Ask to Join Naruto: One's Nindo

[Godjacob]

"I see...suppose that makes sense. Given the exams, bound to run into new faces." Azumi mused, though she had by contrast avoided social contact when possible so she had lacked the chance meetings to chat the way Keito seemed to be drawn to. Or was drawn to him one could say, she had bumped into an Uchiha on her way to the tower of the second exam but that had not ended with a causal chat she assured.

"Alright you should be good to go when you wish, your wounds are treated and you'll have a little time to rest before the next round. Make the most of it."

The nurse had given Azumi an update as she was given a green bill of health. Azumi nodded to the medical ninja as she hopped off her seat and moved to grabbed her cleaned umbrella before she folded it behind her back. Azumi had began to walk to the door to take her leave, but paused...as there seemed to be something on her mind which caused her to sigh as she glanced back at Keito and Hisato.

"If it is not too much, may I have a word with the Iwa-ninja. Alone. It won't take but a moment." Azumi asked of Hisato, as it seemed she had something private she wished to ask of her former foe.

---------
Members of the stadium had began to get restless, it had been bad enough for the members of this arena that their battle had been rescheduled but now the new replacement seemed to be running late. With all the more exciting buzz that had been rumored going on in other arenas, members of the crowd had been on the cusp of being irritated.

"Sorry sorry sorry SORRY!"
​

A panicked but lively voice sounded by the entrance of the arena as Tomiko dashed in having gotten her gear and slipped on her second gauntlet as needless to say she had to scramble to be prepared for this unexpected match. Tomiko slid into place as some dirt kicked up behind her and she quickly scanned the crowd. Course, her family was not present...not that it was a shock, they were busy and to ask them to drop everything to come to the Land of Fire for this was too much, especially given Tomiko herself had no idea she'd be competing until minutes ago.

Still, she lamented at what could've been, but quickly shifted back focus to her opponent and the proctor.

"I'm here I'm here, and ready to go!" Tomiko said with affirmation, before she finally realized her opponent as her eyes seemed to widen almost comedically.

"M-mori?"

 

[Hecotoro]

Asahi was about to chase after when she heard her sister mention the incoming attack. She reached for her chakrams, that weren't there. She had forgotten to bring them along, but then again she was hoping to get a new weapon soon, as it seemed people who had never used them before were experts in catching them. She raised her forearms to her face, covering it from incoming glass.

"I don't know what to do!" She called out with a worried tone. "Am I supposed to hit the kitties?!" She jumped back trying to avoid an incoming attacker, "I don't want to hit them! They're adorable!"

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

His fingers fidgeting slightly, Keito lost several seconds to the swelling pain in his belly, which seemed to ripple like ocean waves battered by falling rain. He winced through breaths for just a moment, before the pain subsided and he began to feel...oddly normal again. As he came to, he saw Azumi cross from the corner of his eye toward the center, where the infirmary door sat, stretched across the other end of the room from him. Figuring the Amegakure genin was cleared for her next fight, he looked away, back toward the window he'd stared out earlier.

But Keito heard her footsteps stop at the threshold. Azumi let out a conflicted sigh.

"If it is not too much, may I have a word with the Iwa-ninja. Alone. It won't take but a moment." He heard her request of Hisato. For a brief second, the nervous Iwa genin's eyes widened, wondering what she could possibly wish to speak to him about.

Before the Mist genin could even really reply, Keito was shifting from his position in bed, swinging his legs around to place his feet on the ground. Standing with a wobble and more grit-teeth pain, Keito steadied himself regardless with steady breaths and careful steps. He held a hand up toward Hisato, as if saying, 'Let me do this myself, thanks.'

"We can speak out in the hallway, if that's okay?" He asked, turning his head to address the nurse in the room.

"You really shouldn't-" She started to say.

"-I'll be fine, it's okay." He said, moving toward Azumi's position at the door anyway.

"You fucking ninja always say that..." The nurse grumbled under her breath, before turning to Hisato with an unsettlingly gleeful tone. "Okay honey, let's get you treated before your next round?"

"After you." Keito said as he shuffled over slowly, motioning Azumi toward the hallway outside the infirmary.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori was idly tapping his foot on the ground as he waited for his replacement opponent, there was no fun in becoming a Chunin by proxy. He wanted to fight, show his worth, yet he had yet to do so. The crowd seemed to be just as annoyed as he was, and he couldn't truly blame them. They were here to see them fight, not to see some random kid get by on good luck alone. "How long can someone take? Sheesh, it's bad manners to keep someone waiting.".

When his opponent finally showed up in a....less than dignified manner, the boy couldn't help but chuckle. Of course, because why would things be different? "Hello, Tomiko. It seems that you managed to get in after all, and what a gracious entry. Still, work on your punctuality. No future Tsuchikage runs late. Come on, no need to be so surprised. This way atleast someone from Iwa will move on." Drawing his wakazashi and slinging it over his shoulder, Mori smiled at Tomiko. "Well then, shall we? I spent long enough waiting around."

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi raised an eyebrow as Keito seemed to take matters in his own hands and requested they chat in the hallway, much to the irritation of the medic. Azumi thought this had been a bit needlessly drastic but if it ended up getting what she desired she was not gonna object as she moved into the hall and waited for Keito to join her. Once that was done, she scanned around and saw nobody else seemed to be in the hall as she turned to Keito with a serious expression. Well, more serious than usual.

"I'll make one thing clear and say it only once, you will not nor ever share what you saw in that Genjutsu of yours with anyone. If you are asked about it, I don't care what you say you did to me just do not say what you saw inside my mind. Do I make myself clear?" Azumi asked, her tone cold & almost threatening as it seemed that the jutsu had bothered her more than even she let on and she wanted aspects of her life to not be shared in casual conversation. Her eyes seemed to show the intensity behind her words as she tried to get across the threat behind her words, though a slight sliver of pain that had come from experiencing those "enhanced" memories also played a factor in this request of hers. The fact that what she said next almost had as much a pleading tone to it as a firm threatening one had said a lot for how much this mattered to the Ame-Genin.

"I want you...I need you to promise me you will not speak of what happened to anyone else."

----------​

The little bits of playful commentary from Mori had been more than enough to shock Tomiko out of her chuckle, as the Iwa-Genin chuckled a bit feeling that is just what she needed to hear to have gotten back into the right headspace for this coming battle. She had a light grin on her face as she glanced at Mori before she had given her own retort.

"Hey, hard to be Miss Punctual when you are told at the 11th hour "hey go to the stage you are filling in" you know? Give a girl a break." Tomiko said as she had stuck her tongue out before she shifted to a battle ready stance; her knees had been bent slightly, her arms raised before her as the shine in her gauntlets reflected off the light as her eyes showed the passion that had defined her more than anything else.

"Yeah I agree, and let the better ninja win. No hard feelings and let's give it our all!" Tomiko said, her excitement seemed to reflect her tone as if she was made to go in a match last second she had been glad it was Mori. The proctor glanced between the two of them before the kunoichi raised her hand in the air and then allowed it to drop.

"Begin!"​

 

[DarkHydraT]

"No, I don't think I will give you a break. I'm going to bug you about this until you are Tsuchikage and even after that, it's fun." Mori chuckled, Tomiko was always so fun to taunt and seemed to have a retort for everything. Sheathing his wakazashi, he grabbed a bottle filled with a black fluid with an explosive tag sticking out of the bottleneck. Throwing the bottle, Mori grinned at his opponent and friend. "It's a present, don't let it fall!" The bottle seemed like an odd weapon, and it wasn't originally part of Mori's arsenal. He just happened to find empty bottles on the streets and used the downtime between exams to make some crude molotov cocktails. A remote detonation molotov cocktail at that.

"What, you thought I was going to go underground? No way, these people came here to see a show!" As Mori yelled the last word, his fingers formed the hand sign that detonated the explosive tag, causing the bottle to explode and the tar inside to ignite. Quite an explosive start to the match and hopefully a move that catches Tomiko off guard.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

Azumi's expression looked deadlier than the piercing gaze she shot through him alongside that damned umbrella of hers; nobody had to hint to him that his technique...caused problems, to say the least. It wasn't a genjutsu often meant for use in one-on-one combat — and it definitely wasn't meant to be used in a situation where the victim would be up, walking, talking - threatening - the caster freely and of their own accord.

"I'll make one thing clear and say it only once, you will not nor ever share what you saw in that Genjutsu of yours with anyone. If you are asked about it, I don't care what you say you did to me just do not say what you saw inside my mind. Do I make myself clear?" Her tone was a pained, volatile one — all too familiar to Keito in the most personal of ways. She was part-threatening, part-begging, entirely serious. "I want you...I need you to promise me you will not speak of what happened to anyone else."

What Keito wanted to tell her was that he understood — he understood in the way only a victim to Maindo Keimusho could understand. But how far was too far? He'd shown her empathy and extended as peaceful olive branch as one could under the circumstances; rightfully, she remained as skeptical as one scarred by a past such as hers would. If he bent any further forward, her back would break under the weight of his pity. Maybe she could see the confliction in his eyes, or even sense the sorrow simmering down somewhere inside; maybe she couldn't.

"I promise," Keito replied, taking Azumi's words more as just that - a promise - than the threat she'd intended (in part.) Then, he repeated, quieter. "I promise."

Resisting the urge to sigh, Keito curled his lips into an uneasy smirk, saying:

"Now go, win your next round — if you can."

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi watched Keito carefully, more than his words she wanted to gauge his expression as he answered her demands. Much as he seemed to be shockingly patient with her and understanding in spite of everything, part of her just struggled to believe that. Honest empathy had been a hard thing to come by in her life, and the fact it came from someone who used her worst memories to try and tear her mind apart had only made that seem more difficult to accept at face value.

Still, the look in his eyes...the look of confliction, almost guilt, had been impossible to fake. And once Keito had given the promise, a weight seemed lifted off her shoulders as a bottled up sigh escaped her lips and she nodded to that.

"Thanks..." Azumi said, quietly, almost under her breath but genuine all the same as she had turned and began to walk before she heard Keito's seemingly honest wish for her in the next round which had caused Azumi to stop.

"Course I will. Failure is not an option. I bare the expectation of Amegakure, the responsibility to show the ninja world even if for this moment we are of equal standing with any "great" nation. I will sooner accept death than defeat." Azumi said, and her tone seemed to imply she was not exaggeration as she answered without so much as turning her head. With that, she moved down and out of the hall leaving Keito alone.

---------
"We have different definitions of fun then it seems. Just be careful, I do aim to make you eat these words~" Tomiko mused, and it seemed Mori began fast and with something Tomiko had not called. She figured he'd get distance or even try to prepare a tunnel but instead tossed a bottle. Tomiko had began to craft hand signs, more of an natural response than necessarily a calculated one as she wondered what he aimed to do with that before she had gotten a rather explosive answer.

Boom!

"Earth Style: Earth Wall Jutsu!"
​

Almost in rapid succession, the bottle of tar had been detonated by the explosive tag as an explosive wave and now blazing tar threatened to consume Tomiko, but she responded as a shield of rock rose from ahead of her and offered a protective defense as the explosion and burning tar slammed into that instead of her body. The wall held strong, though the force of the explosion caused sections of it to be blasted off but Tomiko managed to avoid the blow behind the base. Though one section of the damaged wall now had been on fire due to the flaming tar as Tomiko peaked from behind it and had an almost excited grin.

"Wow not sure I should be impressed or insulted your first impulse is to try and blow me up. But I thank you Mori, because you made this next move that much better~" Tomiko grinned as she reared a fist back and had began to punch on the "clean" side of her damaged wall. The sheer power she packed behind her punches combined with the effective breaking power of the gauntlets proved to be an effective combo as she began to punch off sections of her wall as they became flaming rock projectiles and she fired them at Mori with near bullet-like speed as she used her own wall as make-shift ammunition.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"What can I say? I know that you're a threat." Mori mused before he sank into the ground, using his signature Hiding Like A Mole jutsu. The shrapnel flew over his head, though it did clip his hair. As the barrage ended, he popped his head above the ground. "That was rude of you, I just got a haircut y'know? I like my hair as it is." Going back underground, the boy burrowed away from Tomiko and decided to do.....nothing. Psychological warfare was a thing, and he knew that Tomiko knew his method of attack. If his hunch was correct, Tomiko would be anxiously looking for a sign of his presence, ready to play a game of whack-a-mole. In the meantime, he would simply wait and think of a plan.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

"Thanks..." Azumi said, quietly at first. But when she realized he had wished her well in the coming fight, her voice rose an octave, bolstered by a bustling confidence. "Course I will. Failure is not an option. I bare the expectation of Amegakure, the responsibility to show the ninja world even if for this moment we are of equal standing with any "great" nation. I will sooner accept death than defeat."

Of course, Keito had come into the exams feeling much the same way. And where had it led him? Well...to her, oddly enough. The two weren't much different in many ways — all that separated them seemed to be the symbols carved into their headbands, and the ominous implications in the disparity of their allegiances. He trained to the point of physical exhaustion most days — before the exams, leading up to the final rounds. Then, he folded like he suspected he always would.

He watched Azumi leave like a dying man might eye his final sunset slipping below the horizon; like the sun, she wouldn't quite know the impact she'd had on lost, little Keito. The genin slipped his headband off of its usual place around his thin waist, the cloth dangling down listlessly as he eyed the crest of his nation. Then, his knees buckled, and he stumbled as he moved to spin around on his feet. His grace was far from back.

Even still, the stubborn genin decided he'd had enough of the infirmary. Moving back into the room and to the side of his bed, Keito slowly began to gather his things - satchel, sakabatou, cloak, etc. - while taking a casual glance up at one of the room's televisions broadcasting the remaining fights.

"Huh," He muttered under his breath, eyes catching sight of Tomiko and Mori facing off. Then, he started to put two-and-two together, wondering who the winner of that fight might be up against next. "Wait, shi-"

 

[Schrift]

Before the fight

Mori waited for her to return, the look on his face being a mixed of 'do I want to know' and 'well then'. "I'm not going to ask what you did to uhhh give me this... but thanks!", he said, now back to having his wide grin. Mori snatched up the vials and tucked them into his shirt. "Well then, guess I've gotta be careful with them. It would kind of suck if I lost because I accidentally poisoned myself". Mori took a pause after speaking, his appearance was different now. He seemed much more serious, losing the smile and that usual bundle of energy he always had. "On a more serious note, you alright? You seemed to be thinking a lot when I was approaching", he said. Well that's a change. "Sorry if it's kind of random, I was just checking up on you y'know? I don't want you to be too stressed up before the exam", he smiled.

@jade421

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


During the fight

Mori laughed, someone to fight. First match, what could go wrong? He laughed a bit when the dog growled at him, Mori may have liked dogs but guess that didn't mean they liked him back. "Alright then! Just know I'm not gonna let you win", he said, as he watched what happened next. The match had begun, and Mori dropped in a few handseals. Just a few, nothing much for now. Though it appeared as though nothing happened it didn't mean the handseals were for nothing. Mori stared up to witness Kenji's transformation. Well to say Mori's just was underwhelming compared to his would be an understatement. So it seemed to be a 3 on 1. Mori didn't know what this jutsu was, nor if just appearing more beastlike was the only thing it did but so far what he had gathered was that Kenji wasn't stupid. "Well if you want to know what I can do...", Mori kicked his staff up, as he gripped it tighter the weapon began to shrink, growing it down from 10ft down to only 6ft. Throwing it forward on its side, so one of the ends was facing him, Mori gave the staff a kick. Those hand signs from earlier? They were just for him to be able to use the repulsive force of magnet release. The kick had sent the staff flying, sending it surprisingly fast towards the Kenji on the left. As that happened, Mori gave chase. He ran, chasing after the staff as he was going for hand to hand combat against Kenji. As he approached, Mori went to attack the Kenji on the right. So far he was leaving the middle one untouched. Did he not know which was the real Kenji and who wasn't? So far Mori was keeping his eyes on the other Kenjis, glancing to them every now and so.

In the stands the rank 3 gave a sigh. "For our weakest magnet user, he really has a way to go don't you think? He's still using hand signs for such simple techniques", he said, his face seemingly bored. The other two nin next to him nodded along, agreeing within a heartbeat. "Why was I the one who had to come here, the other ranks were more than free to do it. Hell our head was free. Mori bettter perform", he said, his voice having a hint of annoyance to it. "Well you see, you were the one who walked in last to the meeting of the ranks. You simply pulled the short stick with your tardi-", again, the nin went back to being quiet when rank 3 gave him a stare.

@Godjacob

 

[ThAtGuY101]

At this point, Hisato had already left Keito's room, and was wandering around. Partially bored, but also hiding from the nurse. Without the others, Hisato didn't have any motive to stick around an empty room. He peeped around the corners and looked down the stairs, carefully making his way down.

A while later, a nurse came walking by with a mile long scowl on her face. Smiling when she looked around corners or in hospital rooms so not to disturb guests staying at the infirmary. She smiled and knocked on his door, before waiting a few seconds. "Sorry for being nosy, but have you seen a mist ninja come through this way? White haired boy...?" She turned away from the room ready to storm down the hall, but reframed from making a scene.

Hisato sat in a chair in the waiting room. Fitting. He looked around and wondered if his teammates had passed their matches. There was probably a scoreboard that let ninjas know who advanced on, but Hsato didn't bother to look for one of those.

 

[sSoul]

Tsuki
The icy kunoichi was pleased to see her opponent apologize for tardiness. Although Tsuki didn't feel owed anything, it was a nice change of pace from other, more unapologetic members of her age range. Before beginning, the Yuki quickly observed her surroundings to gather knowledge about her environment.

The patch I'm standing on is rather dry, but there are patches of grass around me. I could attempt to draw water from them, but it would be a next to useless amount. Additionally, those trees over there could be very useful in changing the momentum of this coming struggle. However, it's near impossible to be discreet in attacking from them, and I doubt I could reliably escape to them unless I was already backed into a corner. Despite that, I shouldn't ignore them as tools to be used in case the option presents itself.

Even though she recently concluded her analysis, Tsuki had yet to actually acknowledge her opponent's presence. This was because she noticed Yua looking to her family for motivation, a luxury that she could not enjoy. In spite of herself, Tsuki found herself looking at the current Mizukage. She allowed herself only an acidic glare before turning to finally acknowledge her opponent.

"You have no need to apologize to me. If anything, I should apologize to you for ignoring you for so long," Tsuki respectfully bowed to her opponent before adopting a defensive stance, "Rather than apologize, I offer you the first strike of the battle." The Yuki-nin employed this act of kindness as a double edged sword: allowing her opponent control over the fights momentum while allowing herself ease in reaction to the fight while also giving herself knowledge of her opponent's fighting style.

 

[Godjacob]

The flaming rocks sailed harmlessly overhead as Mori busted out what was essentially his signature technique. Tomiko naturally kept her guard up and her senses sharp as she had to be mindful of the slightest tremor for when not if Mori would strike her.

"Hey, who knows maybe a haircut would get your that kind of special attention, some girls like that." Tomiko teased, though as she spoke she walked by the entry hole Mori had tunneled through and reached in her bag and pulled an explosive tag she quickly wrapped around her kunai. A grin formed as she least had an idea of one way to try and strike back that as a bonus was chakra-light.

"Gotta say Mori, nobody likes a hypocrite. You agree on giving a good show but then move underground? Not the most pleasing thing to watch man." Tomiko mused, before she chucked the kunai with the lit tag deep into the hole and quickly moved away from it. She'd allow the explosion and the shockwave that should travel through the hole Mori had been creating to do the work for her though kept her eyes and ears sharp all around her in case Mori tried something.

-----------
Kenji seemed to grin at this, seems this guy wasn't shy about some good ole Taijutsu, though as he had been about to discover the man-beast transformation had done a lot more than merely appearing to be a beast.

The staff that had been flung at the left Kenji would find nothing but open air, as with what seemed to be enhanced speed and reflexes, it jumped out of the way to avoid the strike. Quickly it worked to move kicking up dirt as it dashed aiming to flank Mori from his left while it seems to reach for something in its pouch.

The Kenji on the right, the one that Mori seemed to focus his direct attack on, and its eyes seemed to focus back as it aimed to duck a swing from Mori's punch and with the sharpened claws aimed to try and claw on Mori's right side and if possible aimed to grasp at an arm with this Kenji's free hand and grip it with the claws to hold him in place.

The Kenji in the middle grinned a bit, without an immediate attack it quickly advanced and made hand signs in succession, which seemed to suggest the one in the middle had been the real one if it had capacity to use Ninjutsu. But that had been obscured, literally as the Kenji on the right tossed a smoke bomb by Mori's feet which exploded into a black cloud that masked all around it.

Course, the Kenjis needed not see their opponent. Their sharp sense of smell meant each of them knew where he had been at all times. Though the shimmers of what seemed to be an electric spark sounded as something moved about him in the smoke.

The hunt had began.​

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori heard the explosion and quickly left the ground before his eardrums would be blown to smithereens. "Yeah, well, I like my hair as it is. If I ever feel the need to change it to attract attention, I'll come to you for advice." The boy said, removing some dirt from his ear. "Unless you are saying that you want me to get a haircut, in which case you can just tell me."

Burrowing back underground, Mori grabbed his wakazashi and used some tar from his molotovs to coat the blade in the flammable substance. Making his way towards Tomiko, he leapt out of the ground at Tomiko whilst activating his mouth ember, setting the sword ablaze as he began to slash at his friend. "You are right though, we need spectacle." The boy grinned as he kept up the heat.

 

[jade421]

~~~~~Finals Lead-up~~~~~​

Yua seemed to sigh as course Mori had to make it weird with that comment but she was thankful he seemed to drop the thought as quickly as it had come. "It's fine just...yeah, don't make it weird..." Yua said, and she presumed that was the end of that before she noticed his shift in expression and became curious by this. Then he mentioned if she was okay, and she could tell it was an honest question which caused her to sigh as she glanced at the arena by them. "Yeah uh, guess this just hits a lot harder when it is about to happen. Don't want to let myself down, my clan down. I'll be fine." Yua tried to insist as she glanced back at Mori.

@Schrift

~~~~~Finals~~~~~​

Yua took a moment to scan her foe. She seemed to be friendly enough, but just because of that she was not gonna underestimate the girl as especially in this line of work looks were only ever deceiving. She had noticed her linger to the gaze of the Mizukage, perhaps she desired to please her Kage which seemed an understandable enough motive. But her focus shifted to Tsuki's words as she offered an apology back which Yua felt was needless and seemed to be respectful enough to even offer her the first move. "Oh you are far too kind, I hope we have a good match and wish you luck." Yua smiled, as she was thankful her first opponent proved to be on the more honorable side as she glanced at the proctor assigned to them, and when the signal had been given Yua indeed had taken the first move which for her was a standard move.

Yua produced a hand sign, the signature sign of her clan, as her body seemed to release faint but slightly violet tinted aroma off her body before she began to apply poison that seemed to come off her body onto her staff. Soon it had been coated with a layer of it, and the two ends of the staff had a more concentrated sample of the poison as she took a battle stance and faced Tsuki with a small smile. "Alright, here I come Tsuki!" Yua called out, and with a burst she moved forward as she seemed to try and deliver a strike with her staff. Though she aimed to bait Tsuki with a faint, making the kunoichi think she planned to strike her right side with a swing only to jump at the last moment and swing down as she aimed to slam the end of the staff on her left shoulder.

@sSoul

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui looked up as a sound caught her attention—and not a second too early, as the building on her left creaked and began to fall, glass shattering above her like rain. She dodged out of the way of the window shards and looked down at the situation. Cats were everywhere, apparently hostile, and the ground was moving like water, buildings collapsing in on themselves like they were made of rubber. It made her head spin, like… like… a genjutsu? It could be a disorientation technique done by the ninja cats… the girl began forming a hand sign, then was interrupted as an orange tabby cat leaped onto her and started scrabbling at her eyes.

Karui struggled to hold the squirming cat at arms length, then finally managed to activate a lightning stinger. She stabbed the tip into the cat’s shoulder and it went limp immediately. She held the cat by its scruff as the stinger dissipated and she formed the hand seal again. “Release!” she exclaimed, and the buildings righted themselves. The ground stopped moving, and she set the cat down on a nearby balcony. The Hasa nin looked around for her sisters, searching the ground for them, and dove, halting her momentum just before dropping to the ground. Immediately, three cats latched onto her, and she struggled to get an arm free, activating the paralyzing stinger again and batting them away. She drew her khopesh in her other hand to fend off claws and teeth.

“It’s a genjutsu!” Karui called to her sisters. “Nothing’s actually falling! Release it! And yes, Asahi— hurt the kitties or get mauled. Your choice— ack!” Teeth sunk into Karui’s ankle, and she kicked the cat off into two others, continuing to keep them away with non-lethal blows.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

Draped in his grey cloak, Keito felt like he looked to be a formless spectre, standing slim and unsteady. The cloth sloping down to the very end of his ankle, almost skirting the tops of his bare feet. He missed the feeling of untarnished land under him, as opposed to cold and sterile hospital tile. His body ached and shivered in uneasy response to simple overexertion, but Keito's mind was pushing forward already — hopefully toward some sort of purpose he could call his own; one that didn't hinge on the Ugokasenai or the Stone.

Pressing his sheathed sakabatou into the tile like the tip of a cane, Keito used the well-crafted weapon to steady himself and provide the right balance of weight his legs needed. As he started off, slowly but surely, the nurse from before came rushing through in almost a fugue state, confused and fuming.

"Sorry for being nosy, but have you seen a mist ninja come through this way? White haired boy...?" She asked, becoming more frazzled by the moment.

"Nope." Keito replied, whistling almost joyfully as he started to walk toward the infirmary exit once more.

"Wait a minute," The nurse paused, her eyes narrowing. "Are you trying to re-open your wound?"

"If I say yes will you let me leave?" He asked, a bit of poison on the tip of his tongue.

The nurse cupped her knuckles on her hips and let out a harrumph.

"Fine, die then." She said, walking off in search of some Good God on the earth to bring another match to a close, and give her work with more co-operative genin. "You foreign ninja are all pieces-a work, my word."

First, he'd have to get a look at Mori and Tomiko's bout; he wasn't sure if he'd have the strength to stick around to the end, if it started to drag on — lord knew Mori could high underground all day if he wanted to. And getting a good, public pummeling from Tomiko might be just the incentive to stay as low as possible for as long as possible. Keito sighed, wondering where his brother had disappeared to; he could see Keinshi up in the crowd, alongside his father, Kitomo. But when the time came, when Keito lie wounded in the hospital bed, all he had ahead of him were Kitomo's harshly, honest words. And his conversation with the Ame girl, of course.

 

[Schrift]

Before the fight

Mori laughed a bit, though it didn't seem like his usual laughs. Instead it seemed, sweeter? It was hard to tell. "I can see why, I mean we're just kids and we have to do a big exam. Plus the fact that there are a lot of expectations on us, hell I feel like we add even more expectations on ourselves and oh shit I'm going on a rant". Mori had managed to catch himself from talking forever, though looks like he still needed a bit of improvement with it. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that don't sweat it too much yeah? You're strong, intelligent, a great strategist, you're gonna do great!", he smiled. he moved his hand towards her head as to give her what seemed to be a pat on the head. "Anyways, we should get going to our matches don't you think?"

@jade421

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

During the fight

The match was starting off strong, already it was getting interesting for Mori. When Kenji on the right grabbed onto his arm and went for a claw to Mori's side, Mori's Ironsand underneath his sleeve burst into spikes in the area where he was grabbed while the claw to his side hit something hard. It clearly wasn't flesh, flesh didn't sound like that. "No touching there", he smiled as he tried to return a kick. Mori wasn't afraid to spill blood where he had to. Though the smoke bomb did catch him a bit off guard. Mori brought his foot down, stomping onto the ground as his staff came flying back behind Kenji on the left. Mid air the staff helicoptered on its side as it was aimed to go into Kenji on the left's legs. This was going to be an interesting match. Mori never normally fought 3 on 1s, even then his opponents had been using sand and metallic weapons. As the staff came into Mori's hand, he stabbed it into the ground as he simply whispered the words "extend". This launched him up into the the sky as he held onto the top of his staff. If the smoke wasn't there, the entire audience would've seen the staff simply grow in length. Now up above, Mori had a birds eye view of below. This wasn't going to be good, a 3 on 1 and Mori didn't know their abilities. What could he do? Simple. Mori jumped off his staff, whispering the word "shrink" as it shrunk down. He extended his arm, causing his bostaff to fly into his hands. Mori wasn't going to start unveiling all his jutsu now. Instead he wanted to play this slow and steady. With a single hand seal, a gust of wind came around Mori. It wasn't anything major, if it hit you the most it could do is make you stumble. Though this did give Mori an opening, his visibility lesser so obstructed. "That was great!", he smiled, as he looked around him. Wondering where his opponent was going to appear from next.

@Godjacob

 

[sSoul]

Tsuki
"I extend my wishes of good fortune to you as well."

Returning the gesture of good sportsmanship, Tsuki loosened her stance so it could receive adjustment upon developments in her opponent's strategy. Yua started off with a hand-seal, one that was unfamiliar to the Yuki-nin. It seemed to cause a faint but noxious stench to waft through the air, a stench that Tsuki couldn't ignore but had to disregard. The source of the stench was soon revealed as a viscous substance seeped from the opposition's skin. This substance would soon end up coating both ends of the staff, completing Yua's preparation. Tsuki squinted at the staff but said nothing else.

The substance must be dangerous if she's applying it to her weapon. I would be wise to steer clear of it.

With a cursory warning, the Sand kunoichi was ready to begin her offensive and the Mist kunoichi was ready to receive it. Yua's opening attack appeared to be a strike to Tsuki's right side, which was avoided with a cartwheel to her left side. This move proved to be advantageous since the strike that Tsuki avoided proved to be a farce, with the real attack coming down. Thinking quickly, Tsuki wove together a pair of hand-seals to unleash a jutsu that has proven helpful before: Starch Syrup Capturing Field. Spitting the viscous liquid on the ground where she predicted that the staff would land created a wide puddle in anticipation that Yua would change where she struck. Confident that her trap would immobilize her opponent long enough, she prepared to kick her opponent in the head once she landed.

Either she'll take the hit and keep her staff or dodge disarmed. Possibly she'll get hit and get disarmed. All paths forward lead to victory.

 

[Godjacob]

"Believe me if you want a haircut you are better off with anyone else. Unless you want a buzz cut." Tomiko said with a cheeky grin as Mori emerged and worked to move dirt off his ear. She had been in a defensive stance and just as quickly as he came he burrowed back down which caused Tomiko to sigh in slight annoyance.

However, she heard a rumble and faced as Mori burrowed out again...and had set his own sword on fire!

That is so cool!
​

In spite of being visibly impressed Tomiko quickly worked a guard, as her gauntlets blocked the blow of his sword and worked to keep the flames from her skin as she hopped back to avoid consecutive slashes. Tomiko had been far from a slouch in Taijutsu, and timed one block of his sword with her right gauntlet as she aimed to deflect up and knock him back. From there she'd aim to advance into his reach and reared back her left fist as she aimed to deliver a power punch right to his stomach.

-----​

During this exchange, it seemed Azumi herself had arrived to the stadium where her future opponent resided. She had wanted to catch the fight in person so she could in effect scout her competition; whatever knowledge she'd gain could only help her cause. Though as she got settled to watch she noted how casual and friendly the two seemed to be, even as they fought intensely and worried that this will cause both to pull their punches.

Regardless, she'd still look on absorbing what knowledge she could as the crowd seemed to cheer at the spectacle of this exchange.

----------
The Kenji who had been on the right's eyes widened as the sharp ears and natural sense of danger picked up on the spikes just as the spikes had began to tear through the surface and it released having just avoided losing a hand. However the kick connected to this Kenji's gut which caused it to tumble back before it retreated into the smoke.

The Kenji that had formerly been on the left, just as it was about to close in to strike, heard the sounds of the staff as it sailed through the air and performed a jump to avoid having its legs before it moved into the smoke cloud and seemed to vanish out of sight. As Mori sailed high, the sounds of two more smoke bombs burst which seemed to expand the black fog around them and made it thicker as Mori seemed to prepare for what would come next.

That crackled of electricity still sounded, which seemed to give an almost ominous backdrop even as Mori cleared some space for visibility immediately around him. However, soon the attack came and when it came it had been quite the powerful second wave.

"Man-Beast Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang!"
​

Two twisters seemed to energy, spinning around and around as they gathered speed and seemed to glide through the air and the smoke as these tornados that presumably had one of the Kenji each inside raced to strike Mori from both sides simultaneously. The rapid rotation allowed their sharpened claws and enhanced bodies to pick up velocity as they became destructive battering rams; aiming to slam, batter and slash at Mori and whatever defense he tried to put between them!

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Keep yapping and you might be the one who gets a buzz cut, and I like your current hair more." Mori chuckled, impressed by how quickly Tomiko managed to counter. Being pushed back by the girl, he expected her to keep up the pressure and go in for a powerful punch, so the boy jumped back as he threw another molotov, primed to explode the moment it got close to Tomiko. Weaving hand signs whilst holding the flaming blade, the boy let the earth gravitate towards him.

Earth Style: Rock Armor Jutsu!

The rocks and earth caked to his skin, granting him armor that would certainly be useful against Tomiko's sledgehammer-like attacks. Attacking once again, he hoped that the two threats would cause his friend to prioritize one over the other and using that to his advantage. "Let's keep up the heat!"

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
​

"What do you mean they left!?" Keito tried to keep his voice hushed, but there was a bursting fury in his voice as it echoed down the mostly quiet halls of the exam arena.

He'd found Keinshi inside on a basic patrol route around one of the staircases that led up to where the Third Tsuchikage and other Kage sat to watch the fights; even as the two shared a quick, happy hug, they could feel the eyes of Leaf chunin also assigned to guard the area boring hard into them from multiple angles.

"Well, mother was almost inconsolable after you fight, and then there was an...incident," He said, adding emphasis and speaking in a slightly hushed tone as he finished his sentence. "After that, the Tsuchikage put his security detail on high alert. Once father knew you'd be fine, he requested permission to return to Iwagakure to work. He took mother with him, just in case the situation became more tenuous."

"Th-uh-yeah that, that makes sense," Keito said through grit teeth, trying to weigh his anger with his relief for his mom's safety, even if he didn't have the chance to see her. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to, yet. "What do you mean an incident?"

"The head of the Hyuga clan stepped in after another fight in the first round, targeting at least one of the genin fighters," Keinshi explained, trying to keep his voice down in spite of the fact that both Ugokasenai boys knew the Leaf were in on their every word. "Lord Tsuchikage stepped in to intervene."

"What?" Keito asked, thrown off by the information. The Tsuchikage did?

"He's being his usual tight-lipped self about it, too." The older brother shrugged, basically ending that conversation there. "You fought pretty well, y'know."

Keito snorted in response, his hand gripping at the place the blade had pierced through him.

"Doing well doesn't mean winning, or that you can't do better," Keinshi advised for what seemed the umpteenth time. "You need more movement in your style. Proactivity. The whole match it seemed like you were seeing the whole thing too linearly; your shogi board and the pieces on it are too static. A battlefield is dynamic, and you need it match it — thought and action and all."

Again the little brother chose not to respond with words; he'd listened, but the ideas and meanings seemed to pass straight through the hole stabbed through his gut — at least for the time being. Without ceremony, Keito lifted his sheathed sakabatou up and started walking off, step-cane-step with the covered sword tapping rhythmically into the sturdy, arena floor. It took quite a bit of energy to climb the set of stairs that led up to the proper seating area to watch Tomiko and Mori battle, but the lost Iwa genin made the patient battle with his own flesh.

 

[jade421]

~~~~~Finals Lead-up~~~~~​

Yua listened to Mori as he seemed to try and pass some advice onto her. Well first he rambled a little about expectations but after that he seemed to give her some honest praise and tried to ease whatever nerves she had leading up to this big event and it honestly had been a blessing. Mori had been a bit of a pain in her neck for a while and especially in these exams thus far but that bit of complimenting had been just what Yua needed and proved Mori was a true teammate when it counted. "Thanks, that means a lot Mori. I am sure you'll do great as well, you have all the talent and ability in the world to make it far." Yua said with a smile before she nodded in agreement on his comment of them needing to get going. "Yeah, let's get moving."

~~~~~Finals~~~~~​

As Yua jumped up and prepared to strike, Tsuki had already moved out of position as her feint caused her to cartwheel to safety. Yua cursed on the inside but she had no time to be concerned with that, as Tsuki seemed to prepare a sticky trap for where her staff seemed destined to slam into and if something had not been done it would be stuck. So mid swing Yua would come to a sudden stop as she landed just before the puddle and her staff hovered over the sticky trap. This sudden stop took some effort as evident by the sliver of sweat down Yua's cheek but she managed to avoid having her weapon stuck in place. However, this had opened up Tsuki's attack as Yua couldn't react in time as the kick hit her side and she rolled back with a groan but kept a hold of her weapon as she popped up to her feet.

"Well that didn't go so well, she's good. Guess I'll have to up the ante."

Yua reached into her pouch and pulled what seemed to be several shuriken, ones that she coated with the poison that seemed to just secrete from her palms, before she tossed them towards Tsuki. Ideally if things had gone perfectly one of these poisoned shuriken would slip by Tsuki's guard or retreat and deliver a cut into her which would let the poison seep inside. But Yua expected Tsuki to respond to this, so this move more served as a distraction as she worked to circle around to flank Tsuki. She'd eyed where Tsuki would go, whether she blocked the projectiles or move to avoid them, and prepared her staff as she'd try to jab at her back in anticipation.

 

[Godjacob]

Tomiko's eyes widened as Mori moved back and that explosive bottle waited in his place, which forced her to cut her punch short as she performed a backflip to get distance as the explosion concealed Mori's actions. Once the dust cleared, it seemed he had produced a set of rock armor as he looked to protect in case one of Tomiko's punches got through, and that had Tomiko grinning.

"You excuse me of being chatty? Don't think you've been quiet yet. We'll see how long that lasts." Tomiko mused as she slammed her gauntlets together which produced an audible clang! before she charged again.

Tomiko aimed to bait Mori, as it looked like she went for a forward charge and prepared a punch, only to stop just outside his molotov's blast range as she quickly sequenced some hand signs and punched the ground below her.

"Earth Style: Pillar Strike Jutsu!"
​

Ahead of Mori a pillar made of Earth and rock would lunge forward having been "guided" by Tomiko's punch behind it as it rose and aimed to slam right into his armored chest with he goal it seemed to damage or even break that rock plate or least knock Mori back with a powerful blow.

------​

There was a lot more chatter in this battle than Azumi had become accustomed to in her short career as a ninja, which she guessed showed these two likely had been close. Still she wondered if they'd be able to fight with the needed intensity or if they'd remain "playful" throughout this.

Still, this had given her a sample of how the two fight, least at a base level. And so she looked on as the crowd marveled at the display from both.

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Abandoned City of Sora-ku (Sept 25 5:20 pm, Day of the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

“Genjutsu?”

Beneath her curtain of defensive hair, Sagisō’s eyes sparked, then she locked onto the nearest feline shadow, rushing across the wall to her right.

Sagisō struck…and missed—then again, and again. The twisty shadow scampered along the wall, each blow was avoided with the improbable grace and flexibility that only a feline could possess. However, each blow drew fresh blood as while the Skillful Star was doing a number on the wall—a number counted in fist-imprints and scratches—her flesh was not nearly durable enough to sustain such an assault. That was in addition to several inch-long lacerations she’d earned across her forearms, where the cat had struck glancing blows.

Regardless of the small losses, her main goal had been achieved. The throbbing pain from her tattered fists had freed her from the caterwaul genjutsu. As the shadows brightened, Sagisō’s vision was restored. She watched warily as the cats scattered over the rooftops, up gutters, and through fences.

Sagisō threw a look towards Asahi and Karui, one that seemed to ask. ‘Are we pursuing?’

 

[Hecotoro]

"Genjutsu?! That is so cool!" Asahi called out as she kept covering herself from any series injuries from the furry attackers. Now that she knew that the cats were capable of such technique, she wanted one even more.

"Release!" Asahi joined her hands and released herself from the illusions of a crumbling city, just in time to see their opponents making a run for it. "Don't just stand there!" She shouted towards Sagiso, who was looking at her with an odd look, "You promised me a cat!".

Asahi took chase once again, using her Byakugan to chase after the gang of kittens. It was long before they had lead them outside the city they had arrived in and with Asahi being able to keep them in her sight, she chased them through the wasteland, avoiding some of the traps laid out for them, leaving some confused cats as to how and why she knew ahead of time they were ready to ambush them. She could've easily gone after some of the other ninneko, but Asahi had decided on Kas. After what seemed about an hour of chasing, the famous Cat Village, the Fortress Nekomata, finally came to view.

"I'm going ahead!" Asahi called out to her sisters, using wind chakra to send herself flying over the walls of the cat fortress inside.

As soon as the young ninja landed inside, a group of various ninja cats appeared and surrounded her, none of them being Kas. With a determined look, willing to risk it all for her future best friend, Asahi lunged into combat. Unfortunately, she was captured a few minutes afterwards.

"Take her to Nekomata!" One cat called out as they dragged squirming Asahi further into their fortress.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"What can I say? You're just amusing- Woah!" Mori dropped to the floor, the pillar barely missing him and looming over him, ready to crush him if he wasn't careful. Tomiko clearly wasn't messing around, so he shouldn't either. Extinguishing his blade in the dirt, he sheathed his weapon before burrowing underground. He knew that Tomiko outmatched him in a frontal assault, but he wanted to atleast try it. Burrowing underneath Tomiko, the boy built up chakra before unleashing it via handsigns.

"Earth Style: Fissure!"

The ground beneath Tomiko began to shake and tear as a large fissure opened up, tearing the battlefield apart in an attempt to trap Tomiko in the ground after a long fall. That and even if it failed, it would impair movement for Tomiko if she stuck to the surface.

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Abandoned City of Sora-ku (Sept 25 5:20 pm, Day of the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

Under Asahi’s lead, they’d managed to avoid ambushes and entrapments, one after the other; the Byakugan’s usages were truly many. No wonder the Leaf wanted it back.

Unfortunately, they didn’t make their wielder any smarter. Despite seeing the village of a hundred cats, Asahi had still jumped right into it. It wasn’t even a question of what was happening on the other side of those walls, as the sounds of Asahi’s struggles—promptly crushed—had said enough.

Sagisō face palmed. She sighed and inspected the Cat Fortresses defenses. It was a walled city, surrounded by a moat. The only way in seemed to be through the guarded gate at the front. The city clearly wasn’t impenetrable—Asahi had gone right over these walls, but it might prove difficult to sneak in without alerting the shinobi cats.

“How do you wanna handle this? I can make a diversion for you while you fly over the walls. It shouldn’t be too hard for me to get in,” Sagisō gestured to the moat. It probably wouldn’t be hard for her to sneak in through the water.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
3 years ago (approx.)
​

The wooden sword slammed into his collarbone from his left side; Keito could feel bone reverberate with a shivering, intense pain as the bone considered splintering. Only ten years old and still some time off from his growth spurt, the small, Academy student was sent flying by the force of the blow, dropping his own wooden sword in the process. He spun with the momentum of a well-thrown shuriken, spiraling into the face of a smooth, grey stone with the flat of his back.

Thumk! Wham.

Flat on his face staring at the freezing, winter ground, Keito moaned; he rolled over onto his back, coughing up blood mixed with spit, splattering across his chin, his neck, the front of his shirt — the sky spun teasing circles around him, his vision blurred but his ears picking up an array of sounds in a way the fledgling shinobi had never noticed.

They'd been training for hours — taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, kenjutsu, even a little ninjutsu. But the longer the day went on, the less Kitomo Ugokasenai held back on his ten year-old son. By that last blow, Keito had been bruised and bloodied enough already. He felt like he'd been dealt a death knell.

Tap. Crunch. Tap. Crunch. Tap. Crunch. His father tapped his wooden sword against the ground like a walking stick, his footsteps amplified to the battered boy, so clear as if Kitomo crossed over fresh-packed snow.

"I wasn't much older than you, boy, when I was sent off to war," Kitomo said, his voice a low, mechanized hum which seemed to echo against itself. "They took my brothers. They took my father and his brothers. They took their sons — my nephews...When I look at you I see my son, but I also see another grave to visit."

Panting, injured and demoralized, Keito couldn't respond.

"Come," Kitomo said, lifting the boy delicately onto his shoulders. "To the hospital with you, again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ugokasenai Keito, Iwa Genin
Present day
​

"What can I say? You're just amusing- Woah!" Keito heard Mori's ever-present voice called out as he crested over the last stair to the standing room section of the arena.

Crash! Crrrchkkkk!

A large pillar of stone crashed into the ground, just narrowly dodged by the slippery Mori. Keito looked down at his teammates below, struggling with the pain in his body from the hike, but glad to see Mori and Tomiko nonetheless. He watched on as Mori put out the sword he'd set ablaze, tunneling underground as he was wont to do.

Looking off not far from where he'd settled to watch the fight, Keito saw Azumi, doing much the same. He took a second to remember, but realizing either of the two might have to fight the vicious Ame kunoichi after the bout unsettled Keito's (already unsettled) stomach. He had faith in the two of them — in fact, as far as one-on-one fighters went, Keito knew he was likely the weakest of the three. Still, worried rumbled away in his empty stomach.

"Earth Style: Fissure!" Mori cried out as he cast his jutsu, moving on the offensive.

The ground started to open up directly beneath Tomiko, turning a portion of the arena battleground into a shattered waste around the opening crevice.

'We should all be proud that Iwagakure's genin got to display their skills today,' Keito thought, his eyes glancing...away from the fight again, albeit just in brief. 'But pride is hard for me to find at the moment.'

 

[Godjacob]

"Ah you are too kind~" Tomiko mused with a grin as her jutsu seemed to cut off Mori's tease mid-sentence but he quickly moved underground as the pillar shot up past him and Tomiko had been left alone as she had her guard up and waited for whatever tremor or sign of activity would strike when Mori had decided to. And soon the sound of his jutsu was felt as the arena floor began to rock and the ground cracked as Tomiko's eyes widened.

"Oh oh man!" Tomiko called out, but acted just as quickly as she dashed which was harder than it sounded given the way the floor cracked and rocked beneath her feet. But she had a plan, as she dashed to her pillar she created and raced along it above the ground before she jumped off it; she sailed over the air as the ground cracked below her before she landed on the wall of the arena and glanced back to look at the impressive damage Mori had caused.

And it had only made her grin. This...this was gonna be good.​

 

[Retro Master]

Thanks to the television in his hospital room, Kiro was able to watch the other fights as he rested his legs that as been butchered by his last opponent. While he had won, Kiro wasn’t proud of the fact it nearly cost him his legs. In real combat, his life would’ve been next if there was not a medical ninja around. For starters, he needed some way to quickly heal himself. At least when it came to minor wounds. He had been careless against this opponent as well and ended up relying on something he preferred to keep in his back-pocket.

Of course, if anyone assumed that it was Kiro that had been completely incompetent or that he wasn’t capable without it would be wrong. There were others his age out there that were just as combat skilled as him, if not more. The result of their fight was all a testament to the skill of his opponent. If the judges were wise, they’d give credit for that. However, that was about all the credit he would allow himself to give her. It would play out differently should there be a next time.

Not wanting to overthink things further, Kiro thought back to the fights he had witnessed. Unsurprisingly, to him at least, Smiley had supposedly perished in the flames of the Leaf ninja’s attack. Kiro didn’t even need special eyes to deduce something else was up. It helped that he knew Hasa was up to something and the prior interference by the Hyūga Head only further his suspicions. If she did truly die, however, Kiro would remember her for the candy she gave him. As for Taiyo, Kiro could scoff at the reaction by the crowd. They were ninja. What did they expect?

To be fair, Taiyo did show remorse for his actions. Perhaps this had been the first life he had taken. Being born and raised in the peaceful Village Hidden in the Leaves probably meant he hadn’t seen much of the harsh world outside growing up. That was only an assumption, of course. The same could be said about the cowardly Uchiha fighting Shiho. While Kiro leaned towards the side of the Hyūga girl he had spent quite a bit of time with during the past few weeks, there was a small part of him that wanted to pummel Raiku himself.

As for the other fights, Keito’s and the girl from the Rain had his attention. They both had gone back and forth and they looked pretty even with neither side gaining the upper hand for very long. The girl’s utilization of her umbrella was quite exceptional and something he noted to watch out for should they meet in the semifinals. On the hand, Keito seemed to be specialize in using worms. Although it was quite disgusting, his fellow competitor used them more than just for fear factor. The end of their fight was perhaps the most intriguing, not that Kiro could know exactly what had happened. Keito seemed to place his opponent into a genjutsu at the last second, but appeared to struggle maintaining it for some reason. Eventually, the girl freed herself and immediately penetrated him with the sharp tip of her umbrella. The match was essentially over after that, but the girl then had some choice words for the Kage she stared down.

There were murmurings in the crowd from Kiro could see on the TV. To everyone else, her rant directed at the Kage probably seemed foolish. Boldly making such a proclamation served to only out a target on her back, if the Kage even deemed her worthy of that in the first place. However, as Kiro considered her words, he instead wondered exactly how she hoped to shift the balance of the world in favor of the Rain. Winning the exam tournament was one thing, but that would only the display the potential of one of their ninja. As far as he could tell, she was the only Rain representative. While her goals were respectful, it would be a long shot to achieve them herself. After all, Kiro believed know that what truly kept the balance in place was power. And so, in order shift the balance, she would need power equal to of greater than the sum of all five great nations. The power of a god perhaps.

While her core ideals interested Kiro to the point that he wouldn’t mind seeing a world like the one she envisioned, the boy didn’t believe it would change the ninja system itself much at all. The balance of power at the top of shinobi world shifting was only an illusion of change. Different head, same rules. It would just be the same cycle. Some day, there would be a kid just like her, who would view the Rain the same way she currently viewed the Great Nations. Then they’d attempt to rise up to alter the balance again. Rinse and repeat.

It probably wasn’t normal for a thirteen year old kid like him to have formed a view such as his at that age. Perhaps he’d been reading too many of the books delivered to his cell from the library of the Mizukage. The history of shinobi was written in blood and war after all. That was the very foundation of the system. A system that trained children to be killers was already a failed one from the start. Fortunately, there were still ways to escape this system. If you had enough power, you didn’t have to obey the rules. And after no longer having to follow the rules of this world, he’d be-

“So you are an Uchiha after all!”

Freeing him of his thoughts was the excited voice of the volunteer nurse from earlier. He hadn’t even heard her footsteps. Closing the door behind her, and locking it, the nurse then turned her attention to him. It seemed like the cat was out of the bag at this point. Kiro could only wonder how she had figured that out without just assuming he shared similar features.

“If you’re wondering how I figured that out, I just ran a blood test. You’re related to some other Uchiha in our database. Seems like I wasn’t wrong after all about you.”

The nurse said as she rested some papers on a nearby desk before taking steps in his direction. Something about the atmosphere her around was different. Kiro couldn’t pinpoint what it was but remained on guard as she got close to him.

“I don’t remember you getting my permission for that.” Kiro stated as he glared at the nurse before him. That only earned a giggle from her as she patted his hair.

“How cute. I’m sorry for talking to you about Raiku like that before. You know, if you’re interested, we could-“

The girl didn’t get to finish her sentence as she suddenly stopped talking. She had gotten a bit too close for comfort and Kiro didn’t feel like dealing with this. Glancing at the ongoing battle on TV, he could see that Tsuki has appeared on stage. It appeared she had somehow gotten permission to move on to the next round. A light smirk appeared on his lips when he saw the girl let her opponent make the first move. She seemed as confident as ever. Kiro wasn’t going to miss the second chance his close comrade had gotten. Unlike the forest, he’d be there for her this time.

“Lead me somewhere to watch that fight.”

Kiro coldly ordered the nurse as he removed her hand from his head and stood up. His eyes were glowing red now thanks to the activation of his sharingan. He had placed her in a genjutsu once she had gotten too close and now the girl obediently obeyed his commands. Regular civilians were just too easy to manipulate. Not that he wanted to use the sharingan, but it was better than whatever commotion might’ve occurred if he hadn’t. This was proved once they stepped out the room and found a leaf jonin standing outside the door. With the girl under genjutsu, he was fortunately able to leave his sharingan deactivated for now.

Although information didn’t seem to have spread yet, Kiro wondered why Yagura hadn’t sent anyone to watch over him. Unless the Mizukage didn’t even know the secret was out. That was unlikely as they came here prepared for that to be revealed to the world. An Uchiha being a weapon of the Mist. The Mizukage most certainly expected some resistance, but perhaps for his own entertainment he didn’t not send anyone to protect Kiro. That’s something he would do. However, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was indeed someone else watching him.

Eventually, Kiro was led outside the medical bay and to one of the higher levels overlooking the arena. The volunteer nurse left him there and headed back. If it wasn’t for the fact Kiro could erase her memory of his Uchiha heritage, he might’ve led her to a more discreet location before getting rid of the girl. In any case, Kiro summoned his special stash of marshmallows to snack on as he leaned on the silver railing overlooking most of the crowd and the battlefields below. Of course, his primary focus was on Tsuki’s fight for more than one reason. Both him and Hisato had passed, albeit the latter’s opponent had forfeited. Now it was Tsuki’s turn. Another reason for his interest was the fact he’d be fighting winner of this match. While Kiro knew what Tsuki could do, he couldn’t say the same about the girl from Suna. He’d have to keep a close eye on her as well.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Karui sighed in something between exasperation and amusement. “That would probably be for the best,” she said mildly, chakra from her stinger moving towards her back and becoming a pair of wings. “Taken hostage by cats. I cannot honestly say I am surprised— cuteness in enemies seems to be Asa— Smi— Megami’s— greatest weakness.” She shook her head before prepping to take off. “Whenever the explosions start and cats fly, I’ll take that as my signal to take off,” Karui added good-naturedly. “I’ll wait for you on the other side.”

 

[kyuukestu]

Land of Fire | Abandoned City of Sora-ku (Sept 25 5:23 pm, Day of the Exams)

Titled Name: Yan Xia Roulan

True Name: Sagisō Ajisai​

Rank 36 — Heavenly Skillful Star | Yan Qing​

Sagisō nodded. She kept her voice to a bare whisper as she wanted to avoid alerting the cats. “You’ll know the signal when you see it; but, uhh…” A quick glance to the left or right—any direction really—would reveal that they were surrounded by desolate wasteland in all directions. Currently, the duo were plastered to the ground, kept low enough that the random debris could obscure their forms. “I’m gonna need to toss me into that moat.” Flexing a hand seal, Sagisō transformed into a small pebble.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Although he was still disorientated from what happened in his last match, Taiyo was determined to return to a form of normalcy. In doing so, the fiery shinobi exited his medical room and looked to see other fights that were going on. He had no difficulty in finding fights to spectate due to the multiple broadcasts, and although there were many to observe, the one that he took interest in was the fight going on in Battlefield 4. The combatants assigned to that arena were Raiku Uchiha and Shiho Hyūga, members of two noble clans and Taiyo's teammates during the Forest of Death. Out of a desire to support a friend and an...acquaintance, Taiyo tried to visit the arena to spectate the match live. The Leaf-nin was not happy to discover that the stands were packed with spectators.

I guess I can't blame them. An Uchiha and Hyūga fighting would get a lot of attention.

I hate having to shove past crowds...

Regardless of his personal feelings on the matter, the leaf nin found himself squeezing past the crowd until he found an open seat, apologizing to each person he got in the way of. When he sat down, he noticed a sliver of deep blue out the corner of his eye. Wanting to get a better look, he turned to find a girl roughly his age wearing a fancy blue dress and sporting a pair of twin tails . Taiyo was confident that he had seen her before, but didn't want to look at her for too long and be accused of staring, so he turned his attention back to the match at hand. He noticed that Raiku had summoned a clone of himself and the two were performing a pair of hand seals meant to combine into a dangerous attack. Taiyo raised an eyebrow at this display, unaware that Raiku could pull something off like that until witnessing it.

Hope she survives this...I don't really wanna repeat of my match from a third person point-of-view....

Looking for a distraction, he turned to talk to an older man sitting next to him who bore a passing resemblance to the girl in the dress he looked at earlier. However, Taiyo didn't draw any conclusions from this fact, more focused on trying to avoid thinking about what happened.

"Are you rooting for either of these two?" Taiyo whispered his question while turning his head to his elder, maintaining eye contact in an effort to remain polite.

 

[kyuukestu]

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

Furījia​

Even from the perspective of a spectator, the chūnin exams were an exciting event and none were more excited than the Hyūga heiress, who’d received special permission to watch the exams. Ice cream in hand, Furījia had been watching the ongoing match between Shiho and Raiku.

The fight had been brisk and back-and-forth, up until Shiho pulled out a move that almost startled Furījia into dropping her cone. Butchered as it was, the move she used was clearly an attempt at the Mountain Crusher, a move the branch families weren’t taught. It was startling that the girl had been able to muddle her way into learning it but she was still a ways off—the high-compression chakra had backfired on her, damaging her arm in the process. If she wasn’t careful, she could do irreparable damage to the chakra network in her hands. Either way, it was something she’d report to her mother later—though she’d likely already know.

Lowering her head to take another lick of her blueberry scoop, Furījia caught the eyes of a boy, two seats over, intently trained on her sandalled feet. He looked away, with suspicious haste and focused on the fight.

The heiress was content to leave well enough alone, but the boy was not. As the fight lulled, he began to chat up escort. An odd expression crossed her face. His headband marked him as a Leaf-Shinobi and yet he seemed to show no overt recognition of the Hyūga—even going so far as to ask a question with an obvious answer.

As he turned to face an adjacent member of her guard details, she couldn’t help but notice his field of view would also encompass her feet, due to her sitting in the higher rows. For his efforts the boy received an odd stare—it was the usual affair, the guards often remained mute and stoic when acting as her escort. However, the boy’s question had attracted the attention of the small Hyuga detail and nearly the dozen Hyūga (including Furijia) simply stared mutely.

 

[Hecotoro]

"Let me go, meow!" Asahi called out as she was dragged like a sack of potatoes by a big brown cat. "I come in peace, meow!" She figured she could try and speak their language, but they didn't seem to be listening to her. "I just want to get a cat, meow, I promise I will love and care for little Kas like nobody, meow, has ever, meow, done... meow."

The cat seemed to not care as he walked proudly with his human capture while the other cats around them watched with curiosity and amazement at the accomplishment of their fellow feline. He dragged her along the streets, up some stairs and even some dirt, yet the human wouldn't shut up!

"You're getting me dirty! Meow! You know, I'm starting to think you don't understand me." Asahi pouted giving up on her attempt to communicate with the animals.

The jinchuriki smirked as they turned into an empty section of the fortress, a small bar and some other shops stood around, but that was about it. Asahi used that opportunity to do one of her more unpleasant tricks, she dislocated her wrist with one strong movement, allowing her to loosen up from the ropes that held her, reaching a kunai and cutting herself free. The big cat didn't seem to notice as he disappeared up some flight of stairs while Asahi laid still on the ground, thinking they couldn't see her if she didn't move.

"Not you again!" A familiar voice made Asahi turn around and found herself looking at the cat she encountered earlier, Kas. "Why are you chasing me?!"

"Meow, I want you to be my cat, meow."

"Why are you talking like that?!"

"So you can understand me, meow."

Kas covered her face with her paw in frustration and reached into one of her deep pant pockets. "Look, you seem a little dumb. You're gonna get yourself killed in here, take these and put them on. These transform you into a cat and allow you to understand them. Unlike most cats, I actually took time to learn your dull language. Now leave before you get hurt." She threw a pair of white cat ears at Asahi.

The Hasa girl put them on, thinking they were the most adorable thing in the world. "These really work?" She said while standing up and dusting herself while checking for any injuries she could've gotten.

"You look like a cat to me and you can understand me right?" Kas walked around the ninja girl, looking her up and down. "I stole these from some old lady, they really do work."

Asahi looked at her hands and then at her legs. "I don't feel any different, do I look any different?"

"You still look like an ass to me!" Kas said with a giggle afterwards.

"But I want to look like a cat!"

"You do look like one, trust me, why would I lie to you?"

"True, we are going to be best friends."

"Uh, no. You're going to leave and never come back."

"But you're leaving with me."

"No."

Asahi reached into her pouch and crouched down to Kas' height, offering a cookie again. "Here kitty kitty pspspsps."

Kas blushed with embarrassment, her warrior pride being hurt by how Asahi saw her as a cute little cat and not the killing machine she was supposed to be! To make it even worse, she took the cookie and began to nibble on it while purring. "Fine! I will go with you, as a test! To see if you are worth my company and maybe learn from the likes of you humans, on one condition..." A sinister smile spread across the black cat's face. "You must get permission from our boss."

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori let his torso hang out of the wall as he looked through the fissure, panting as he tried to find Tomiko. He didn't detect her on the ground nor was she in the fissure, so she was probably on the walls or something. A reasonable plan, especially since Fissure was potentially his strongest attack. Reaching into a pouch on his hip, he grabbed a small pill and swallowed it, refilling his dangerously low chakra pool to the brim as he dug to the surface, popping his head out and seeing Tomiko on the wall. Typical. Retreating back underground, the boy dug towards her, jumping out of the wall when the fissure came up before diving into the other wall. When he felt like he was right below Tomiko, he wove hand signs before erupting out of the ground just to the side of Tomiko.

"Earth Style: Tar Shot!"

Mori shot a stream of tar at Tomiko, hoping to trap her on the wall before finishing her off.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
For reasons he couldn't fully understand, Taiyo had managed to attract stares from a multitude of people, one of them being the girl he recalled seeing before. Obviously he noticed the stares thanks to looking at one of them, but the fiery shinobi was at a loss for what to do with them. Fortunately, the stares didn't seem to be fueled with anger and malice but rather confusion and slight annoyance. Despite that, the fiery shinobi found himself in a precarious position.

I dunno why, but I can tell I've made some kind of mistake. I can't really explain myself...and I don't know what they want from me...but these stares are kinda creeping me out.

Fuck it, let's leave. We've got a match to go to anyways.

Oh yeah! I forgot about that!

With a renewed sense of direction, Taiyo rose from his seat among the spectators and squeezed his way between the spectators. Due to now being in a rush, the Leaf-nin's sense of coordination was failing him. He was lucky enough to avoid faceplanting in the ground, but he came close multiple times. What was worse was that he was regaining the ire of the same spectators he had to squeeze past to get inside in the first place, making the experience unpleasant overall.

I never wanna do that again...

I'm sure one of them tried to trip me. Buncha assholes...

 

[kyuukestu]

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

Furījia​

Furījia took another swipe of her ice-cream cone, dying her tongue blue. The boy wilted under the stares of the opposing Hyūga and quickly beat a hasty retreat, nearly tumbling over himself several times in the process.

‘What was that about…?’

“That—Ojou—was the abashed flight of a boy in love.”

“Eeeeehhhh?” Furījia startled. Had she said that out loud?

“He was staring at you quite intently, and who wouldn’t, you’re quite the treat~”

“Don’t tease me!” She squeaked; cheeks flushed red. “Was that r-really why?”

“No. He probably just felt uncomfortable with all the stares—you’re too gullible, Ojou.”

“Natsu…” A pouty pout on her cheeks, the heiress simmered over the maid's antics. She was always teasing her.

“BUT—this is an important chance for you.”

“A…chance?”

“What are the three general rules for rulers?”

“Uhhh…Gather Key Supports, Control the treasure needed to secure those supporters, and then minimize Key Supporters.”

Natsu nodded and continued. “And who are your key supporters?”

With her position as the heiress, the next step was logically clan head, so in truth, the question asked who were the key supporters for a Clan Head? “The other Noble clans, the Hokage, and notable members of the common class.”

“Who was that boy?”

“Uhh–“

“He was on the dossier you were given.”

“Oh…”

A blush colored her cheeks, she hadn’t finished memorizing the information on the exam’s finalists. Fortunately, she still had the dossier with her. Furījia pulled a booklet out of her robes, one that contained a small wealth of information on the exam participants. She flipped through until she matched a picture to the boy she’d seen earlier.

“Taiyo Akugamki.”

“And more importantly among the finalists from the Leaf, he’s…?”

The Leaf had three finalists and it went without saying that Raiku and Shiho were representatives of their respective clans. But Taiyo? He was, “…the only unaffiliated one.”

“Bingo, anyone who can make it to the finals of the exams is bound to have some skill. He even managed to finish his match far ahead of the others. Who knows, he might be a top contender for the winner. If we win him over, he’ll be a strong ally in the future. This is your chance—he’s your age after, it’d be better if you approached him.”

“Fuueeeeeh—but, but, I’ve never—“

“Don’t worry Ojou, with your charms it'll be easy."

“I don’t think—“

“Trust me, If you could invite him to dinner I’m sure your mother would be proud.”

“Really…?”

“Of course, her Grace would be pleased to see you take an active role in securing the clan’s future standing.”

“But how do I win him over?”

“Well…” leaning over the head maid because to whisper into Furījia’s ear. The girl grew increasingly red as the whispers continued; her eyes popped, aghast.

She was so shamefaced she could hardly utter a sound of protest as Natsu ushered her out of her seat.

Furījia turned to give the head maid one last look: she was holding both her thumbs up in encouragement. The heiress gritted her teeth and gathered her resolve. Following that, she strutted off in the direction Taiyo had left.

For all her role as the instigator of events that were to come, Natsu returned to her seat. She nodded towards two members of the guard detail who nodded back and promptly disappeared.

Turning back to the match which seemed to be going in slow motion, Natsu sighed.

“Kids should have fun but—Ahh, Ojou…you’re still way too gullible.”