Ask to Join Naruto: One's Nindo

[Retro Master]

“It is possible not all Uchiha are like that. However, from what I’ve heard and going off my own experiences with them, I’m a bit skeptical.”

Kiro clarified to the Hyūga girl before she ran off towards the senbei shop. Although she seemed back to her joyful self, Kiro hadn’t missed the shift in her demeanor beforehand when he spoke about Raiku. He couldn’t blame her if she so happened to be caught off guard or get defensive. The Uchiha were still part of of her village, so she probably knew more about them than him. Plus, he could only guess what relationship she had with Raiku. She did choose to team up with him during the forest of death after all.

In any case, Kiro followed Shiho to the shop and arrived just as she was ordering. Pulling out some ryō, Kiro took the initiative and paid the cashier for both of their senbei. After a few second, the Uchiha at the front handed them their fresh food with a smile.

“Thank you for coming! Enjoy your senbei!”

Once Kiro got his senbei, he looked at it quizzically, seemingly unsure about something. He glanced at Shiho’s senbei momentarily, then at his own, before finally settling his attention on the girl with a hesitant look.

“So, uh, what type of senbei did we even get?”

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shiho held her Senbei up to her eye level as soon as she got her hands on it. "Ooh, I hope it tastes as good as it looks." She said to herself out loud. She was about to take her first bite before hearing Kiro wonder what the flavor snack they had just gotten even was. "Kiro has become very skeptical all of a sudden, what's with that? He's been acting a bit strange ever since we entered at the Uchiha District." The girl thought to herself, contemplating the Mist Shinobi's change in attitude. "He's been so well mannered up till this point too."

"Hmm, I'm not sure. I assume its just the classic flavor seeing as it doesn't look very different from a normal Senbei." Shiho reasoned. "Anyways, thanks for the meal!" Without wasting another moment, the young Hyuga bit into her snack. "Mmm, crunchy and sweet." She commented. "Wow its really good, you should eat yours Kiro." Shiho advised as she continued to consume her Uchiha brand rice cracker.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chuin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

The roar of the crowd reverberated through Sagisō’s bones, their infective enthusiasm a stark contrast against her inscrutable silence. Warm bodies surrounded her, their blood boiling with anticipation. In mere moments, the final round of the Chūin exams would begin and the crowd would bear witness to the dizzying fervor of combat. People so far removed from the dangers of conflict could only see it for the thrills and glory.

The Skillful Star sympathized; a younger, less experienced Sagisō would’ve reacted in the same way. If this weren’t a mission she still would've; to give in to the fervor, let her blood burn through her veins, and lose herself to the sweeping ardor around her...

Instead, she eyed her sisters, hidden within the crowd of citizens watching the exams. The exam’s proctor made the call for all the contestants to gather in the center of the field. At that Sagisō turned her attention to a seemingly innocuous woman—the disguised Majestic Star, Lixue—sitting a few rows away.

A subtle nod from her signalled to Sagisō and Karui that they should find somewhere hidden to release their transformations. Lixue would watch their backs, ensuring no one accidentally stumbled across them while they ‘changed’. Lixue would release her own combined transformation with Asahi’s doppelganger and then the three Hasa representatives would descend into the arena.

Once their disguises were dispelled, the doppelgangers of Karui and Sagiso would be transformed into mundane items carried on their person, keeping them close so they could easily retake their disguises after their matches. For her part, Sagisō had her doppel take the form of a concealed mouth-piece, figuring that the inside of her mouth was the safest possible location during the up-coming fight.

 

[Retro Master]

Glancing down towards the battlefield were the eyes of many popular figures among the crowd. The Uchiha Clan Head was among this crowd and one of the few who personally had a horse in the race. Fugaku had high expectations for Raiku. His father, Senshu, was one of the many war heroes in the Leaf. He was mentored by Shisui Uchiha of the Body Flicker. Even the one Raiku took inspiration from was none other than Itachi, the son of the Uchiha Head. Needless to say, Raiku had the potential to be a generational talent with just his connections alone. Fugaku had even caught one of the elders, a disliked one in many Uchiha circles, taking a look at the boy one time. Now that he was finally at this stage of the Chūnin Exams, all eyes were on him.​

With so many competitors from notable clans this year, the underground betting scene would likely see bets more varied. It was suspected that even feudal lords liked to dabble in some betting under the table. As for who they would bet on, murmurs were that Uchiha and Hyūga usually had the most money on them. The nature of betting meant Raiku could be making enemies without even knowing it due to the amount of money on the line. Of course, it was likely that many people had come to see the two genin known to possess storied kekkei genkai. There was Hisato Gato, who possessed the bone style kekkei genkai from the clan rumored to have been exterminated by the Mist. The other one were Mori Tetsushi, who seemed to have the same magnet release as the Kazekage likely to be in attendance for this round. Then there was this one unknown village who so happened to have all three of their sent genin make it to this round. That was quite the display of potential for a minor village. A fellow minor village in the Hidden Rain also had a genin here as well.

Even still, the most talked about would be the Uchiha participating. Being such a prestigious clan known throughout the world came with its set of expectations. The same could be said about the Hyūga, and it had been a shame to see the Hyūga Heiress fail to make it this far. A matchup between Raiku and Furījia would’ve been an interesting one to watch. Fortunately, there was still a Hyūga participating in the exams. The expectations for Raiku were certainly high, but assuming the boy knew, will he allow it to bare any weight on him? With all of these genin capable in their own right, how will Raiku fare against them?

————————​

Sitting alone as the bright rays of the morning sun bathed his back with warm light, Kiro gazed down at a kunai that rested in the grasp of his right hand. It was nearly ten years ago when he first heard of a certain technique. Back then, it seemed so random when it was brought up and even now Kiro was certain it had been a coincidence. Only recently had he learnt how it could utilized to work around the flaw of another technique of his. However, to use it like this was especially risky. Especially since he did not yet know his opponent.

Kiro let out a sigh, accepting the challenge, as he heard the call by the proctor for all contestants to make their way onto the battlefield. Placing the kunai inside a storage seal around his wrist, Kiro stood up and walked towards the arena. How long he could last without resorting to that would depend on his opponent. Would he respect or curse the one who made him use it? That depended on him.

The roar of the crowd grew louder as he got closer to the center of the stadium. It was almost deafening once he arrived at the designated location for the competitors. “I’m actually the first one here this time huh...” Commenting to himself, Kiro had indeed been the first one to arrive. He wasn’t attempting to be early, but everyone else was probably too lazy to post still getting prepared or whatever. Looking up, Kiro looked around at crowd, who seemed to grow even more hyped now that he was there. That was probably because his appearance meant the exam would be starting soon. As eyes his wandered around the stands, they paused when they so happened to intersect with blue ones.

—————————​

“Seems like things are going well.”

A calm voice spoke as they met the black eyes of the first competitor that arrived. Minato was pleased to see the exams were currently progressing without incident. It had come to his attention a few days ago that there were a certain group of girls they needed to look out for. A possible Hyūga or at least someone with the byakugan may be among them. They would be participating in the round of the exam, so the hope was that the matter could be dealt with afterwards. Hopefully the competitors, likely the boy that first arrived for example, didn’t have anything too surprising in store that would further complicate matters. Besides that, the other Kage would be arriving shortly and judging by the smooth voice he heard soon after, one of them were already here.

“Greetings, Lord Hokage. Huh, seems like that brat is the first one to arrive. Don’t be too worried about him though.”

Turning to his side, Minato chuckled a bit in response to the casual greeting of the fourth Mizukage. Also the jinchuriki of a three tails, Yagura was known to be third person to ever achieve full control of a tailed beast. Being in the same room, Minato could tell how exceptional and dangerous the young Kage was, even with his seemingly laid back demeanor. Watching as the Mizukage relaxed in a seat overlooking the arena, Minato responded to his comment in a cheerful tone.

“Seems like he does share your punctuality. It appears both of us have a skilled young generation of shinobi. I look forward to how they all progress.”

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

Even after preparing for a month non-stop in anticipation of the finals, Keito couldn't avoid pacing nervously just outside the participants' entrance into the massive Konoha arena. He couldn't stand the cheering; it sent chills down his spine. Given that he was from Iwagakure, the genin figured most spectators would gladly see his face smashed in at some point, which he had to admit was a bit discouraging. Somehow, though, Keito realized he'd rather deal with people lauding over him who believed him an enemy than look up to the stands at catch a glimpse of his father's judgmental eye.

'That sick bastard wouldn't be happy even if I ripped the whole stadium out of the ground and threw it into orbit,' Keito thought, grumbling along with his tired stomach, 'He'd tell my I'd throw my back out with that poor form of mine or something, huh."

Keito spent several minutes pacing, thinking hard about his opponent and simultaneously trying to write it out of his mind; as he paced, the Iwa genin's left palm would rest against the hilt of his sakabatou sword, then grip it tight in a reverse grip, release and let the fingers breath, until the palm rested against the bottom of the hilt once again.

"To hell with it." He muttered finally, pivoting one hundred and eighty degrees around and walking light-footed into the arena entrance.

In spite of his mental waffling, Keito found himself to be just the second genin to make his way into the stadium.

The Kirigakure boy stood alone in the center of the stadium only for as long as it took Keito to reach him; he gave his fellow competitor a thorough look as he walked over beside the shinobi. There was something about the Mist ninja's pitch-black eyes that gave Keito an unsettling - but oddly familiar - feeling.

"Good luck." Keito said somewhat quietly, glancing anxiously around the arena for his father, mother and brother in their seats against his better judgement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Onoki the Fence-Sitter, Sandaime Tsuchikage
​

"Come along you two, the Great Kage won't wait all day for you slowpokes!" The old man beckoned along to his cohorts, Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi, who stayed behind the aging Tsuchikage desperately hoping he didn't slip and break his back or some other betrayal of time. Onoki persevered, though, forcing his struggling legs upward the last few steps, however, determinative to maintain his long-lasting image of immovable might.

Minato Namikaze and Yagura Karatachi came into view like a beautiful horizon to a climber finally cresting the top of an egregiously tall mountain -- not that Onoki could ever admit to his fellow Kage that he'd seen them as such, if even for a brief second.

"Ah, Lords Fourth, what a pleasure--" Onoki said with as much composure as he could, given a substantial lack of breath at the moment, "After such a long life knowing my fellow Kage only through war, it's quite nice to meet with you in a time of peace and shared prosperity. The joint chunin exams are a testament to our mutual interest in growth, and our youth. And I could not be more excited to see these matches today!"

Having shared his kind opening notes, Onoki gazed down toward the center of the stadium with a furrowed, contemplative brow; even though the two genin in the stadium looked like ants to the Tsuchikage, he could tell one of them Iwa's own -- and he could tell the boy was looking right back at him.

The aging Tsuchikage stroked his chin still deep in thought, about the exams, and about the past few days in particular. All he had done, he did for his village; all he had done, he did in the name of the Will of Stone. Onoki could only hope the younger shinobi understood that. He could only hope they were good enough to carry that on further into the future -- or to secure a future in the first place.

 

[Retro Master]

“The pleasure is mine, Lord Third. I’m glad we can be together here today to see how this next generation have blossomed into fine shinobi.”

Minato greeted the third Tsuchikage with a short bow of respect. Even with their differences, Lord Onoki was still his elder as a Kage. He held great admiration for a man who strove to protect his own village for so long at whatever the cost. The Namikaze hoped he too could sustain his protection of the Leaf for a long-lasting period of time.

“Greetings as well, Lord Third. Seems like your genin is second to arrive. Still no Leaf genin in sight though. Not even that Uchiha or Hyūga that are rumored to be participating. Heh.”

Sharing a greeting to Lord Onoki, who he may or may not have had a prior arrangement with made beforehand, Yagura spoke about the present participants with an edge of competitiveness in his tone. He snickered to himself, wondering which genin would take center stage next. The young Kage didn’t know about his peers, but he thought it’d be fun to see how each of their genin represented their village and which would make it the farthest. Having an Uchiha and Hyūga participating made things all the more interesting. As for how invested his fellow Kage were, that was yet to be seen. But judging by the chuckle made by Lord Minato, he too was probably trying his best to contain his excitement. With a glance towards the battleground, Minato smiled after after his comment.

“I’m sure they’ll arrive soon.”

—————————​

The upbeat atmosphere sure was somewhat thrilling. It combated what seemed like the eternal wait for the other competitors to arrive. Not that Kiro minded much. He was just chilling, enjoying the scene of the thundering crowd him as a light gust blew through the air. It was oddly relaxing. Eventually, Kiro took notice as one boy made his way towards him. Judging by his forehead protector, the genin was from Iwagakure. With a brief glance, he looked over the Iwa nin and was able to deem him a respectable adversary after managing to hear his quiet greeting underneath the sound of the roaring crowd. Giving a nod as a sign of acknowledgment, Kiro responded to his fellow competitor with a question as well.

“Thanks and good luck to you as well. Mind sharing your name?”

 

[EnviousWorm]

Onoki, Third Tsuchikage
​

The three Kage sat beside each other in a powerful display of unity -- if the rest of the crowd could even decipher which Kage was which, given their height over the rest of the stadium. Onoki remembered that it was not so long ago that the shinobi world had been dragged into another pithy pissing match between Leaf and Stone; he wondered what the lives he'd given away in the name of village pride would say, if they knew he sat beside the Yellow Flash who had killed so many of them.

"Arriving early to the battlefield can be an invaluable asset," The Third Tsuchikage said in a measured tone, in response to Yagura and Minato both, "You can see everything as it develops in front of you that way, and time is on your side. But it can show over-eagerness and breed complacency. Arriving later affords you less time, but you can see all in front of you as it has developed. It can prove one's patience or ability to think comprehensively. Still, it can betray over-thinking--"

Onoki's eyes gazed back down toward the young Stone shinobi in the center of the arena, adding: "--and it can betray indecision."

'That one has good genes,' Onoki thought, picturing the few, living remnants of the Ugokasenai clan -- and the many more long dead, killed in battle against the very village Onoki sat leisurely in, 'But he's not Keinshi, or even Kitomo for that matter...I still can't decide what he's about.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

“Thanks and good luck to you as well. Mind sharing your name?” The Kiri boy said after taking his own measure of Keito's worth, and offering a nod in response.

"Keito," He replied simply, "of Iwagakure's Ugokasenai clan. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

As he finished his formal response, his eye caught that of his dad up far away in the crowd. Keito gave a quick bow to the looming Kitomo, who sat arms crossed, glaring, his mouth covered by the special breathing apparatus he'd needed ever since the Second War. Keito's brother, Keinshi, caught his eye, relieving the moment with a friendly wave and a supportive thumbs-up.

"And your name?" Keito asked, wrapping up the common, introductory pleasantries he could never get quite right.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Hisato sat there vibing and getting his morning stretches in. Hisato stood there looking out the window as he got dressed. He thought about the next part of the exam. He wondered how his fellow mist ninjas would do. He wondered how Asahi and the other ninjas he met were doing.

When Hisato arrived at the scene, he walked in and struck a pose. He eventually saw a familiar face. It was Kiro, and poetry boy! Hisato wasted no time in going over there. Arms moving back and forth. Hisato had his eyes locked on the two ninjas. He was walking straight to them. He gave a grin and a friendly wave.

"What's up Kiro? Nice seeing you again Bookworm, err... sorry... I forgot your name, but I remembered you were the guy with the neat poetry book" Hisato said.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui released her transformation with a muted sigh, shedding the male form and taking up her own skin again from where she hid with her doppelgänger in a dark alley. She signaled for her lookalike to transform into the prearranged item, a string that Karui would sew into her own skin to keep it safe. As the clone-turned-string began to flutter to the ground, Karui caught it lightly and deftly sliced her arm open with a chakra scalpel, hardly wincing. She took the string and effortlessly stitched herself up with it, then used the Stimulus jutsu on herself to heal the skin around the string, leaving it securely tied into her forearm like some sort of sick body art. She finished tying off the string, offering a silent apology to the person whose body she might possibly be abusing in its form, but finished quickly and exited the alley to join her sister on the way to the arena.

 

[Godjacob]

"Wow, this place is paaacckkked!"

Tomiko had made that no doubt insightful observation as she entered the crowded stadium that hosted the finals. Needless to say from fellow ninja peers to residents both local and international and everyone in-between it had been sold out. Tomiko herself was excited for what was to come, even if she wished she badly had been on the other side competition rather than a mere spectator.

However, Tomiko was nothing if not a good sport. And thus had been eager to support her fellow teammates from Iwa. She even had some admittedly crudely-made support signs for each as she figured her voice was bound to get lost in the roar of the crowd. But whether they noticed or not was not the point, the important part was the gesture of support as she wished both of them well.

Good luck guys, show them the pride of Iwa!
​

---------
Kenji had found his own seat and he seemed to be closer to the floor level, which was just fine with him as it allowed him a closer sight of the action. The stadium seemed accommodating for animals, which made sense given the Inuzuka were present in this clan, so Sky and Luna were allowed by his seat as he scratched their ears while he took note of people who arrived in the crowd.

Seemed the Kage were beginning to gather, which of course caused Kenji to lament at his missed opportunity to be a contender before them, but it quickly shifted back to the pressure of performing with such spectators and how they might impact the ones who had advanced to the finals. Kenji decided that least he'd get a good view of what the others could do, more so see the kind of level he'd have to reach in order to make the cut next time.

"One way or another, this should be interesting..." Kenji mused to himself.

----------
So, the moment had finally come.

Azumi had kept to herself much in the interval, focused only on refining her skills and preparing for the finals to come. The Ame-native seemed almost possessed; having basically cut any social conversations in this pursuit which she deemed an acceptable sacrifice. What would she have to gain by wasting time on such activities? They'd only make her sloppy for the exams to come and besides in this village she desired to only mingle around when she absolutely had to.

Needless to say she had a trouble feeling "comfortable" on the grounds of the nation that had caused hers such grief.

Azumi still tried to keep focus. She worked to arrive early to the events as a few of the other "contenders" had already began to arrive before her, and as she stepped into the arena she had taken note of the faces present; both among her pool, and in the crowd.

The Kage in particular she had an eye on, or rather a scowl, those five leaders positioned above everyone else. Fitting, much like how the nations they represented seemed to hover over the rest of the world. Their unchallenged supremacy of the world, the natural ego and...Azumi paused to take a deep breath, she had to remind herself why she came here. She could not afford to let this spur of emotion break her focus, not when she was on the door to her goal.

For now, Azumi simply kept an eye on the other contenders, while she made sure she had been mentally prepared for the challenges ahead. No matter what, she'd leave this nation a Chunin and show the world what Ame pride was all about.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori was standing in the arena, scanning the stands. He was not interested in talking to Keito or the others, it would just break his focus. At least, that was what he called the bundle of nerves in his stomach. Noticing Tomiko in the crowd with....signs full of character, the boy could not help but chuckle at the sight. She had a good heart, showing support even though she didn't make it. Waving at the girl, he looked away and let out a sigh, folding his hands together as he stretched his arms. This was going to be stressful.

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

"So, you didn't pass either?" Taji said, sitting down a row above Kenji. "Atleast you made it out, so I suppose that is something positive. Having only one Kumo representative is better than nothing, but I would have liked more of an insurance policy." The girl said, crossing her arms and legs.

 

[kyuukestu]

Looking around, the proctor noted a few of the contestants had gathered. Decided it was enough, he pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. He presented it before the gathered examinees:

Spoiler: Exam Bracket

The paper revealed not only the match-ups but also the stages each match would be held at.

"These are the matches determined for the exams; the rules are the same as before. Once you've noted your battlefield you can head off."

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Taking a good look at Konoha's streets could tell you that the final round of the Chunin Exams had arrived. Some people popping bottles with their friends, others placed bets based on the roster, while there were families looking for front row seats. One of these families were the Akugamis, who were also joined by Satō Morishita. His reason for joining was simply to observe the fruits of his student's training, which was made evident in the way the foursome walked. While the Akugamis were close together, Satō walked about 5 feet(~1.5 meters) beside them. He kept a relaxed pace while keeping his hands in his pockets. On the topic of the family unit, Kurina Akugami kept a tight grasp on her daughter's hand while giving a concerned look to her son. Suisei Akugami blithely skipped as she held her mother's hand, under the impression that they were on a family trip of some kind. The anticipation of what was to come was building between the foursome, and it came time to leak once they were meant to take their respective places.

"You alright there kid?" Satō broke the silence that lay between them while taking a glance at Taiyo's face, which was glistening with sweat.

"Yeah...why'd ya ask?"

"Usually genin in your position get a little nervous and I saw all that sweat on your face so I made the connection."

"I guess that's fair. I mean I guess I'm a little uneasy. I don't wanna fail, y'know? But st the same time, I'm excited to compete and I think I've got a good shot at promoting to the next rank."

"I think you'll do great too, sweetie," Kurina decided to give her two cents after an extended period of time, "And even if you don't, your mummy will still be proud of you." Though her cutesy tone caused Taiyo to flush in embarrassment, he appreciated the heart behind it.

"Thanks Ma. I know you'll be proud of me regardless, but I'll give you a performance to take pride in." His mother smiled at her son's declaration before moving in for a hug. Suisei, not wanting to be left out, joined the hug as well. Satō grinned while watching the family's embrace. But as all good things must, the family hug ceased in order to allow the four to take their rightful places in respect to the Exams.

"Good luck big bro!" The exclamation of Taiyo's excited little sister echoed in the fiery shinobi's ear as he walked to the crowd of shinobi that had gathered. Looking at the proctors paper was somewhat difficult due to the crowd, but he could still see it.

First seed, nice...

First seed for first place, it's only natural. On the one hand, I feel bad about fighting Smiley. Yet on the other, I look forward to bashing her face in.

Without further hesitation, Taiyo set out for the arena as instructed.

 

[Hecotoro]

Smiley walked into the arena with clenched fist and a small smile on her face. This time she wasn't wearing anything covering her eyes, showing them light purplish iris as she looked up at the sky above her. Her expression didn't seem to change much buts he was definitely enjoying the nice warm sunlight sitting on her face.

She checked her new chakrams, making sure they were ready to be used. They were made of some dark gray metal, no interesting details about them, just that they looked sharp and ready to go. The young shinobi made sure the band holding her hair was tight and stretched her arms upward before finally going into a still position and waited for her opponent to appear.

 

[Retro Master]

Keito. That was the name of the Iwagakure genin standing beside Kiro and one he would remember...

“Kiro. Nice to meet you too, Keito.”

After his name to his fellow competitor, Kiro took notice of the other genin that were slowly starting to trickle in. Hisato was the next to arrive and had greeted Kiro. So, of course, Kiro returned the greeting with one of his own.

“Hey Hisato. Just waiting for everyone else to show up so these exams can finally start already.”

Glancing behind Hisato, Kiro noticed a short, brown-haired girl, with the same dark black eyes him, make an appearance. She appeared to be from the Hidden Rain, which piqued his interest slightly. He’d heard the Rain was probably the village that suffered the most from the Great Ninja wars of the past. The cruel part was that they had not been their wars to begin with. A land ravaged and then left to burn by the great powers that chose to wage their wars there. To see a Rain genin this far into the exam was certainly a statement in if itself. Perhaps she even shared a similar distaste for those who looked down at them from above.

The next thing that caught his eye was actually the light purplish color in the eyes of one of the girls from the mysterious village known as Hasa. It was Smiley, the candy lover. She didn’t seem to be making an obvious attempt to cover her eyes, like when she used his burnt up jacket as make-shift goggles, which seemed a bit strange. From prior information he had gained, Kiro could only make a few guesses as to why she now chose to be so revealing with her eyes. Drawing any further conclusions would have to wait though as the proctor suddenly chose to reveal the bracket and matchups for the first round. Scanning the paper quickly, his black eyes eventually landed on his name. Directly on top of him was none other than...

‘The most dangerous one from the start. Perfect.’

His first match was assured to be a challenge. At least if Kiro had judged the Virago known as Yan Xia Roulan correctly. To be honest, after thinking about it a bit, ‘Xia’ rolled off his tongue a bit better than ‘Roulan’. It just sounded slightly better and smoother in his head. Truthfully, he didn’t even know why the girl had like three names in the first place. Could her parents not settle on just one? Maybe none of them were actually a perfect fit? Who knew besides Yan Xia Roulan? With that in mind, Kiro considered asking her as he headed off to their designated battlefield.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

With ‘Asahi’ heading off to the location of her battle, Sagisō decided to follow suite. Shifting through the crowd, she made her way through the corridors, taking the chance to plant small sticker-like seals to the walls. Their color had been modified beforehand, so the wall looked no different despite the sealing tag. She knew one of her elder sisters would keep watch over this hallway and the strategically placed tags.

Once she was satisfied that no one had seen her, she headed onto her designated field. There she found her opponent already waiting.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

"Oh good looks like I made it." Shouted Shiho while she hastily ran onto the exam grounds. After arriving, she rested her palms on her knees, letting out many deep breaths to recover from her mad dash. "Phew, I'm glad I wasn't too late. At this stage of this exam, forget my brother even I would be upset at myself if I missed it due to my tardiness." Stretching her back, Shiho appeared to be just in time to see the proctor display the brackets for the third stage tournament exam. "Alright, let's see who I'm up against first."

 

[Retro Master]

The crowd had been in an uproar as Kiro stood in his battlefield, but that was probably due to another match which would be taken place. They were practically foaming in the mouth due to the matchup between Shiho Hyūga and Raiku Uchiha. A duel between the two dojutsu wielding, noble clans if the Leaf. There was pride at stake for the Uchiha clan. With the Hyūga Heiress having failed the previous round, all eyes were now transfixed on the supposed Uchiha prodigy. That may or may not have been overhyped by the crowd and papers advertising the event. While Shiho was respectable in her own right, she did not carry with her the status of Hyūga Heiress and so, this was a match Raiku could not afford to lose.

In a way, the attention placed on Raiku benefitted Kiro. Less eyes would be on a match of the unknown. While Kiro would prefer not to, if he found himself in a position where it was necessary to use his eyes, there was less of a chance of him being caught. Even so, the obnoxious clamoring for the Uchiha annoyed him slightly and it was like there was a dark shadow cast over his eyes as he gazed forward to await his opponent.

His expression seemed to lighten when Yan Xia Roulan finally made her appearance. The waiting was over and Kiro could finally focus on her instead of the distractions around them. Like usual, she held a serious expression and didn’t even say a word to him. He could respect it. On the battlefield, it was kill or killed after all. There was no room for the common exchange of pleasantries, unless one was comfortable enough to make an attempt to do of course. While Kiro would prefer not to harm a girl, he’d respect her desire to fight. Locking eyes with his opponent, Kiro instead opted for a generous gesture, or perhaps cocky one depending on the perspective.

“After you, Xia.” Kiro said in a calm tone, offering her the first move.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui’s eyebrows drew together in a slightly perplexed expression. Hisato was her opponent. Who was Hisato? She was painfully aware of the fact that she had come into contact with only a few ninja besides her sisters in the previous round, and as such knew only a few names to match with techniques. She recognized Bao’s name, the boy she had healed, and Kiro, who had completed the trio who were brawling right out of the gate— Mori, Yua and Shiho were also familiar names. But everyone else on the board was completely unknown to Karui, something that she could tell may end up being a problem with her place on the bracket.

The medical nin turned from the bracket dismissively, heading to her assigned arena to fight this Hisato ninja. I’ll have to be on my guard, that’s all. And besides, our priorities have shifted; now, becoming a chunin would only be a welcome bonus to keeping the Hyuga clan off our backs. Doesn’t mean I won’t try and put up a good fight, though. Going to give them a good show regardless. I have to think about this rationally and be cautious how I approach, but as long as I have a minute or so to analyze his moves…

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Hisato waved bye to Kiro as Kiro headed off to go down to his match. He waved at Keito too, "I better get headed to my match as well, best of luck!" Hisato said. Hisato looked around until he spotted where he would fight. Hisato made a dramatic pose as he hopped into the ring. He gave a formal courtesy bow to opponent before taking on a defensive stance. Hisato pointed at the girl with all five fingers on his right hand. Using his index finger and ring finger, he shot four carpel bones at Karui as the match officially started. One was located at her right shin, the second was to her right shoulder, the third was at her left shoulder, and the fourth was at her left shin. Hisato would start off with some quick shots at safe targets.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

Roulan—or rather Sagisō—nodded lightly in response to Kiro’s words but otherwise did nothing. Her eyes stayed trained on the proctor who had yet to give the signal for the match to begin.

When the proctor declared the beginning of the match, Sagisō immediately threw a scroll to the floor—one of her newest purchases in the leaf. As the scroll fell to the ground and unfurled, the script for 'Water' could be seen. With a pair of hand seals, Sagisō stepped on the scroll and unsealed it, causing oodles of water to emerge from the scroll as it seemed to store what was a pond-sized volume of water.

As the water began to spread around her Sagisō was already weaving hand seals in preparation for her next move, her chakra already flowing through her feet and into the water beneath her.

 

[Retro Master]

Roulan was not the only one who had been preparing for this stage of the exams. Kiro had come ready to blow this bitch up if he had to. The “bitch” being the stadium itself. As soon as the girl unleashed the scroll, Kiro’s hands were already above the seals on his wrists with three kunai in his hands. Two had explosive tags attached and were coated in gunpowder while the other was imbued with some electricity. By the time the water was just starting to spread out of the scroll, the three kunai would already be in the air, aimed towards the feet of his female opponent. The one in front was the lightning kunai, which would electrify the water Roulan was standing on and potentially her too. The other two kunai would land almost immediately after, which was when the explosive tags would explode. Even if the electricity didn’t activate them, they were still set to explode.

Originally, his aim with the kunai had been to force Roulan to move from her current position. Now he should be able to achieve the same effect while also destroying the scroll and her water supply. Even if she did somehow manage to get a jutsu off, the combined force of two explosions should be enough to instantly destroy it.

Of course, Kiro wasn’t done there. After he had thrown the kunai, he then summoned a fūma shuriken attached with a dozen explosive tags or so and connected to a wire. Should the explosions occur as Kiro expected them too, he would immediately throw the large shuriken upwards. It would be in an arc aimed to go over the area of the explosion before going down. However, it’s primary objective was actually quite simple. The girl just needed to see it. That’s because he had summoned two more kunai with his other hand. Just one of the kunai would seemingly be an actual a threat though.

Kiro would throw both after the fūma was launched, so when Roulan saw the giant shuriken, it would already be too late for her eyes. Thanks to the shuriken being thrown above the explosion, no matter which way Roulan avoided it, the smoke wouldn’t be able to block her from seeing the explosive weapon. With her eyes drawn to that area for just a moment, that’s when the kunai with a flash bang attached to it would enter her vision. The regular kunai would simply strike through the flash bang, activating it, before being deflected upwards and falling harmlessly somewhere near the outskirts of the arena while other one would just be sent downwards. As for the flash bang, assuming it even got to that point, Kiro would obviously avoid being blinded before continuing to go on the offensive, presumably with the fūma shuriken. After all, Kiro should be able to know which Roulan had gone if she chose to avoid the first explosion.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi glanced as she seemed to notice the matches had been decided, and she'd be taking on one named Keito. Azumi had little knowledge of who Keito had been, but that mattered little. It was an opponent, and Azumi was not about to let herself fall in the first round. All she needed to know was where she was to do battle, and she'd set up to show those in the crowd what she was capable of.

---------
Tomiko noticed as Mori waved back to her, which caused her to cheer louder though her attention quickly snapped back as the matches were on display. Seemed Mori was matched against the man of the delicious foods, Bao and Keito seemed to be paired from a girl she had been less familiar with. Maybe the one in the rain village? Regardless Tomiko knew to make it this far you needed to be quite skilled so neither match was a cakewalk, she only hoped Mori and Keito could do Iwa well.

"Good luck guys!"

---------
Sky & Thundra seemed to perk up when they picked up the familiar scent of Taji as they and Kenji glanced back as the latter offered a light smile the way of his comrade. "Was close, but sadly I had a bit of bad luck. In that Forrest nothing is certain..." Kenji mused, as he seemed to lament on his coming up short, but only for a moment as he focused on the board as the matches were laid out. "...at the very least, someone from Kumo made it across. So we won't hear Ay give our group an ear chewing." Kenji chuckled.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

She had expected bombs, her opponent had seemed awfully fond of them from their very first encounter and she had come prepared with a counter-measure. However, she hadn't expected the chance to use her counter-measure would come so soon or with such perfect timing.

As Kiro sent his shuriken through the air, Sagisō stomped—hard. The stomp served two purposes: one, it stopped the release of water from her scroll; two, it initiated the jutsu she'd just been weaving—Water Style: Spider Lily!

Like the petals of a spider lily, the water around her began to rise in tendrils, forming a wall of water in front of her. The area immediately around her and the scroll dried as the water was displaced to create this wall; meaning the lightning had little else to do but discharge its payload into the water wall—a payload which really should've been large if her opponent wanted to accomplish anything significant. Even if it had hit her, such a small discharge would be severely weakened after spreading across the water. However, it was still enough current to set off the sensitive explosive tags and balls of gun-powder that landed in the water soon after.

Her opponent had been very precise in his calculations and the resulting explosions decimated Sagisō's wall of water—exactly in the way she'd hoped he would; not enough tags to greatly evaporate the water but just enough to create a strong explosion that send water droplets splashing across the arena at blinding speeds. Water droplets that quickly and subtly narrowed into a scatter-shot of water-senbon as with a single hand-seal, Sagisō utilized her water-shuriken technique. She had been careful with molding her chakra, only molding the rough half of water droplets that weren't heading in her direction.

The end result was an explosively launched shower of water-senbon; a furious and painful rain, that would prove difficult, if not impossible to avoid. Even if Kiro developed the visual prowess to track each and every water droplet, it would be like trying to count drops of rain—an effort in futility; and, even if he had the eyes and the sense to only track the ones on a direct course with him, the water-droplets were just that—droplets, too numerous and too densely packed for there to be any hope of slipping a human body through them unharmed. If Kiro wasn't careful he would quickly be turned into a porcupine.

This point was exemplified as an explosion rang out above the field—the Fuma with its dozens of paper-bombs unable to avoid the hail of water droplets. Just one had been enough to cause it to detonate quite harmlessly in the air.

 

[Retro Master]

Kiro expected Roulan to attempt to defend herself somehow, however, to form a complete water wall in such a short amount of time seemed implausible. At the very least she should’ve taken some damage. Considering the explosion did happen, Kiro still did end up throwing the in a gradually upwards arc. At the same time, the water droplets that were sent by the explosion, which somehow failed to completely evaporate the water wall, were suddenly turned into dozens upon dozens of water senbon. This meant his shuriken wouldn’t get far before it would be pelted by the rain. Realizing this, Kiro resealed the kunai with the flash bang and hopped back while moving his arms to cover himself in attempt to avoid taking further damage from the large explosion.

When the explosion occurred, Kiro was sent backwards, tumbling over before flipping back up to his feet as he neared wall. When he stood up, there were visible scratches and some burn marks over his uncovered body parts. His eyes stared in the direction of Roulan, perhaps more annoyed that she had caused his clothes to be dirtied. The positive part was that the explosion had prevented him from being struck by any of the water senbon.

‘So that’s her strategy to deal with my explosions then. Damnit! This will be risky, but it seems I’ll have to start expending my chakra now.’

Throwing down the remaining kunai in his hand straight into the earth besides his feet, perhaps in frustration, Kiro then ran forward to retake the offensive before Roulan could while rapidly performing hand seals. Five balls of fire were then launched from his mouth. At the same he was spewing out the flames, Kiro pulled out five basic shuriken from his weapons pouch and tossed them into the flames as they spread. Each one of the shuriken were now hidden inside a fireball.

The boy had used Fire Release: Pheonix Flower Jutsu and all the fireballs were targeted towards the location of his opponent, except aimed in a manner where they would spread out like five fingers reaching out to grab something. After all, the main perk of this jutsu was that he could freely control each fireball. Yet, Kiro wasn’t finished. He would immediately follow up by pulling out three kunai, each enhanced with lightning chakra as well. Then he threw them directly at the girl. With their trajectory going straight for Roulan combined with the force Kiro threw them, the kunai would reach her before the fireballs, if not right through the girl assuming she was foolish enough to stay in the same place.

‘Let’s see you block this with your water. Youwon’t.’

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

The proximity of the blast had blown Sagisō backward, forcing her to tuck into a roll until she was forced to a stop by the arena's wall. The spray of droplets had soaked her body before being evaporated by the heat of the blast. That layer of water had protected her from any serious burns but she had not avoided her fair share of scrapes and bruises; but, she had been able to track the kunai and anticipate the explosions, and as such, her recovery was not as haphazard as her opponent's.

Eyes flashing, the girl sprung upward to regain her footing while—hidden by her billowing hair—she released a flash-bang and began weaving hand seals. The flashbang had been thrown in such a way that it would be hidden by her body until she hit the ground. At that point, she would bend at the knees, storing energy in her tendons in preparation to spring forward with blinding speed.

If Kiro had been paying attention, the exact moment she bent her knees would be the moment the flashbang was revealed, peaking above her head, and he wouldn't be able to avoid its immediate detonation. If he had somehow turned away in time, then he would be blind towards the girl's movements while the blinding light behind her would provide her with the perfect cover.

Phantoms flashed forward, smears of speed as they raced past Kiro's attacks. These were basic clones and hidden inside their bodies were shuriken and attached to them were bombs and an additional flashbang. The spread of Kiro's fireballs would allow them to pass between the gaps. It wouldn't help that the boy was running forward as he would have even less time to react to these clones—and assuming he could somehow avoid the first flash, if he looked back to gauge the distance of her two-paper bomb clones, he would open himself up to a point-blank flash as light easily passed through the illusory clones.

Regardless, more important than the clones were the main body's actions. Rather than spring forward, Sagisō's real body had sprung upward, scaling the walls of the arena. In her hands was her water scroll—the scroll having been blown back with her in the blast. Estimating that the scroll only had about half of its water remaining she promptly swapped out for a fresh scroll. As she activated the scroll, she threw it in the air, sending a kunai chasing after it.

The kunai would nail the scroll to the wall at another section of the arena; but, as the scroll released its payload—a waterfall-like deluge from on high—it would drench the ground and Kiro beneath it, should he still be in its path. Hidden by the spring of water and dangling from the end of the kunai was another one of Sagisō's more recent purchases—a bomb. If Kiro had any way of seeing inside the clones, he would note that the bombs within them were also new additions to her arsenal, the same type of bomb.

Although she would've loved to press the offense even further, Sagisō was paying close attention to Kiro as the clones closed in on him. His actions would determine the order in which she detonated her tools.

 

[Retro Master]

Kiro had been paying close attention to her hands, trying to see if Roulan would use a jutsu to defend herself that he didn’t even get a chance to see the flashbang due to it erupting as soon as it peaked out over her hair. Of course, the bright light enveloping the area around Roulan was still enough to get him to pause.

“Damn her!”

Fortunately, since he hadn’t been directly looking at the flashbang, but rather her hands, his senses weren’t as discombobulated. This meant Kiro was able to see the three clones earlier than Roulan might’ve liked. However, the light did help her conceal the items with Kiro being none the wiser.

“Clones? That’s not gonna help you!”

Right when she leapt into the air, Kiro redirected three of the fireballs towards incoming clones, thinking that they were real. Since he had been running towards Roulan at first, the clones would’ve been able to reach him faster. Conversely, his fireballs would be able to reach the clones faster, especially since they were aiming to pass through the gaps between the flames. Of course, his main focus was still on the girl in midair. He didn’t hesitate to send the remaining two fireballs at her. Well, it ended up only being one since Kiro ended up redirecting another fireball towards the scroll. The shuriken inside the flame would strike the seal on the scroll as the fireball exploded, destroying it. At the same time they were redirected, three shuriken laced with gunpowder, along with having an explosive tag attached to them, were summoned in his hand. Imbued with a sliver of his chakra, they were thrown immediately at Roulan’s trajectory.

He wanted to see how she planned to dodge or even block the fireball with the three dangerous shuriken following it not too far behind. Being completely midair meant she didn’t have much options to dodge what was essentially a faster fireball that could track her down. On the other hand, she could attempt to block with a makeshift water wall somehow, but Kiro was confident these explosions would be more than enough to evaporate most it this time.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

Sagisō clicked her tongue as Kiro diverted his fireballs, attempting to counter all her moves at once. The clones had been minor tricks so the virago paid no mind to them as the fireballs incinerated the ninja tools within. Three fireballs down with two remaining. The pair of fireballs split, one going after her and another after her scroll.

The latter she didn't worry about as she had already expected this reaction from Kiro. That was why she'd attached one of her new bombs to the scroll. As soon as Kiro's fireball was within range of the bomb, she would detonate it; the results of which would create a small cloud of mist that hung in the air, murkying vision from the arena floor from its sky-high walls. The misty explosion would send the scroll flying erratically, spraying its contents about in a wild spin that would cascade the arena below in a downpour of 'rain'.

Meanwhile, Sagisō would apply the same tactic to the fireball headed towards her. She withdrew three kunai tagged with paper bombs and threw them in a triangular formation. The bombs were spread out to cover a large angle in front of her and would detonate when they neared the fireball. The ideal outcome was the destruction of the fireball and the gun-powder-laced shuriken that followed it; however, even if Kiro controlled the shuriken to avoid her blast, she had used her explosions to block off the most direct route to her. This meant his shuriken would have to travel the long way around all three of her explosions adding on extra time that would make her escape all but assured.

As her feet touched the arena walls, chakra held her in place, and beneath the cover of the explosions and the spreading mist, Sagisō vanished as she used the mist-rain created by her scroll to enact the hiding in drizzle technique.

She raced along the arena walls, weaving hand seals—Water Release: Starch Capturing Field! Rather than at Kiro, Sagisō direct her jutsu into the air above the mist where the sticky water began to mix with and conceal itself in the make-shift rain. As the rain fell on the arena below it would turn sporadic patches of the arena into hidden glue traps of varying stickiness, greatly restricting movement.

More importantly though, as the sticky rain fell on Kiro it would glue his body parts together while also gluing him to the ground—crippling both movement and any further hand seals just long enough for Sagisō to nail with another attack. Pulling water from the air she had created a liquid fuma shuriken and within it was another of her special bombs.

 

[Retro Master]

By now, Kiro had come to expect an excellent counter to anything he threw at the girl. She was quite skilled to say the least. Roulan ended up protecting her scroll by triggering the bomb she had attached to it. The ice bomb not only shielded the scroll from being destroyed, but also reversed the outcome Kiro had wanted. The scroll was sent flying, spinning out of control, and spewing out water in nearly every direction. Avoiding every single droplet was currently not very possible for Kiro, so he ended up getting some water on him.

However, the main thing he wanted to avoid was the cloud of mist forming near area of the explosion. Primarily the sticky water that was raining down from it. He figured the girl had launched her syrup jutsu into the cloud.Fortunately, Kiro was currently outside its range. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t last for long as the mist continued to spread. To his left, he could see the mist being formed and spreading in a certain direction. Logically, all the mist would gradually spread at the same speed, but the mist near the wall was simply spreading faster for some reason. It didn’t take long for the buy to figure out what she was up to. He glanced briefly behind him, then turned fully to the left in the direction a majority of the mist was spreading in.

‘I can’t afford to spend my chakra so recklessly right now, but I need to start applying some pressure. Her intent is too cover the arena in a mist. In that case...’

Kiro began moving closer towards the side of the area where mist was quickly spreading as he quickly performed the hand seals. The mist was rotating around the arena wall at a decent pace, so Kiro would have to time his next attack accurately. With the hand seals having been completed, Kiro stopped and brought his head back before launching a large stream of fire from his mouth. It was the Fire Release: Fire Wave technique. The flames spread wide as Kiro aimed to cover the area of the wall was spreading towards. If his guess was correct, the girl would be somewhere there with the mist following her. Since Kiro couldn’t see her exact location, even through the mist, he hoped the large spread of the attack would be enough to get her.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

By this point, Sagisō had judged that the distance between her and her opponent was a double-edged sword. The distance allowed her to comfortably react to his moves but it likewise allowed him the same privilege.

She noted that Kiro had estimated her location and then chose to blanket her location in a wide-spread fire-release. Sagisō was okay with this.

Clutching her Fuma underarm, the virago weaved a pair of hand-seals and took a deep breath—Water Style: Syrup Capturing Field!

Rather than the sprinkling of water she'd released earlier, Sagisō choose to meet Kiro head-on by releasing a powerful, continuous stream of sticky water into the flames. The contact between water and fire resulted in an explosive release of thick and sticky steam, which caused the mist to rapidly expand while gaining some of the adhesive properties of her starch capturing field.

But Sagisō wasn't done there, she lined herself up with Kiro below and then...launched herself! She dove straight down at him pushing back his flames with her water release. With the steam being created from the clash between fire and water ahead of her, Sagisō's descent would be largely concealed.

She suspected that Kiro wouldn't even be able to tell that his flames were being pushed back since he would only see the stream disappearing into the now rapidly thickening and expanding steam. With his visibility reduced to near zero, the boy would have seconds—the time during which Sagisō was airborne—to decide his next action.

 

[Retro Master]

It wasn’t too difficult to determine what exactly Roulan had countered his attack with. The moment the steam began to spread rapidly was when Kiro knew she was shooting water at the fire. Reluctantly, Kiro’s sharingan was then immediately activated along with something else. It was good that the steam had covered a good part of the arena or everyone would’ve been able to see his eyes. Even though he didn’t know Roulan herself was also falling towards him, this reaction was close enough to what he was looking for.

Since he needed only one hand to control the fire, Kiro quickly pulled out a scroll with the other. He held it sideways, while allowed the scroll to fall open, facing the fire wave. When it did, that’s when the condition activated the scroll. The specific condition for this scroll was that it would activate when it was heated to a certain temperature while open. Of course, the heat from the fire was quite enough to trigger it. Once the scroll was activated, a strong gust of wind ended up being released into the flames, fueling it while also pushing the water back. Anything else that happened to be pushed inside would likely be pushed back a bit as well.

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Kiro’s face. Perhaps this was due to the heat or maybe it was because of the chakra expenditure. This was a very risky play on his part. Even with wind enhancement, it was still possible for Roulan to overpower the fire if she wanted to. If Kiro failed to hold off the water, then he would be soaked. From his experience in the Mist, he knew first hand how dangerous that could be against a water release user. However, that result would depend on if Roulan was willing to do what was necessary to douse the flames with water.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

The scalds she received from the steam was a worthy sacrifice to obtain the chance she sought; so as the girl's furs were matted with the heated steam, stickied from its adhesive properties, and her skin was beginning to flush from the excessive heat, she prepared her final move. Sagisō had intended to time an explosive burst of chakra, rapidly widening and overpowering Kiro's fire release while leaving him in a precarious position where he wouldn't be able to avoid getting pinned by her sticky water.

However, as Sagisō gauged the strength of this fire release she noted it was getting stronger...much stronger...in fact, too strong. Her expression shifted dramatically as her water released was pushed back with a sudden gale that had caused even her to halt in the air. 'Wind?'

It was a little-known fact that when empowered with wind, fire release could clash against water release without losing. With the addition of wind even if she dramatically increased the strength of her water release, Kiro could still overpower her by increasing the strength of his fire release.

His actions were beyond Sagisō's initial expectations, but she hadn't been caught completely flat-footed. The Fuma shuriken she had created earlier was still in hand, although the water had boiled away to reveal the ice-bombs within. The casing of water had protected them from the immense heat of the fire and allowed her to employ them at this critical moment.

Sagisō strengthened her water released, not to overpower the fire, but to open up a small safe zone around her. With the wind and fire blowing her water backward, Sagisō was quickly soaked by her own water, the outermost layers of which were even beginning to boil. However, it was at this moment that Sagisō detonated her own ice-bombs, flash-freezing the inner-most layer of water and encasing herself in a layer of ice.

Now a Sagisō-popsicle the girl had just enough protection to weather the fire wave. The dual forces of gravity and the blow-back Kiro's own attack caused her to be pulled out of the fire wave, and the ice around her rapidly melted as she dropped out of the fire stream and into the hot steam below. Kiro's addition of wind had punched a hole right through the steam, and that displaced steam had been forced to the sides, thickening the steam directly around it. This was combined with the water from Sagisō's earlier scroll which would've also begun turning to steam with the rapid increase in heat. The end result was zero-visibility steam as thick as it was scalding.

Within the steam, Sagisō landed on the ground below the fire wave which was still aimed at the upper reaches of the arena's walls. The deafening sound of Kiro's flames destroying the arena's wall also served to perfectly mute any sound from her landing. Sagisō had sustained no small number of first-degree burns and even quite a few second-degree ones despite her being coated in water and ice.

Still, this was an opportunity she would not miss. She swiftly went through a series of hand-seals, performing two jutsu utilizing the water around her to fuel the first while disappearing with the second. If and when Kiro realized what had happened it would perhaps already be too late...

 

[Retro Master]

Kiro was expecting the girl to continue her attempts at overpowering his fire with water and expected to be overtaken at any moment. However, that moment never came. Perhaps she had actually gotten disintegrated by the fire. Kiro doubted that would happen, but there was no sign of any water coming through his fire. The only way to find out what happened was to stop the fire wave, which he did. With the fire dissipating, Kiro could clearly see the wall in front of him, but no sign of Roulan. At the very least, the view gave him confirmation of something else. He had to act fast.

“This was your plan, right? If you’re gonna finish this, don’t be a coward! Come out and face me yourself!”

The boy tried provoking Roulan as he performed quick hand seals for Lightning Release: Chain Lightning technique, hoping the chains wouldlock onto her if she was nearby. Since her chakra covered most of the mist around him besides the front, Kiro would then lunge forward and junk towards the wall. The remnants of mist in that direction should’ve been just enough to keep the spectators from noticing his eyes, if they weren’t already distracted by something else. Fortunately, the unusual stickiness from the Mist hadn’t been enough to impede his movements, especiallysince he had also superheated the chakra in hislegs to dissolve and liquid that got on them.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

Kiro's provocation only served to allow the girl to once more confirm his location from her position underground. His subsequent jumping around then allowed her to confirm his location with even more precision. She had expended no small volume of chakra to utilize her strongest technique—Water Release: Water Fang! This was a B-rank technique, incredibly fast and incredibly powerful.

The water release technique caused water to rotate at incredibly high speeds which she had then utilized to drill into the ground. Following that, she has utilized the hiding in water technique, which allowed her to conceal herself in what should've been an impossibly small volume of water.

The steam above her along with several puddles of scattered water had been saturated with her chakra, providing cover for her as she hid. It was perhaps these scattered puddles that prevented Kiro's chain lightning from locking onto her or, failing that, if it had locked onto her it had probably run itself straight into the ground as it tried to make a B-line to her position.

Her water drills were fairly thin, which made them silent as they burrowed through the ground. Moments after they'd hidden they would re-emerge directly under Kiro, penetrating the soles of his feet before moving onto sieve his body.

Of course, while the drills assaulted her opponent Sagisō continue to bide her time underground.

 

[Retro Master]

Kiro was already planning to jump up the wall once he got close enough. Yet, when the boy jumped forward, the chain of lightning that had been occupied with the random puddle on the floor suddenly chained into a direction right under him. Unfortunately, Kiro didn’t have time to react as he felt something sharp pierce through his legs. It was like multiple sharp needles going right through them, causing Kiro to curse in pain. They weren’t stopping either, and more seemed to be coming at him from underground. The girl was more cowardly than even Raiku. For all that big talk of hers, the most damage she could do him was when she was hiding safely underground.

‘Pathetic.’

Using shape transformation, Kiro changed the lightning into a blade like shape and then swiped at the water, attempting to break its connection with him. Of course, the lightning was enough to distort the water enough. Since he had been going in a forward motion, he was able to avoid being crippled by the rest of the water. Unfortunately, his legs had to be the sacrifice.

By the time he land on the side of the wall, blood was already starting to stream out from the multiple tiny holes on his legs. The boy grimaced in pain as he spared as little chakra as he could to remain attached to the wall. Kiro then turned around and looked around at the ground, frantically searching for Roulan with his sharingan. From what he could tell, she was only able to attack him from underground due to the sound he made. That’s why it would be in his best interest to remain as quiet as possible. Glancing up to the top of the wall, the boy then nodded as he understood what he had to do.

He pulled out six shuriken with gunpowder and an explosive tag attached to them. Three in each hand as Kiro began to limp up the wall. Then he threw three of them into the air above one-by-one. His intent was seemingly to cause explosions in the air to create enough noise to distract her while avoiding lessening his field of vision. The only way for the girl to actually know where Kiro himself was would then be for her to come out of hiding. His own chakra was already pretty low due to the risks he had taken, so at best he had enough for one, maybe two strong jutsu. Right now was likely his last chance to win.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

The sound of deafening explosions prevented Sagisō from further triangulating Kiro's position and so the girl cautiously extended her senses from a puddle hidden beneath the mist.

As Kiro took to the walls and began detonating bombs, the steam had been allowed to spread unhindered and it was finally near full coverage of the battlefield. Sagisō intended to help that along.

She silently emerged from her puddle and re-applied the hiding in drizzle technique, causing the already expansive mist to expand until it had covered every inch of the arena floor. From there Sagisō positioned herself between a number of puddles that had been imbued with her chakra from the earlier sticky rain.

The virago intended to confirm something but she wasn't going to do it without a little insurance.

"Proctor," She called out. "I was under the impression that killing wasn't permitted in these exams, but this guy has clearly tried to kill me several times. I request he be disqualified for his violation of the rules."

 

[=Nightshade=]

The moment the battle commenced, antennae pushed their way out of Karui’s dark hair, twitching and taking in every motion, smell, and taste. A sudden shift in the air’s natural motion set Karui immediately on alert, and she leapt into the air, pushing off from the ground with an antelope’s grace. Not a second too early, either, as four small holes had formed in the stone, punctured by what looked like white bullets. A whiff of blood touched her antennae then was gone, and she landed lightly on all fours. The girl reached down and rolled one of the bullet-like objects between her fingers. Is this… bone? They’re too small to tell… But she knew enough to tell that if that hole had been made in her shin, rather than the arena, it would have hurt like hell.

Karui’s antennae twitched again, and her eyes lifted to Hisato’s chest level, taking careful consideration to avoid eye contact, knowing that sometimes a slight flicker in one’s gaze could give away a move. She remained still for a second, then released a kunai without warning, aimed at Hisato’s right knee. The moment it left her hand, she dashed to the left, throwing two more kunai as she went, aimed at the white-haired boy’s left elbow and shoulder, respectively. The second he made a move, dodging, blocking, or attacking, she would take to the air with the use of her wings to gain as much maneuverability as possible.

 

[Retro Master]

“This exam is meant to simulate live combat. A shinobi in control of a fight would have the battle go exactly how they please. If you’re allowing your opponent to freely throw around attacks you’re displeased with, then that’s your choice. With that said, killing isn’t necessarily allowed. However, I’ve yet to sense any actual bloodlust from the boy or seen any attack used with the intent to kill. That could be cause for disqualification. Since that doesn’t appear to be the case, your current request is denied.”

————————
​

It didn’t seem like Roulan was attacking anytime soon by the time as Kiro managed to make it to the top of the arena wall. The boy winced in pain as he stood up and took in deep breaths as he glanced at his bloody legs. Roulan had gotten a good hit on him, almost a deadly one. That was why Kiro found it funny he was able to hear her complaints from the other side of the arena. Apparently he had been trying to kill her multiple times. It was sad that after hiding away, she was stooping down to an even lower level by asking the proctor to disqualify him.

Fortunately, the proctor didn’t disqualify him. Taking advantage of knowing where her general location was, Kiro used a portion of his remaining chakra to use the fire wave jutsu again. He began to spread more fire, an an attempt to displace the mist and clear the wide angle in the direction the girl might be.

Out of no where, black smoke also suddenly began to cover the area Roulan had been talking from. A quick sniff would be able to smell that this was no ordinary smoke bomb. The dry, dark smoke gave off a fumy scent as it painted the area all around her pitch black. There had been two of these special smoke bombs. The third bomb thrown together with them was just a single gunpowder bomb, which sent the powder flying in all directions after it popped. More importantly, the smoke bombs had chakra infused into them, so when it spread, it coated the area in Kiro’s chakra, allowing him to see chakra that was not his own with his eyes. Of course, the finishing touches would come soon after.

There were three kunai thrown in as well, hidden by the spreading smoke as they silently flew into the dark smoke. Only a second later would the tags attached to them light everything up. Even if Roulan managed to escape in time, the explosion should still cause some serious damage. Perhaps even enough to knock her out for a few seconds. If she was so concerned about being touched, then Kiro could be generous for her. Hopefully, for the first and last time this match. The explosion itself also served as a good cover, as her own vision would be quite limited. More importantly, the water nearby should’ve been evaporated.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

The sudden appearance of smoke and its tell-tale smell immediately alerted Sagisō to Kiro's plan. With fire coming from above and the kinder he'd somehow prepared below, it was evident he planned to blow her and the arena to pieces. Without hesitation, she activated the insurance she had prepared for such a situation as this—Water Release: Spider Lily.

Tendrils of water, much thicker than the ones she'd created at the beginning of the match emerged from the puddles around her, swirling together into a defensive curtain. Although Sagisō had been expecting an attack such as this one, what she hadn't expected was for the igniter to come from somewhere else and the sudden detonation shattered her water curtain and flung her across the arena. She hit the wall with a crack that would've been sickening, had it not been drowned out by the sound of explosions.

It was her fortune that she'd made the mist hanging around her more viscous with the vaporization of her starch capturing field; the unnatural adhesive and cohesive properties of the mist had allowed the ambient particles of water to capture the spreading powders and then clump them together. This had concentrated the powder further away from her than Kiro might've liked as the powder's ability to spread was severely undercut.

Even with the explosion further away from her and the shockwave blunted by her Spider Lily, she was sure a rib or two had been broken. She could only watch helplessly as Kiro's fire wave bathed the arena in heat, wiping away much of the mist she'd created.

The girl grunted and pushed herself to her feet. What she'd gathered from her short conversation with the proctor was that as long as she didn't release her killing intent, it would be fine to attack with moves that could easily kill.

Striking a few hand-seals, Sagisō created a water-clone from one of the few puddles remaining on the very edges of the arena. The beauty of the water-clone technique was its ability to reproduce a clone with all the physical capabilities of the user and as Suigisō lacked the accumulated damage that Sagisō had sustained, she was in peak form. This was something she proved with action.

Suigisō shot out of the mist at top speed and lead with a double Arabian. She rounded off, heading for the center of the arena, and vaulted on her hands. She left a single paper bomb plastered to the ground as she sprang high into the air spinning into two somersaults as she neared the halfway mark on the wall.

On the first somersault, she dispensed three bomb-tagged kunai in a fan, which would nail themselves into the wall below Kiro. The tags were all fake, but that fact was unknown to her opponent. Had they been real, their explosions would've blown him off the wall and into the air, where he would be helpless to defend himself from a follow-up attack. The limited space on the wall limited the number of directions he could move in without being air-borne.

On the second somersault, she dispensed three more kunai. Only two were bomb-tagged, these tags real, and fanned out near the mid-point of the wall below Kiro. The last kunai had been thrown towards another section of the eastern wall, which she was closest to, and the wire attached to it would allow Suigisō to swiftly pull herself towards that wall.

Simultaneously with Suigisō's assault, still within the mist, Sagisō had condensed the remaining mist into four Fuma shuriken, causing it to fully vanish. All of the Fuma had been condensed around regular shuriken, but they were not the only regular shuriken in her hand. Sagisō dished out her shuriken in flourished pairs.

The first flourish sent two Fuma shuriken that had been loosely condensed using less chakra than was necessary. Sagisō threw them in opposite arcs towards Kiro on the wall, covering his right and left exits. Without the necessary chakra needed to hold the water together in its compact form, the water-shuriken began to disintegrate into a misty trail.

Their curved paths would delay them, ensuring they arrived shortly after Suigisō's first volley of fake bombs. If Kiro dodged left or right, he would dodge into the range of these Fuma shurikens, or rather, since the Fuma would've fully disintegrated at that point, he would dodge into the range of any approaching attack, hidden within the misty trail.

And there would be attacks hidden in the misty trail, but their trajectories were instead aimed to cover the right and left walls. Two bomb-tagged shurikens were headed for the sections of the wall, both right and left, he'd need to dodge towards in order to evade the explosions at his current position. These were the second flourished pair.

Sagisō kept the last two Fuma in hand as she began to move up the wall right behind her. She was closing distance in preparation for Kiro's reaction—seeking to pin him after he reacted, or if needed, detonate her various paper-bombs, which had been set to remote detonation.

Spoiler: Double Arabian

Spoiler: Diagram

 

[Retro Master]

‘So that’s how it is. Not that I can complain.’

If Sagisō or Suigisō looked close enough, they could see Kiro’s sharingan quickly analyzing the trajectory of all the thrown kunai from the water clone. It was pretty clear that remaining in his current position would be the unwise decision. Forcing him into the air must’ve been the aim of the Hasa Kunoichi. In that case, he’d give the girl what she wanted and perhaps even something more. Since his legs were currently not in the best shape, Kiro was forced to rely on his hands.

Before the first set of kunai with explosive tags dug themselves into the wall directly beneath him, Kiro let himself fall forward. As the boy did so, he turned his body enough to where he could push off a just a bit with his hands into a sort of half mid-air front flip. It granted him some extra distance from the wall. As he was falling towards the area where the next batch of kunai had now dug themselves of the wall, Kiro pulled out a smoke bomb and some kunai before immediately crushing the bomb with his hand just before passing over the explosives.

Of course, since they were set to remote activation, once they inevitably exploded, there were at least three kunai that burst out of the smoke in the direction of Suigisō. Their speed had been intensified all thanks to the force from the explosion. Meanwhile, there was another kunai that had been sent flying upwards, nearly over the arena walls. As the lone kunai drew near the center of the arena, it would then be shriuded in a white puff of smoke. Out of the smoke came the boy, his body turning midair while summoning six shuriken laced explosives tags and gunpowder, three in each hand.

Attempting to predict her movements to avoid the kunai, Kiro would then throw three of the Shuriken downwards at wherever Suigisō was. Fortunately, there was still some rising steam on the outskirts of the arena above the walls, which should’ve been enough to conceal his sharingan from the eyes of the spectators. The boy continued turning his body until he was prepared to throw the remaining three shuriken at Sagisō, who was running up the side of a wall. It was all thanks to his sharingan that allowed him to determine the real one and continued to watch her with it.

 

[kyuukestu]

Village Hidden in the Leaf, Chunin Exams Arena – Day of the Exams

Sagisō

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Roulan​

Sagisō decisively detonated the twin paper bombs as Kiro entered their range, the added smoke and loss of vision causing her to narrow her eyes warily. Ninja tools shot erratically from the smoke and littered the battlefield, the explosion shooting them in every which direction. None managed to near Sagisō or her clone, who had both been below the explosion but the numerous kunai did give the duo other things to focus on as Kiro hid amidst them. He didn't seem keen on stealth, however, dropping his transformation in mid-air.

Once he was in the air, Sagisō knew his ability to reposition was limited. She launched herself off the wall, spinning through the air. She noted as Suigisō intercepted Kiro's shuriken with one of her own, a chain reaction of explosions quickly eliminating all six shurikens. Using the explosions as a smokescreen Sagisō sailed both her Fuma towards Kiro's airborne location, they would detonate after a few seconds, where they would've been relatively close to the boy.

Sagisō also detonated the paper-bomb Suigisō had planted on the ground, creating a cloud of detritus that concealed her as she fell into it. Moments later, tendrils of water would shoot up from Sagisō's location, penetrating the debris clouds and seeking out the airborne Kiro. This was Sagisō's Spider Lily, generated from the water that had seeped underground through the holes she'd drilled with her Water Fang. This subterranean water had been protected from Kiro's best efforts at evaporating it.

And now she struck, capitalizing on this moment as Suigisō watched vigilantly, shuriken and bombs in hand, and Kiro remained limited by his airborne position.