiku had been jumping through trees for a while when he saw a pair of Mist ninja fighting someone with a Leaf headband. Upon further inspection, he identified the Leaf ninja as a Hyuga which sharply reminded him of the teammate who he had left behind.

I wonder how Shiho's doing... she's probably fine, she's tough. Besides, she has Taiyo with her.

The Uchiha shook his head to get rid of his thoughts and instead took note of the Mist ninja who was on a tree branch below him. Raiku took out a smokescreen and a few kunai. After detonating the smokescreen below him to hide his opponents vision, the Uchiha activated his Sharingan to see his target and sent out his kunai covered in fire chakra which he controlled using the Chakra Levitation Technique. In addition, prior to sending out the kunai he had made illusionary clones of them to distract his enemy, even though it wouldn't be likely they could see them anyways due to the smokescreen.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"I'll take this, thank you very much." Mori quipped as he took Eugo's scroll from his unresponsive body. "And just as a safety measure, take a good, long nap." The boy bashed the hilt of his wakizashi against Eugo's jaw to knock him out as the last of the tar was burnt up, extinguishing the blade. "Are you okay, Keito?" Sheathing the weapon, Mori knelt down to check up on his comrade. "That was quite the hit you took there, after all."

@EnviousWorm @Godjacob

----------

Taji scoured the forest, mindful to avoid any large wildlife like the disgustingly big centipedes. They were bad enough as they were, there was no reason to let them be this big. It was a wonder that they didn't break out of this forest and decide to help themselves to the fresh meat known as civilians. Whilst judging Konoha's seemingly lackluster defense system, the girl came across a snapped branch which immediately took all her attention. Someone was here before her, and that someone was going to have a bad day once she found them. Looking around for any other tracks, the Kumo kunoichi headed in the direction of her careless target.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

After some smart decision making on Hisato's behalf, he managed to pull himself free of the kunoichi's sticky grasp. He managed to evade the kunoichi and make a getaway. Hisato sat on a tree branch a good distance away from the leaf shinobi. Hisato sat there trying not to think about how he got away. Hisato was too busy thinking about his arms after having electricity sent through them and hoping his chakra points open up. The two on one match did not turn out as Hisato had hoped it would.

"Wonder who the next opponent will be!" Hisato said cheerfully.

 

[Godjacob]

Tomiko of course took the chance to snatch the KO'd kunoichi's scroll before she moved over to the pair as it seemed they managed to fight off Eugo and managed to get his scroll, which Tomiko considered a plus though at the moment Keito's body was of concern as he seemed to take quite the beating from these guys. Being on the front lines the longest in this exchange, which Tomiko had to commend him for as she reached to her bag to try and pull out what seemed to be a rag and ointment to treat pain as she walked up to him.

"Need a little hand?" Tomiko asked Keito.

@DarkHydraT @EnviousWorm

----------

Woosh!

Slash!

Boom!
​

The Ishi ninja had no way to know what hit them, as before they had a chance to act a trio of blurs rushed in and struck at the pair as whatever these attackers were seemed to strike fast and strike hard. Kenji and his two transformed companions made a point to keep them on their toes, not grant them a chance to recover or even form a hand sign without duress as their sharp claws and teeth made them appear more as monsters with their high speed, relentless attacks.

Kenji seemed to smirk wildly as the Ishi-nin struggled to regrup, an electric crackle sounded by his clawed hands, while Lightning and Thundra moved in position as it seemed this pack was setting up for the kill.

 

[EnviousWorm]

When Mori moved in and finished the job, Keito hunched over in pseudo-pain, as of the blow itself had harmed him as well. But when his genjutsu link with the Grass shinobi was severed, he straightened his body and gave a relaxed sigh.

"I'll be okay, Mori," he replied, holding up a hand that signaled his teammate to hold on.

But the pain surged through him, in his sides and his back and chest mainly, though his arms were a tingly numb from the several grass senbon that had previously buried themselves in Keito's flesh.

The Iwa genin relented when he saw Tomiko approach with the means to patch him up. Keito groaned.

"Okay, yes, that'd be great actually," Keito said to his teammates, sitting down to rest for a moment, "But we have to be quick. Let's not get caught resting on our laurels here, yeah?"

 

[Godjacob]

"Oh don't worry it won't take but a minute..." Tomiko said as she was by no means a medical ninja but had enough first aid training to know what she'd have to do here as she quickly moved by Keito and applied the ointment on what seemed to be the most visibly damaged areas she picked up on, and then worked to apply the bandages as she worked to patch up Keio before she smiled.

"Alright this should help you muscle through till we find the tower. With a couple of scrolls we are so close, just one more push for a full set!" Tomiko said, optimistic as the first day had not yet ended and already they were a scroll away from moving to the next stage.

"Ready to head out if you guys are~" Tomiko mused as she slid the scroll she had gotten into her pouch for safe keeping while she checked if both were good to go.

@DarkHydraT @EnviousWorm

----------
"AGH!

The cry of the Ishi Kunoichi sounded as she slammed back first into a tree, a clawed palm strike to her gut caused an electric jolt to knock her as she slid down and groaned out on impact. The signs of battle of the scared area showed a fierce struggle but the ambush seemed to have worked well. Lightning and Thundra seemed to stand over a prone body of the male Ishi ninja, who seemed to be bruised and a side gashed with a deep cut mark.

Kenji himself, who like Lightning and Thundra seemed to escape with minimal blows, walked up to the downed kunoichi as it seemed before the knockout blow he had caught her with a slash across her right shoulder which had caused some bleeding.

"Always a shame to have to hurt a pretty face." Kenji mused, with some sarcasm as he kneeled down to reach into her person and soon pulled a scroll out of her while Lightning and Thunder worked to search over her comrade and pulled a scroll of their own as Kenji inspected both over.

"Aw how cute, matching Earth Scrolls." Kenji mused, as he worked to keep one and placed it on his person while he passed the other to Lightning as now they had an extra to play with in the event they were cornered. A way to "surrender" a scroll, without actually losing the set he had.

With that, the trio departed as they began to move to the tower, a sly smirk crossed Kenji's face as he seemed quite pleased with himself.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

While Tomiko patched up his wounds, Keito closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the rough bark of a tree; he hummed a quiet, soothing tune - something that made him forget where he was for just a moment. Humming, healing, the Iwa genin clenched his left and right hands into fists and back one-after-another. When Keito remembered what he was doing, he opened his eyes, and saw Tomiko shoot him a speedy smile. He smiled back, though he seemed distracted in lingering thought.

"Alright this should help you muscle through till we find the tower. With a couple of scrolls we are so close, just one more push for a full set!" Tomiko said, reverting back to her bombastic style of leadership. Keito stood and stretched out his long, aching body and sighed, "Ready to head out if you guys are~"

"Two outta three ain't bad, for sure" Keito replied, his hand moving thoughtlessly to rest on the hilt of his sakabatou, "Don't wait on my account. Let's just...find us somewhere I can sleep soundly for the night, alright?"

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui hesitated a moment before taking the seat to the right of Asahi. She kicked her sister lightly under the table, as if to say don’t give too much away, before ordering a skewered fish. One of the people behind the bar took a skewer from a fryer and handed it to her, and the medical nin munched on a fin thoughtfully. It was lightly salted and delicately seasoned. If there was one thing Karui could say for the Leaf, it was that the food was quite good. However, she was still on-edge, the thought of the Hyuga girl’s Byakugan still fresh in her mind. Something had to be done about that, and soon— but for now, Karui felt she owed it to Asahi to try to relax, at least a little. “Bee,” she said aloud. “If the cat has stripes,” she clarified. “I think Bee would be a good name.”