Ask to Join Shinobi’s Dawn

[=Nightshade=]

Hideki pulled the string attached to the kunai he had thrown, aiming to scatter reflected sunlight across the battlefield. Not quite so basic, Hideki thought to himself. Every clone the refracted light shone through suddenly blew apart into fine shimmering dust that tossed in the wind. As a thin beam fell across Hideki’s body, the string he had been holding went limp as he, too, split apart into dust... or so it would seem. The refracted light was a subtle genjutsu that should cause his opponent’s senses to unconsciously shift away from him, rendering him invisible to a degree.

Under the cover of this genjutsu, the real Hideki dove behind a tree, and not a moment too soon. Fierce gusts of wind from the blast blew past on either side of the tree, bringing hot ash that stung his eyes, and the branches of the tree above him creaked dangerously. A cracking sound louder than the others caused Hideki to snap his head up just in time to see a rather hefty branch fall. The boy threw himself out of the way too slow, and it struck right where his shoulder met his neck. A bolt of pain shot through his collarbone, and he dropped to one knee.

He bit through his lip to stop from cursing as he stepped out from behind the tree, and instantly realized the smoke kicked up by the explosion would be both an issue and a blessing. The certain qualities of the light filtering through could be useful for unique genjutsu, but the one he had cast earlier only guided the opponent’s senses, not controlling them completely. If he moved too suddenly, his position would be given away by the smoke’s movements. Knowing this, Hideki prepared to use kunai as decoys, ready to defend himself if his opponent noticed him.

@Mystic Zander

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"That thing looks kinda big. Wonder how it tastes. nice bear meat smoked for 48 hours, and the meat will slide right off the bones..." Ryu Ryu wanted some bear meat. Though even Ryu Ryu couldn't help but noticed, that wasn't the best course of action. "We should probably get moving. Luckily the bear is over there, and we're over here. What's the worst that could happen..." Ryu Ryu said as he leaped from tree to tree, distancing himself even further from the large creature. "I bet there's a boar down this way! The boar can be the appetizer. Get the bear later" Ryu Ryu said as he continued. he looked back at the others, "oaf!" Ryu Ryu muttered as he ran into a branch which hit him in the face as he jumped from tree to tree. Though quickly brushing it off as if it didn't happen.

 

[Mystic Zander]

Surprised by this course of action, Yoshi took a few jumps backwards. He needed some range to prepare, as he had a rather...unorthodox method of getting around invisibility-based techniques.

“Some type of invisibility, huh? Perhaps a unique ability, or Kekkei Genkai-“

The explosive member of Team-Iwa took a pause, quickly kicking off his shoes, before continuing.

“Sounds like bit more of a challenge. Much better!”

He planted his feet flat against the earth, sending a small surge of chakra through them as he did so. This was intended to amplify his sense of touch, like prior...only now- through his feet.
He slowly and steadily marched forward into the smoke. This was both to maintain in contact with the ground at all times, and also appear as if he was unaware of his enemies location.

@=Nightshade=

 

[kyuukestu]

Keba

Even in the world of ninja, a dual-wielding crab-girl was a remarkably ridiculous prospect. Keba stifled his laughter and met Kani's blade perpendicularly, parrying the strikes with deft wrist-work shifting the weight of the blows away from his body. His fleet-footed sword style was designed to dance circles around opponents, all the more so when they donned sheets of rocky armor. Keba leveraged his agility to take Kani's flank by slipped around the parried blow, seeking to test the durability of her armor with quick cuts.

Momo

The shrine maiden released her transformation, the restoration of her human form granting her the full extent of perception. she could sniff out Hideki's battlefield, the reek of the scorched land as sunlight refracted in preternatural ways through the clouds of ashen debris. Her empathetic sensing, though obscured by distance, allowed her to perform a body count. She identified it as a bout of single combat, a one-on-one; as opposed to the other battlefield, where two people engaged in a melee while one lurked below, a two-on-one she imagined.

Although the more volatile fight was concerning, Momo ultimately judged that the skewed fight required her attention. Although she'd been divested of her weapons, Momo was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat and her skills with ninjutsu were well-honed. Of course, none of that would matter if she had a repeat of her earlier bout. She needed an anchor and luckily, she was nearly spoiled for choice.

Between the confident, cautious, and down-right scheming approaches to battle, Momo quickly found a person to leech off. After a few moments to synchronize and settle her emotions, Momo moved to join the battle.

 

[Godjacob]

If we flee from this slightly bigger bear what hope do we have against enemy ninja?

Needless to say Koichi had not been thrilled about the decision to flee this creature, frankly Koichi was not sure why he had bothered to get his hopes up when he saw it as the "practical" option in this situation was for them to run as they had nothing to gain in this fight beyond a possible meal and the risk/reward scale had been lopsided in this venture. That had not meant that Koichi was happy about the decision, as he expressed inwardly but for the sake of the team he'd avoid challenging them on this as he moved his banjo behind his back and followed Ryu Ryu though the latter seemed to plant on the ground which caused him to chuckle.

"Need a hand~?" Koichi partly asked, partly teased as he none the less followed step for step with Ryu as he hoped to find a good meal or least something exciting soon as it may have "only" been the first day but he expected some action.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Sasai Arasaka...~

~Written exam...~

Before the test began, Sasai looked to the guy to the left of him, "You wanna get rid of that nasty flabby arm of yours. Gross. So soft and flabby. I could give you a beeetter one. Eh... Ehh.. Eh?" Sasai nudged the poor ninja with his elbow. A smug grin sat on Sasai's face as he truly believed he was doing this ninja a good act of service by removing his arm and replacing it. "uuugh-ummm-uugh... No thankyou! I just wanna take my test now" The ninja nervously said. Sasai's puppet Kakori turned its head, and looked right at the ninja. The puppet stared into the ninjas eyes. The poor ninja tried to avoid making eye contact with them at all cost after that. "Tsk... So selfish... You got two arms. You don't really need both. Have it your way greedy-mc-I-need-both-my-arms. Shake my head..." Sasai muttered.

Hakori had its arms wrapped around Sasai's torso relatively similar to a backpack. The puppet would spin its head in random directions, and look at random people. It would occasionally look at people for prolonged periods of time with its odd looking eyes. "huhuhuhuhuuhu!" Sasai outbursted into laughter to himself as he continued to write. His puppet would tap his shoulder repeatedly in small patterns. "huhuhuhuhuhu!" Sasai laughed again.

Eventually the examiner prompted them to finish the test. Sasai had already finished the test a while ago, but was still writing on his paper. Mostly scribbles and little pictures on the borders of his paper. Small anatomy drawings, but mostly turtles. Sasai liked drawing turtles. He tilted his orange glasses as he glanced over at the examiner. Placing his pencil parallel to the test paper on the desk.

Sasai smirked when Anka entered the room. Sasai didn't know the boy she was harassing, but if anyone loses a limb, she'd likely be the cause. "That a girl... cut him good! Nice clean cut through the deltoid and brachii muscles" Sasai thought to himself. Eventually they would head to the next trial.

~Forest of Chumps Death...~

Sasai stared blankly into space while Anko gave directions to the next challenge. Sasai took his scroll. He hid his scroll on his puppet. When the test began, he waited till the other ninjas entered. Sasai made his way into the forest, Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuuuu! Let's get the fun started. Can't wait" Sasai said to himself.

Sasai found a nice little area where he could catch unsuspecting shinobi off guard. Just snag a scroll, and go. Sasai knew that the person he jumps could have the same scroll as him, but he didn't care. It was a lot more effective than doing nothing. He sat there for a bit, planning strategies for getting a scroll. Its possible he may need to go out and find a scroll holder.

 

[=Nightshade=]

The smoky silhouette of Hideki’s opponent appeared to be doing something. Some type of sense enhancement? was the first thought that came to mind. It would make sense considering their current terrain. His best guess was a sense of touch to feel vibrations, since that was the sense Hideki’s genjutsu had the weakest effect on. He flipped the kunai in his left hand before throwing it with a quick, minimalistic movement, sending it directly into the ground about twenty feet away. The kunai in his other hand went thirty or so feet in the opposite direction. He drew out a pair of shuriken tethered to each hand, prepared to wrap his opponent’s limbs in the string the second his location was revealed. Once he was incapacitated, Hideki would be able to find the other’s scroll and dip— though he got the distinct feeling it wouldn’t be quite that easy.

@Mystic Zander

 

[Mystic Zander]

Yoshi, now rather frustrated by this Shimo-nins abilities, had decided to take a note from his opponents book.
Concealed by the cover of smoke, the tricky young Shinobi proceeded to reactive his Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu- this time accompanying it with the Cloak of Invisibility Technique, to hide the location of his hole.

Now- likely undetectable, Yoshi quickly tunneled to his enemies location and hunkered down.
Rather than attack his opponent right away, the Iwa-nin decided it would be best to disorient this genjutsu user before they could do-so to him.

“Damn illusionists.”

 

[sSoul]

The sounds of exchanged blows between Kani and Keba created vibrations that riddled down to the Garu's level, allowing him to stay aware of the fight at hand while remaining concealed. Another benefit that the ability to sense the goings on of the surface was that he was able to sense Momo's return to the fight.

What a convenient opportunity to return to the fight, as well as a chance to redeem my cowardice from before...

Taking the time to properly carry out the hand seals needed for his technique of choice, Garu placed his hands on the soil above him, crystalizing it while simultaneously giving it a humanoid form. Eventually, his efforts reached the surface, where the left arm of the crystal golem attempted to grab Momo's ankle with the intent of tripping her.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Her opponent was fast, oh no. Kani began to get worried as Keba parried her blade and slashed at her armor. It was not a heavy hit and her armor would not break that easily, but even a mountain can be dug out by a spoon. It would take an eternity, but it could happen. Kani didn't even know the jutsu type of her opponent, nor could she remember the weaknesses of each element. Against Momo, her opponent was as nervous as she was. Keba was a whole different story. Fumbling around on her six legs, she managed to face Keba again and prepared to move sideways. Running forwards would just be too risky, there was a reason as to why crabs didn't do that. Raising her left claw, she slashed down onto her opponent with a diagonal downward slash.

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

Utano managed to find her allies, or atleast they looked like her allies. Staying hidden in the canopy of the trees, she played the five chords that only she and her team knew. G-A-D-G-E. If they were her actual teammates, she would hear them reply with their own created security melodies. If not, her allies were captured or dead. One or the other, she didn't know quite yet.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Hmm. They didn’t take the bait. Smarter than they look, I see. Hideki pulled his kunai back — best not to lose ammunition this early in the game — and dropped into a cautious stance. Losing track of your opponent in a fight is never a good thing, but Hideki had seen him pop out of the ground before, and his face remembered it well. He wasn’t sure just how many tricks the other had up his sleeve, though.

Can’t get cocky. Breathe, Hideki thought. If he makes the first move, I’ll end up playing Whack-A-Mole for the next five minutes, and I don’t want that. He still shouldn’t be able to sense me very well, but best not take that chance. Depending on how much I use, if I send lightning chakra into the ground, it should conduct the electricity which could work in several ways. Gotta be careful, though. Don’t want to use too much chakra and drop dead.

With a course of action now in mind, Hideki executed a series of hand seals, then placed one hand flat on the ground. “Lightning Jutsu!” he said, sending bolts of electricity into the ground.

@Mystic Zander

 

[Mystic Zander]

Unfortunately for Hideki, Yoshi had been waiting for a sign just like this. Any signal that would indicate his enemies exact location, as he hadn’t moved much since activating his...’invisibility technique’.

“Hah!”

Brrm!

As the lightning jutsu was activated, the Iwa-Nin crouched into a ball in his little underground pit, and let out a shout. As he did so, the two paper bombs closest to his target were detonated.
This would not only disrupt the path and flow of his lightning as the surrounding earth was uplifted, but it would also send a flurry of lightning fast rubble hurdling towards Hideki from all sides.

“That better...have worked.”

Yoshi murmured to himself while holding the side of his head. The intense rumbling and loud booms had caused his ears to begin ringing, and he’d need a moment to recover before continuing.

@=Nightshade=

 

[kyuukestu]

Momo

Momo looked ahead. What was that? Ahead was some creature of bastard origins: its movements were awkward and impaired, scuttering about with six disgustingly spindly legs and large blocky claws swung about a set of Keba's slender blades.

"Eww..."

Hideous as the beast was, the forest would be better off without it. A snag staggered the Shrine Maiden, something firm—something that shouldn't have been there—something identifiable as a crystalized and very much disembodied arm had grabbed her.

How had it—How could it...

She frowned. Beneath the surface, someone's pulse tickled her empathetic senses.

"Not...blind?"

She'd been careless; it wouldn't happen again. She transformed into a senbon and utilized the abrupt change in form to free herself. An instant later, when she had released the jutsu, Momo leaped toward a tree branch, her fingers weaving into seals, a new jutsu gradually coming to life.

Keba

Thick and sturdy. Keba hummed thoughtfully and leaped out of reach of Kani's counterattack. It wouldn't be easy to cut through that earthy carapace. It would take time; time he didn't have. He still needed to find—

'Momo...?'

The cloudy Shinobi spotted his missing teammate. She was held firm by an arm that had, as far as he could tell, grown out of the ground. He immediately connected the dots to the other boy who had fled underground earlier. It seems their opponents could be quite resourceful and quite troublesome when they were out of sight.

His lips made a line, flat and pensive at first, but when he noticed the hand-seals Momo was making, they drew into a curve and a smile emerged. Following her lead, Keba copied her seals, their combined prowess rapidly hastening the jutsu's activation.

Within seconds a white mist had covered the forest and the air chill. Leafage whitened and tree bark darkened with dewy moisture.

"Hiding in Frost Technique!"

As visibility diminished, the duo of Shimo-shinobi vanished, effectively invisible. Keba, like Momo, had taken some altitude, wary of the two shinobi he knew to be hiding underground.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Hideki’s sense of foreboding had continued to increase as he released his jutsu—and not unfounded, he soon found out, as the ground exploded upwards to meet him. A million thoughts shot through his head at once, most of them less than polite, but it was too quick for him to do any more than attempt to cover his head and vitals. He was thrown backwards and landed hard on his back, though he was in a half-fetal position so it didn’t do as much damage as it could have. Rocks and debris flew at and around him, glancing off his arms and legs.

That’s gonna hurt in the morning, Hideki thought wryly as he struggled to his feet after the onslaught. Blood dripped from various gashes in his arms and legs, and from a cut above his eye. But I’m standing. That’s something, at least. Gotta hand it to the guy, he’s pretty good, using my own tricks against me like that. Maybe I should use paper bombs more often, they look fun. Though they feel like crap if I’m being perfectly honest... ooooookay, keep your head in the game. No time to be spacing out like you have a concussion. Even if you do have a concussion. Do I have a concussion? Eh, what does it matter. The explosion must’ve done some damage to him, with any luck I might be able to make a last-ditch attempt before pulling out...

@Mystic Zander

 

[Mystic Zander]

After a few moments of recovery, Yoshi decided now would be a good time to resurface. His tolerance against explosives was high, but being underground had significantly limited him.

“Here’s hoping I got the bastard, or this’ll end up like a game of whack-a-mole...”

He’d aim to pop up just about two meters from where he determined his target to be, molding chakra in his mouth as he did so.
As the final layer of rocky ground was removed, Yoshi burst through the topsoil- landing on the ground directly in front of his tunnel.

“Time to see if my work paid off.”

And, much to Yoshi’s surprise, it appeared as though he’d been quite successful. The Shimo-Nin appeared to have suffered several non-lethal abrasions from the explosions.

“I’m impressed. You’re not laying in a puddle of you’re own blood-“

Yoshi paused for a moment, gesturing up and down Hideki’s damaged body.

“-you’re standing in it.”

A quick scan of the nearby area revealed the shrapnel had ripped open Hideki’s bag, allowing the contents to spill out and scatter along the ground. Though, he could only make out so much, as the area had been covered by a dense, icy fog. Fortunately, one item just close enough to make out was...

“A scroll!”

Not wasting a moment, the Iwa Shinobi activated his tongue seal; allowing him to spit a flurry of ten Senbon at his target. These Senbon didn’t appear to be explosive, and were primarily aimed for the arms and legs.
Yoshi would use the moment of distraction to dive for the scroll, casting the sign to reactivate Hiding Like a Mole as he did so.
If all went according to plan, Yoshi would grab the scroll and immediately tunnel back underground.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Kani's target jumped out of reach, causing her attack to whiff. As frost lowered visibility even lower than it already was, the girl began growing more and more nervous. She could not see anyone, enemy or friend, and even the civillian born girl knew that this was not a good situation. Deciding to do whatever she could to hamper her opponents, she let go of one of the swords to use both pinchers to bend the remaining sword with her enchanced strength and decreased risk of getting cut. After the first sword was rendered useless, she grabbed the second sword and put it through the same procedure. With both swords disabled, she did all that she could in her opinion. Letting out a sigh, Kani knew she had to get out of there. Letting part of the abdomen of her Crab Carapace crumble to dirt, she left the suit of armor and began weaving hand signs. "Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage!" The girl whispered as the ground around her turned into a liquid state, allowing her to hide underground as the suit of armor stayed standing, like a molten crab shell. She didn't know what to do, but atleast she was safe now.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Hideki’s gaze shifted to follow his opponents’... a split second too late. Just about every swear word he possessed in his brain shot through it as he threw himself out of the way of the senbon that had been aimed at him, aiming to grab the other and prevent his escape. His fingers brushed his opponent’s clothes, but then he was gone. All in the space of about three seconds — it was too late.

“Well, shit,” he muttered. That about summed up the situation. The small amount of chakra he was able to release through his fingers and attach to the other boy hadn’t been enough for him to set up an attack, but it had been enough for him to sense. Assuming they stayed within a certain radius of each other, Hideki should be able to track the traces of chakra remaining on Yoshi... but it looked like right now he wasn’t going anywhere. He dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.

I should be alright with a little rest. As long as I don’t get poisoned, infected, eaten, or die of thirst, then I should be juuuuuust fine. He shook his head in mild amusement as he took a small roll of bandages from his pouch and began wrapping his wounds. His thoughts were cluttered — a side effect of having his brains knocked around his skull like the bell inside a cat toy — and it seemed the battle had awoken a rather trigger-happy part of Hideki he hadn’t been aware of before. I don’t know who you are, Iwa ninja, but I’ll find you again. Then we’ll have a fight to remember...

 

[Godjacob]

Koichi glanced at Utano as she seemed to make a subtle cord signal as if checking they had been her allies, and quickly Koichi worked to strike a cord once he had moved himself and Ryu Ryu out of the bear's area as he flipped his banjo and replied accordingly.

S-u-p y-o-u s-h-i-t-s.

Koichi naturally flashed a cheeky wink at her as it had all been on good gest, but nobody could deny he was who he claimed to be.

----------
Mitsuko had finished with the process of skinning the fish she had caught from the river and now worked to begin with "cooking" the meal, which itself posed a challenge as where there'd be smoke there was fire as she risked exposing her camp even with its natural coverings so she had to try and ensure she put out her light fire in a way that'd minimize the rising smoke to come as she worked to warm up her pan just enough to place her skinned fish upon it for a proper meal.

Mitsuko had managed to avoid much excitement thus far, which had been both a relief and somewhat disappointment. Still, she knew this exam was a marathon and not a sprint, her moment surely would come she had told herself.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Ryu Ryu...~

"Good point! I'm pretty sure we can kill that bear. Thing is probably slow anyways. Easy kill" Ryu Ryu said.

"Who needs a hand? I don't know who your talking about..." Ryu Ryu said backflipping off one branch, and swinging off the next before landing on another. Ryu Ryu smirked knocking a couple leaves out of his hair. Pretty soon, Ryu Ryu heard a g-a-d-g-e, "That must be Utango" Ryu Ryu said as the banjo played. He didn't see Utano anywhere. He skeptically turned to Koichi, and shrugged.

He then turned and heard Koichi's music play. After a few moments, Ryu Ryu face palmed himself after he understood Koichi's message. He turned to look, "Guess we find a new campsite... I hope you guys didn't leave any good food at the camp site... Also I forgot we still need scrolls. Scrolls... Those things" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu didn't wanna think about the fact that he still only had the one scroll.

~Sasai Arasaka...~

*UUuuuuuUUUuuuuUuggggghghhhh! So boooooooooooooored" Sasai grumbled to himself kicking the tree out of anger and impatience. The vine on the tree began to move and snap at him, "Gah! Vines don't move! I'm sick of it! I'm sick! Sick! Sick, and tired of this stupid forest! I just wanna go hoooome! Where I can sit on my couch and work on my puppets" Sasai said as he ran.

*Roooooooaaaaaar!* Sasai's stomach grumbled.
"Shutup! We're on a mission" Sasai said.
*grooooooowl* Sasai's stomach went.
"I better get a second scroll soon" Sasai said.
*Grumble grumble?* Sasai's stomach noised again.
"Oooone little snack, and then I'll get go and get a scroll" Sasai said cheerfully.

Soon enough, he found himself near a campsite. He hid in a tree, and quietly looked down from the tree. A dark haired kunoichi from the village hidden in the clouds was down below. Low and behold, this chick had food, and Sasai had an appetite.

"Hmmm... I cooould get the food, but I could get the scroll. Get the food and sleep well tonight. Hell yeah! Get the scroll and sleep well when this exam is all over. Gah! I hate these inner monologues... I know what I must do..." Sasai thought to himself. He grinned sadistically before throwing a stick down at the lady as if it were a spear. He grabbed his puppet and threw it. He jumped out, and slid down the tree side. "Surprise attack, Fish steal no jutsu! Errr... Gimme your scroll lady!" Sasai said throwing a shuriken at her this time.

After landing on the ground, his puppet landed near him. Sasai took up a defensive stance, and began sending his puppet chakra to attack if necessary.

 

[sSoul]

Just as planned, Garu's golem had grasped onto Momo's heel, but before he could drag her to the ground like he had planned, the frosty kunoichi somehow managed to slip from his grasp. As the Kyoyakishi shinobi was contemplating how his opponent did that, he noticed that they seemed to have disappeared all together. In other news, it seemed that a couple of explosions had occurred on the surface, likely the work of a certain demolitions expert. With all that in mind, Garu now found himself at a crossroads that could determine the outcome of this encounter: either he'd stay underground and wait for them to go back to the surface, or he would emerge and continue the fight.

Hmm, neither option is preferable due to a high level of commitment. Wait, maybe I don't have to commit after all...

Without further hesitation, the Crystal Release user rapidly shot up to the surface, yet everything up to his neck was still underground. He took a look around the battlefield around him. By the time he emerged from the ground, his golem had also clawed its way onto the surface. From the information he gathered, his opponents seemed to be completely invisible. However, he knew that his opponents weren't on the ground, otherwise, he could sense them while buried. Given that there were few places where his opponents could flee too, he decided to do the best he could.

"Jostle the trees! They can't hide very well if they lose their balance." After giving a command to his golem, Garu decided to burrow his head back into the ground, to retain his advantage of being below the surface. In correspondence to the command, the crystalline golem lumbered over to the nearest tree stump and struck it with as much force as it could muster. It would repeat this process two more times and if nothing happened, it would move on to the next tree and begin the cycle over again.

 

[Mystic Zander]

The hair on the back of Yoshi’s neck stood on end as he felt his enemies fingers gently brush across the collar of his shirt, just barely missing him as he burrowed into the soft topsoil just below them.
He immediately began weaving back and forth as he dug, creating a path that would make it nearly impossible to get a clear shot at him.
After a little more effort, the Iwa-nin managed to fumble his way back into a previously made tunnel a few meters away. Only difference being- this tunnel led straight up to the surface.

“Looks like both Kani and Garu made their way underground as well...and they don’t appear to be in range. Perfect.”

Yoshi was done with this battle. He’d obtained his scroll...but he wanted to send a message. To show these foes that things had gotten nowhere near serious, and they should stay away.
He molded chakra in his mouth, using it summon three explosive Senbon between his teeth.

“Here goes nothing!”

Yoshi proceeded to plug his ears, before firing all three explosive Senbon straight up and out of the hole. Though, these Senbon were fired much, much slower than any he’d let loose previously. This was for a very significant reason.

The explosives soared in a perfect upwards trajectory, climbing about ten meters into the air, before losing their momentum. It was at this moment, that Yoshi detonated all three of his airborne explosives...along with all five remaining paper bombs he’d laid out underground.

BOOOMM!!!!

The eight-bomb explosion was...quite impressive. The earth had been uplifted from the explosions, leading to a wave of heat, shrapnel, and dust rocketing outing every direction. This, in turn, replaced the thick layer of frost and fog in the immediate area into a dense cloud of dust, dirty, and rocks.

Having survived yet another round of large explosions, Yoshi clumsily sealed the newly obtained scroll into his tongue seal, before digging a path deep underground, far away from any potential enemies, that eventually led to the bottom of Garu’s tunnel.

“Heyyyy...sorry about whatever you had going on up there...it’s probably gone now- hehe.”

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Heaving a loud rustling that appeared to be becoming louder, Hatsumei turned towards the point of origin of the noise and came face to face with the giant serpent who made all that noise. "Oh wow, I've never seen a snake as big as you before." She exclaimed, in awe at the sheer size of the snake in front of her. When the snake rose its body up and showed its fangs, Hatsumei quickly put her hands on the contraption on her waist, activating it. In a flash, two grappling hooks shot out from her gear behind her and latched onto a tree. "Alright so you clearly mean harm, its a shame I can't take the time to observe you more." As she spoke, the wires would pull her up towards the tree they latched onto, avoiding the spray of venom the serpent shot the young girls way.

While flying through the air, Hatsumei turned a knob on the side of her backpack twice, causing two paper bombs to roll out of the dispenser on the inner side of the pack. Catching one in each hand, the Sand Ninja landed on one of the tree branches and stared back at the giant snake. "Hey over here!" She called out to grab its attention before throwing the paper bombs its way.

 

[Godjacob]

Woosh!

Mitsuko quickly rolled to the side as her ears picked up the sounds of objects that sailed through the air. Kunai stuck to the ground as someone announced their arrival and soon a figure along with what seemed to be a humanoid "doll" arrived in tandem. A Sunagakure ninja? She had heard they specialized in such works but regardless Mitsuko already had both her blades drawn as she glared daggers into the arrival of her camp.

"I would ask if you are even aware the scroll I possess, but that seems to matter not." Mitsuko mused as she had already worked a stance, a faint blue glow passed as her chakra seemed to almost transfer to her blades before she dashed forward.

She moved almost as a blur as she aimed to close the distance between herself and her attacker, and with her blades on their blunt side her aim was to try and strike his chest with twin slashes. Given he specialized with the puppet, convention said that the best way to deal with it was to attack the one pulling the strings and keep it close.

----------
"Scrolls won't be too hard, advantage we have is right now any scroll will do. So anyone is on the table for us to strike." Koichi pointed out to Ryu Ryu as he'd work his way to the source of Utano's musical reply and in turn work to a new camp as he had heard Ryu Ryu's comments which concerned their lack of scrolls and seemed eager to go on the hunt.

Though much as he wanted to find another team, he figured that the group would want to take the safe and boring option to form a camp. Much as he preferred action over a field scout but hey he'd wait to see what the group desired to do.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Sasai Arasaka...~

"Blahalaaughshakasnapaduflimuba!!" Sasai incoherently yelled, after hearing the kunoichi ask of his awareness to her scroll. He went in blind, with no cluue on whether or not she had his scroll or not. A foolish decision, but one he would need to follow up on if he wanted to keep his scroll now.

"So fast... Swords!" Sasai yelled seeing her double sword strike, He leaped to the side then attempted to slap her hands away too avoid the sword strikes. While doing this, he had his puppet, Kokori extended its arms to strike the Kunoichi from above at the same time.

~Ryu Ryu...~

"Thaaaaaaaats's correct! This whole forest is just one giant all you can eat buffet, and all these other ninja are just waiting to be picked" Ryu Ryu chuckled. "Hmmm... Scroll or camp... Hard to tell what should be next... On one hand its nice to have a nice little safe place, but on the other, getting a scroll might work up my appetite! All the more reason to do that! hmmm" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu kept an eye out in case he saw Utano or some other ninja.

 

[Godjacob]

"Well guess we need a third opinion on this..." Koichi mused as indeed there seemed to be a conflict of camp vs. scroll hunt, and while Koichi already knew what he desired he figured that they needed to speak this as a unit. Or least if he had made an executive action Utano likely would have taken issue with the decision, so he quickly aimed to lead them back to the source of her noise as they needed to group up properly.

---------
Mitsuko seemed to not skip a beat as she adjusted her swing of the perry as her hands were knocked back and used the moment shift to a stance as the puppet approached her as her blades seemed to shimmer with an unseen glow to them as the samurai ninja responded in haste.

"Twin Soul Style: Cyclone Slash!"

Without a visible hand sign, Mitsuko spun her body around in a rapid 360 degree motion and a chakra-produced shockwave came from her blades which produced this short "bubble" around her which aimed to blow back the puppet and her foe in one go while they remained in striking distance.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Ryu Ryu...~

"Third opinion? And who do you mean by tha- No wait... Don't answer that. Dumb question... Duh... Where is Usano anyways?" Ryu Ryu asked. *badum bop* Ryu Ryu smacked his drums.

~Sasai Arasaka...~

"Woah WOAH!" Sasai yelled attempted to leap back and held his arms out in front of his face and torso to minimize damage. His puppet Kokori retracted its arms while leaping back. With his lacking speed he would not be fast enough to dodge the hit. Kokori began to use its long arms to try get behind the kunoichi to strike. "Earth release shadow clone jutsu!" Sasai yelled. A clone poofed up and the two ran opposite directions.

"Hey, over here silly kunoichi!" both Sasai said while attempting to maintain their distance from the girl. While this was going on Kokori used it's long arms to get close to the kunoichi. The puppet began thrusting its arms at her like punches.

 

[sSoul]

As Garu was digging, he noticed a familiar voice echo in the depths of the Forest of Death. Eventually, he found that the voice belonged to Yoshi, and that he was telling him that his golem is gone now, which would be the primary indicator that he blew something up had the Crystal release user been unable to feel the vibrations the explosion caused. Though the loss of a golem was irritating, it was just an inconvenience, not something to be mourned over for an extensive period of time.

"Don't bother with the apology, that golem's a dime a dozen. I could make a million of them if I wanted to...and had enough chakra," Garu allowed himself to crack a dry joke as to not be completely serious in his discussion, "We should regroup with Kani. But, and forgive me for asking, did you manage to secure a scroll?"

 

[Mystic Zander]

Yoshi was sporting a toothy smile as Garu asked him about the scroll. It was too easy...

“Of course I got a scroll. Pretty sure Kani got two! What kinda ninja would I be if I couldn’t get a single scroll?”

With that, Yoshi quickly flashed the newly obtained Earth Scroll, before doing as he did with the prior; sliding the whole scroll into his mouth. Once again, it seemingly disappeared down the back of his throat without him even swallowing.

“You can show me how many you got later. I gotta focus on sensing out Kani right now. The explosion should’ve been more than enough to buy us some time, but if they go on the offensive right away, we can’t be split up like this.”

Satisfied with how casually he hid his callous little joke, Yoshi turned and immediately began digging towards the only other underground movement nearby.

“Haaaahahahahahahahaha!”

 

[kyuukestu]

Momo

The power of the explosion demonstrated itself in a shockwave that lifted the earth and flattened the forest and its fury scorched the air, evaporating the dense cloud of frosty dew that had obscured the battlefield. Beneath the battered surface, three humanoid mole rats scurried about; very much alive despite their own repeated attempt to bomb the forest into a smoldering crater. Equipped with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of bombs and a proportionally small supply of bravado, the Iwa shinobi had earned themselves Momo's ire. She could only imagine their plans included hiding underground for at least the next hour just to be safe before they would peek out of their burrows to check on the situation. No, scratch that, it would probably be another of those disposable clones.

Lacking an answer against such avoidant foes, the Shrine maiden decisively turned her attention elsewhere. The duo had been suspended by Keba's cloud steps, a perfect supplement to their Hiding in Frost technique that rendered the sight and sound of their approach virtually undetectable. Now the floaty foot-holds had been used to keep them above the fire and fury of the explosion.

She could only hope that Hideki had similarly managed to avoid a gruesome fate and she knew that the team's best move now was regrouping. Her grip on Keba's leg tightened as she squeezed to get his attention.

"Hideki..."

Her remaining hand pointed Keba in the direction she'd last sensed the boy and her kekkei genkai slipped into dormancy as she untethered her emotions from Yoshi's.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Hideki produced a small dome of earth using a few hand signs, like a force field to protect him from the explosion he felt before he heard. The vibrations in the ground had tipped him off; either the explosion had been very big, or very close. When the ground was still again, he slowly removed the earth dome, looking around himself carefully. A cloud of dust and debris that seemed further away than he expected was rising above the trees. He sighed, partially in relief that he was still alive, and partially cynical that he would continue to stay alive. Gotta find the others, the Shimo nin thought to himself as he tied off his last bandage. There’s still four days left. No point whining now, just gotta get some scrolls.

The boy stood slowly. It wouldn’t take long for him to heal—none of the lesions had been terribly deep—but he needed time for his chakra to be recovered. When his ears had stopped ringing and his sense of direction had returned, he began moving towards the place the fight had first began.

(OOC: I apologize profusely for the long wait ugh anyways here I woke up like 20 min ago so sorry if it sucks )

 

[DarkHydraT]

Kani had made a correct decision by going underground, as a large explosion soon sweeped across the area, sending the carapace flying into a tree where it fell apart in many different pieces. The girl had been lucky, causing her to let out a sigh before assessing the situation. She had no scroll, her armor was gone and she had no clue where her opponents were. Her allies had to be underground, no way did they stay up there when that explosion went off. She couldn't sense them, Subterranean Voyage did not grant her that ability. She'd have to find another way to contact her allies, but maybe her allies did sense her. Perhaps she should stay put.

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

As Ryu-Ryu played his identification tones, Utano dropped from a nearby tree and greeted her fellow Oto-nin. "So, how did your little hunting trip go? I heard your prey from the camping ground, did they fight back?" Chuckling to herself, Utano soon shook her head. "Taunting can come later, what's the plan? Do we have food or camp?" The girl asked her allies, interested to know what they had planned.

 

[sSoul]

Though you wouldn't be able to see it in the darkness of the underground, Garu was currently giving Yoshi a death glare for his snarky comment that was little more that "Haha, I have a scroll and you don't". Under other circumstances, the Crystal Release user might've punched him in the arm or even slapped him in the face for getting an ego, but it was clear to the Iwa-nin that now was not the time nor the place. Instead, Garu followed Yoshi's digging path under the assumption that he was digging to wherever Kani was. While he was digging, he began plotting his retort for Yoshi's attempt at clever humor.

 

[EnviousWorm]

The genjutsu genin of Kumogakure drifted casually down the river, a little demoralized but safe, for now; he'd spent most of the first day stalking in hunt of an Earth Scroll when a nasty, not-so-distant explosion caught the young shinobi off-guard and sent him reeling into the river. Keito couldn't help but curse himself. He'd been so brazen after the written test, and that kind of confidence was unlike him. Of course he found himself alone in an unfamiliar place, wielder of the Heaven Scroll - something so sought after it could find him dead.

Keito didn't take long to remove himself from the river and find an advantageous position high among the trees. Through the first day, he'd remained relatively lucky - hunting as opposed to hunted, the green genin hadn't yet been tested in a serious, physical way. But psychologically, Keito was already beginning to feel the mental wear of a potentially deadly assignment. But his luck had come through, in some way.

Untested and untouched - aside from being knocked around by the shockwaves of a big boom - Keito was well-rested and still had chakra in droves. That would have to be the difference maker, unless he stumbled into a match against opponents mentally unprepared for his genjutsu. From his high point in the trees, Keito began to formulate plan after plan for his survival; first he had to re-orient himself, get back on track of the other ninja in the forest, and track himself down an Earth Scroll. He kept his eyes and ears open, waiting.

 

[Mystic Zander]

After a minute or two of digging, Yoshi had finally managed to pinpoint the exact hollow spot Kani nestled herself away in.
As he tore through the last layer of densely packed earth, he couldn’t help but be reminded of just a short while ago; unearthing Kani from her scorched shell.

“Wonder if digging her up is gonna be a reoccurring theme...”

Not wanting to dwell on a potentially dark subject, Yoshi tumbled through the small opening he’d created, before scrambling to flip onto his hands and knees. Now, he was face to face with Kani; close enough for her to see the dirty smudges coating his cheeks and forehead, even in the near pitch-black tunnel.
His eyes were illuminated with the spark of contemplation, as if he wasn’t certain what he wanted to say. After a moment of this awkward, close up, silence- Yoshi parted his lips, and spoke.

“So- now that that’s over with...wanna go get some food?”

And just like that, Yoshi’s mind had been blotted out by the requests of his stomach. It was slowly becoming apparent that the young Iwa-nins personality was just as explosive as his fighting style.

~~~~~

“Idiots.”

Diàn was aware that some...less than competent individuals would likely end up fighting on day one- but for explosions of that scale to be going off so often? Someone was either throwing a tantrum, or really wanted that scroll...and he wouldn’t be making the same mistake.
Instead, the Kumo-Nin opted to dedicate his first day toward setting up a small base of operations.

“Not bad. Not bad.”

Pushing his wavy blonde hair aside, Diàn took a moment to look over the smooth, circular hole he’d carved into the side of a large rock formation.
It was...small; requiring him to crawl on his hands and knees in order to enter, and only just big enough to stand up in once inside. But this was a good thing, as it made his hiding spot neigh impossible to notice.

“That’ll have to do. No point wasting anymore lightning.”

With a light exhale, Diàn deactivated his Lightning Node, causing the electricity that had been flowing through his ‘carving hand’ to gradually dissipate.
Now, with a basic form of shelter established, the white-vested Genin covered the entrance of his ‘base’ with a large rock, before venturing out to find a freshwater stream.

“Knowing my luck, I’m probably gonna walk right into those idiots bombs...”

 

[kyuukestu]

NPC Encounter - Hatsumei

The serpent's heat-seeking senses locked onto its would-be dinner. Though she had avoided its first spray of venom, the reptile would not so easily be dissuaded. It returned to the underbrush, side-winding between tree trunks to conceal itself. With its body length and powerful muscles, the beast was a surprisingly adept climber. With tight coils it scaled the tree, following on Hatsumei's heels. It sprung to devour the girl, branch, bark, and all; but, instead got a mouth-full of paper-bomb.

As the paper bombs detonated they blew the snake's head apart. It would have been a clean win from the Suna-kunoichi, but the snake's venom sacs had been detonated with its head. The area quickly filled with a venomous mist and the forest stilled to silence as birds and arboreal creatures began to fall from their perches, paralyzed by a swift inhalation of snake-venom and dead, breaking their necks upon impact with the ground. And it would appear that Hatsumei too would follow their example.

@Grand Master Koop

 

[DarkHydraT]

Kani had settled in her little hiding hole when Yoshi broke through the surrounding dirt. She knew that he would probably find him, but she still jumped a little because she didn't expect it and because it was so dark. Yoshi himself also did not help ease her nerves by getting incredibly close to her face. She could see the dirt on his face, and if it was any brighter she could probably count his eyelashes too. Thankfully Yoshi quickly broke the awkwardness by mentioning food. "I'd appreciate that, I'm getting a bit hungry. I didn't get a scroll though, I'm sorry. I promise that I'll try my best next time, I'll make it up to you by getting some fish or crayfish." Two fights where she got no scrolls from, this was not a good track record. Precious time was wasted and there was no real way to make up for it. Of course, hoping to succeed on day one was ambitious and hopeful, but it still stung.

 

[Pinch]

"Finally"
Takemi stepped back from the tree trunk, and admired his handiwork after deactivating his Overdrive. He'd spent the majority of the first day gathering food and trying his best to stay away from the fighting, and for the past few hours he'd been digging into a large tree trunk so he would have somewhere to sleep for the night.
"Tomorrow is the day I can start hunting for a Heaven Scroll"
He thought to himself as he tucked into the tree and pulled out one of the various fruits he'd gathered over the course of the day. Takemi's plan was to go after the people who had tired themselves out on the first day, and as he had avoided any and all fighting he was still in tip-top shape, then, once he had one, he'd just have to make a beeline straight for the tower using Overdrive. He still had some work to do however, as he was yet to find a continuous source of water and was actually quite thirsty, though that was a problem for tomorrow. He would be able to live with it for just one night.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Perched up on a tree looking down the explosion that just ensued, Hatsumei looked a bit disappointed that the snake didn't put up much of a fight despite its stature. "Oh was that it? Huh, I guess just because they're big doesn't make them any less likely to get blown up." She chuckled. However, as she was relaxing from killing the giant snake, Hatsumei noticed something from the corner of her eye. She noticed that all of the surrounding treetop animals have begun falling limp and crashing down.

As she observed the scene, the girl soon noticed that a mist was rising from the carcass of the recently deceased serpent. Realizing what was going on, Hatsumei threw her hand over her mouth and nose as she recoiled back. "The venom!" She thought before turning around and using her grappling hooks to get way from the corpse as fast as she could. "I'm such an idiot! Letting my guard down just because I assume the fight was over, how much I inhale before I realized?" These thoughts ran through her head as she swung through the tree lines.

Suddenly, Hatsumei felt her body stiffen. "Oh crap!" She shouted before loosing her balance and falling to the ground. Luckily, she had enough strength left to reduce the damage from the fall by rolling. "Damn it, it appears it was enough to have an effect." Hatsumei arduously pulled herself to her feet. "From what I can tell, the amount of venom I inhaled isn't fatal enough to kill me, but a place called the Forest of Death isn't a good place to idle in." With her mind made up, Hatsumei began to walk away, although very clumsily. "I need to find a place to rest until this poison wears off... at least I hope it wears off." She said to herself.

 

[Gamingfan]

"Shit. Ow. Damn. Fu-."
Zeren repeatedly cursed as he dabbed at his wound with his wet shirt. The bleeding was slowing, but it still stung. After a few hundred more curses, he cleaned the wound, proceeding to thoroughly wash his bloodied shirt in the lake, leaving it to dry next to his tracksuit, hanging over a tree branch. He kept his scroll hidden in the empty katana sheath over his back, where it kept for being wet as he neared the lake again.
The young ninja held his katana at the ready, looking over the river for any fish passing by. He may as well get some food. Save energy and move again later that night, when other ninja would likely be snoozing.
Of course, part of his focus was also dedicated to not getting jumped and most likely killed, which was probably why missed a fair amount of fish.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Keeping himself perched atop his tall tree, Keito listened to the sounds of the surrounding area, his eyes closed in a peaceful meditation. Somehow, the mediocre genin felt at home in the Forest of Death. And he knew he was one of the few. He could hear the rustling of other ninja nearby - just close enough that Keito could tell the direction they were, but just far enough that the Cloud shinobi still felt relatively safe. Until he heard a splash in the river, the indication of another shinobi getting comfortable within his vicinity.

How did he miss that? Keito sighed. He got careless, eyes closed, listening out - he hadn't even noticed someone stumbling right up under his nose. The genin gathered chakra at his feet and walked slowly down the trunk of the tree he'd climbed to the top of, trying to move silent so as not to spook the ninja. Keito couldn't get a good view of him even atop the tree, but the Kumo ninja swore the boy was holding a sword.

Gathering himself to stand, hung upside down like a bat on a low, wide branch, Keito watched the boy in an isolated silence, maybe a dozen yards away from where the other ninja had set down his things. But instead of sneaking over to rob the fishing ninja, Keito simply remained where he was - face covered by his gaitor mask and drooping cloak's hood - watching.

@Gamingfan