Ask to Join Shinobi’s Dawn

[sSoul]

Garu accepted the fish filet from Kani without hesitation and began nibbling away to satisfy his hunger. In truth, he wasn't the biggest fan of seafood, but passing up a meal under these circumstances would be foolish at best and suicidal at worst. As for strategies, the Crystal Release user was stumped on coming up with any. After finishing his fish, he decided to put forth his best suggestion and fine tune it to the suggestions of his teammates.

"I'm with Kani when it comes to not wanting to experience a repeat of yesterday's failures," Garu wrapped his index finger and his thumb around his chin, a habit he had whenever he was sharing his contemplations, "I think that yesterday's failing was attributed to our inability to play to our greatest advantage. Many shinobi are out for themselves in this exam while some shinobi such as ourselves and yesterday's opponents formed alliances. However, even though we were grouped up, we fought as individuals. In order to succeed, we'll need to team up on our opponents and gain an advantage in numbers. This is easy to achieve when fighting a solo shinobi, but the difficulty comes in dealing with an enemy team of shinobi. Do either of you have a strategy on how to isolate a single shinobi from their allies? If so, is there a way we can ensure that once separated, we can gang up on them?"

 

[Mystic Zander]

~Diàn~

Diàn didn’t even have time to shake off the embarrassment, as he heard what he was certain to be the audible sound of wood being sliced, a noise he was quite familiar with.

“Huh?”

Diàn looked up to the source of the disturbance, only to just catch sight of an enemy ninja launching what appeared to be...

“A...log?!”

Like a flip had been switched on, Diàn’s demeanor shifted. Rather than deflect the attack, he stood there, watching it approach. Then, at the last moment, he threw both of his arms out, and braced for impact.

Pshhh!

The large branch connected, and almost immediately came to a halt. Diàn’s footing was a little off, and his palms were a bit red, but other than that- he was completely fine.

“What the hell are you doing?”

@Grand Master Koop
———

Oba curled his right arm, tightening his bicep to brace for the kick. Thankfully, said attack had merely been a feint, and Keito had held back; meaning his balance was off, but he’d sustained no damage.
Though...he wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Still focused on regaining his footing from the kick, the zombified Oba was not expecting his target to lean in and...blow in his ear of all things.

After a brief moment of the two awkwardly standing mere inches away from one another, Oba blinked for a moment, before letting out another wretched screech.

“Raaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”

Clearly not effected by Keito’s Genjutsu, the still mad Oba attempted to wrap his target in a bear hug from point-blank.
If successful, he’d proceed to claw at Keito’s bag, attempting to rip it away from him.

@EnviousWorm
———

~Yoshi~

Yoshi had to admit, he was surprised by how solid Garu’s analysis had been.
However this only cemented some of the points Garu was trying to make. Team Sound knew almost nothing about one another. Sure, they had limited time, by three days should’ve been more than enough time to formulate and execute a few team strategies.

“You know what? I’d say you’re both right. We probably jumped into that fight way in over our heads. We need a plan, and I think I’ve got one in mind...”
———

Sensing the presence of outside creatures in the nearby trees, a multitude of centipedes, ranging from the smallest, to some of the largest, began wriggling their way up the trunks, now aiming for the individuals who had gotten too close.

@=Nightshade= @Pinch

 

[EnviousWorm]

There wasn't much time to think, or react, but Keito made the time in his own mind simply to think: 'This just gets worse and worse, huh?'

In the short moment between his ineffective genjutsu and his foe lunging in for a tight, grappling maneuver, Keito reared his right arm back for a wind-up punch. Before he could get it off, however, Keito found himself in an unfriendly embrace, the rabid shinobi reaching for the small satchel he kept his non-ninja tools in. Using what little strength he had to fight back, Keito couldn't scramble up the mental capacity to figure out anything that was going on with his opponent; the mystery just seemed to grow more baffling with each passing second.

With his foe figuring out how to unlatch or rip open his satchel, Keito took his free arm and brought it in to make the hand sign to release his jutsu; suddenly the hardened earth on his chest began to crumble away into dirt grains. Just as that happened, the Kumon genin tried to duck down low, hoping he'd have just enough time and space to slip out of Oba's bear hug.

@Mystic Zander

 

[Pinch]

"Shit..."
Was all Takemi could say as he peeked through the leaves and saw a massive nest of extremely large centipedes. Some of them, seemingly having detected his presence, started crawling towards him at a rather alarming speed. He couldn't run away, as using Overdrive would probably be the only way to get out of there and he didn't want to waste too much chakra. Weighing his options, Takemi was going to have to fight them using Taijutsu, which would probably prove to be kind of difficult. As Takemi was stuck in thought, he noticed some of the centipedes going in an opposite direction, and were in fact climbing up another tree. Was someone else around? It could just be some other forest animal, though regardless, he didn't have time to think anymore as one of the centipedes were right on top of him.
"Gale Style: Body Flicker Flashbang!"
He exclaimed, as the area around him became a bright flash of white. He was hoping to scare some of the centipedes away with that move, and he reappeared on another nearby tree, his sword drawn and ready for combat.

 

[Mystic Zander]

Oba hadn’t expected the target he’d been clinging hold of to suddenly slim down quite a significant amount. And due to him being in an awkward position after essentially attempting to ‘climb’ Keito, Oba lost his balance and fell to one knee.
Though, his stumble was halted by the death grasp he had on Keito’s satchel.

“Grahh!!”

Oba let out a small yell, using his free right arm to crank back a forward punch aimed for Keito stomach, which was now eye-level with the kneeling Oba.

@EnviousWorm
———

Due to the Centipede not necessarily relying on sound or light to track targets; rather their antennae- the brilliant flash of light hadn’t done much more than momentarily halt and scare the oncoming swarm.

Takemi’s plan had somewhat worked...for about fifty seconds. As it took almost no time for the nest of Centipedes to form a new wave, now target the tree he’s just jumped to. Larger centipedes had begun making there away over from the branches they’d climbed to.
Takemi, and the yet-to-be revealed Yuna, were slowly being surrounded from all sides.

Tictictictictictictictic!!!!!

@Pinch @=Nightshade=

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna inhaled sharply as centipedes began throwing themselves up the tree, mandibles gnashing furiously. Her foot slipped back on the branch she was standing on and her left hand shot out to steady herself a split second before she would have fallen. She wove a few quick hand seals before inhaling deeply and expelling her breath in a freezing wind. “Ice Style: Blizzard!” she called out, her voice accompanying the freezing wind, snow, and ice she had released from her mouth in an attempt to freeze the centipedes advancing on her tree.

Movement from across the river caught her eye, and Yuna whipped around to face it, expecting more enemies, maybe a giant spider or similar. Instead, she was momentarily blinded by a flash of light that must have been released by another shinobi that she hadn’t noticed. “Tch,” she growled, trying to blink the spots dancing in front of her eyes away. She had only caught the tail end of the attack, but her vision was still impaired. Not enough to block the centipedes out, though... unfortunately. I’ve had enough of these guys for the rest of my life. If I never see another centipede again, it’ll be too soon.

 

[Pinch]

Takemi audibly groaned when he realised his technique hadn't worked on the centipedes. He really was going to have to fight them, and he was not looking forward to getting centipede guts on himself or his sword. It couldn't be helped though, as more of them were on him than earlier, making escape nearly impossible at this point.

Takemi began to bounce around the trees surrounding the nest, slashing at any of the centipedes who dared come near him with his blade. A few seconds after beginning to do this however, he noticed a white flash out of the corner of his eye, not blinding him like his jutsu would have. Was that another jutsu? So there was another shinobi here. That was good, with two shinobi maybe they'd actually have a fighting chance against these centipedes. It crossed his mind that they could be holding a heaven scroll, though he'd deal with that if he managed to even get out of this alive.

After flailing around, slashing wildly with his sword for a bit, Takemi landed on another tree to activate his Lightning Release: Overdrive before he continued to slash at the onslaught of unusually large centipedes.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Stuck between giving up his satchel and scroll and being struck in the stomach, Keito clenched for the punch - trying to prepare some chakra there once more in attempt to soften the blow - and shifting slightly to the left, so he wasn't struck straight on -- but his free hand reached into his pouch for a kunai. He just had to hold on.

It felt like a tree trunk driven into his gut, forceful enough to lift him from his feet. He likely would have been sent flying back half a mile, had it not been for the satchel slung over his shoulders, and the single-minded, desperate grasp the rabid shinobi Oba still held on it. Even as Keito was pulled back by the force of the punch, he stabbed out with the kunai he'd grabbed, less aiming for a part of Oba than center mass, hoping however Oba might happen to shift, he'd still be struck in some way.

But he could hear the sturdy strap of his satchel tearing, strand by strand, as it tried to keep him close -- and Keito could feel the pain taking root in his belly.

@Mystic Zander

 

[DarkHydraT]

"A plan?" Kani asked as she lowered her fish skewer to pay full attention. "Maybe I can help. I'm not the strongest around, but I've trained in a couple of defensive jutsus out of fear of getting hurt. Perhaps they can be of use?" The girl offered her help as she took another bite of the fish before wiping her lips. Just because they were in a forest didn't mean she had to forsake her manners. "We can all dig, right? What if we preform the Headhunter Jutsu to seperate someone? T-that is, if their teammates don't interfere."

 

[Godjacob]

Koichi himself joined in the fishing venture, indeed a good meal could go so far, and while he had been no expert he had a sharp eye and a careful ear which allowed him to pick out some fish in the stream and with a flick of his kunai he soon added some fresh meat to the fire and sat down to enjoy it. Course, the meal was just something to get him by, what he actually cared about was the plan of attack as Ryu Ryu and Utano discussed strategy.

And it all sounded wonderful to him, as had been evident by his own smirk.

"Course, doesn't matter if we run into a pack or not. If we stick together, we can isolate easy targets and the tower is bound to be the most likely spot to meet those with the scrolls we need. So what are we waiting for~?" Koichi mused as he downed a piece of cooked fish and seemed to commit to the plan to scout and strike targets by the tower.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

"Hmm, so he isn't completely incompetent." Midori thought to herself as she observed Dian stop the big log she threw at him. "Still, his execution is sloppy. I'll end this quickly and move to another target." With that in in mind, the Swordswoman leaped off the branch she was standing on before cutting it off its tree as well. Following the initial cut, the branch was diced into a multitude of wooden studs with many sudden slashes. The chunks of wood would then be throw at Dian with a swift air slash from Midori.

 

[kyuukestu]

NPC Encounter — Team Sound

Simple as it might've sounded, preparing food within a forest was always a perilous affair; this went double for forests with ominous names like 'the Forest of Death'. The group from the sound had evidently never heard of caution or simply didn't care. Either way, it was clear the trio of shinobi wanted to draw the attention of every predator in the forest. Why else would they roast fish over an open flame?

The fragrance of their roast wafted through the forest, a beacon to well...everything. The shrubs around them rustled with activity; gleaming eyes watched the group, then enticed by the smell of fish, a sleuth of bears pushed into the clearing. A pair of bears, likely partners.

'GroowwwWWWWLLLL'

...

Elsewhere in the forest IT had also caught the Sound's scent, the smell of a quick and easy meal only some distance away. Someone was hunting in ITS forest, taking fish from ITS river.

How foolish...

With a mighty heft the King of the forest eased from his restful position. It was time to exorcise these intruders.

@Godjacob @DarkHydraT @ThAtGuY101

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Like picking fish out a barrel!" Ryu Ryu Cheered. Ryu Ryu was very much a fan of 3 vs 1 matchups. It would be hard to fail when your outnumbering your opponents. Though sadly Ryu Ryu knew that later on he likely wouldn't be able to rely on team for everything. Especially if his opponents had teams too. Everything would be even. Fair and square... Which means Ryu Ryu would need wit over brute force.

Ryu Ryu's thinking was cut short when he heard growling sounds, "What the hell was that?! It doesn't sound like a scroll holder... Damnit! I wonder what it is..." Ryu Ryu said. He stood cautiously on guard. He tapped his drum so that he could echolocate the nearby creatures. If something was going to attack, he'd at least be able to react to it. "Right there!" Ryu Ryu said pointing in the direction of the growling source.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna glanced to the side again as she was scrambling to get higher into the tree. There was no mistake; there was definitely another shinobi in the area, and they were racing from centipede to centipede cloaked in chakra, though the scroll they might have was far from her mind. She was painfully aware of just how many centipedes were closing in on them, penning them in — and while she had managed to freeze a fair number of them, they were merely being used as footholds for more centipedes. There was no point concealing herself from view anymore if it meant death by insect. She made a few hand seals before running to the edge of a branch and leaping out of the tree. Her River of Wind Jutsu activated in tandem with ice wings forming on her back, lifting her high enough to get a scope of the situation.

Long story short... the situation sucked.

The girl sighed. Yuna used the River of Wind to maneuver herself to the very top of the tree so she could get a decent view that wasn’t obstructed by leaves. She couldn’t afford to use too much chakra on just hovering; she’d need to save that for attacks... or a tactical retreat, if it came to that. Yuna wove another string of hand signs to form icicles that seemed to hang suspended in the air for a moment before descending towards the centipedes. “Ice Style: Icicle Rain Jutsu!”

 

[Mystic Zander]

Yuna’s icy shockwave caused many of the larger centipedes leading the pack to frost over and curl up, unmoving. Unfortunately for her, a vast majority of the smaller centipedes had taken shelter behind their larger ‘brethren’ to shield from the harsh winds. As the icy blast subsided, they quickly scurried around the makeshift meat-shields, aiming to swarm Yuna’s ankles and pin her down.

Takemi’s lighting infused attack’s were capable of cleanly slicing through even the larger centipedes, and allowed him to fend them off rather effectively...but even with the enhanced speed of Overdrive, the sheer number would eventually overwhelm him.

Slowly but surely, Takemi and Yuna were being pushed towards one another by the slowly shrinking, but seemingly never-ending wave of centipedes. If a drastic measure weren’t taken soon, the two would likely be overwhelmed.

@=Nightshade= @Pinch
————

Catching sight of the oncoming Kunai a moment too late, Oba had no time to deflect it properly. Instead, he was forced to release his grip on the bag and stumble backwards.
He barely managed to evade a direct hit, and was now sporting a small, shallow puncture wound on his chest.

“Rrrrgh...”

While still in the midst of stumbling backwards, Oba quickly cast a set of hand signs, allowing him to produce a pressurized stream of water from his mouth. The kickback from the technique, coupled with Oba already being unbalanced, caused the enraged attacker to fall flat on his back as he launched the technique. But that didn’t change the fact that there still a beam of pressurized water about the rock Keito’s world.

@EnviousWorm
————

~Diàn~

Diàn wouldn’t be remaining idle as his enemy prepared another tree-branch onslaught. He crept his hand into his utility pouch, quickly trying to wrap the handle of his kunai with a paper bomb.

“Why attack me? Hyah!”

The young Kumo boy launched his projectile at the approaching ‘wood rain’, and detonated the paper bomb just as the projectiles met. This destroyed the once sizable pieces of wood, and caused them to erupt up out in the form of wooden shrapnel...some of which was headed right back to Midori.

@Grand Master Koop

 

[sSoul]

Garu nodded intently as he listened to Kani's plan. He wanted to make sure that she felt like she was listening to him, and when he would go to respond, the Crystal release user wanted to make sure that the green kunoichi's ideas were respected.

"That could work..." The Iwavian shinobi wrapped around his chin in the same way as last time as he responded to Kani, "I think there's a way that we could possibly separate them. If we each take a target, we can split them up by dragging them in opposite directions. Then we could immobilize them while we regroup. For example, I could imprison them in crystal. That's just a suggestion though." Now that Garu had measured the input of one of his teammates, he turned to his other, more experienced teammate.

Yoshi's something of a schemer, so I'm interested to see what he's got planned...

"What about you, Yoshi? You started to speak, so I think its only natural that you finish your train of thought and share it with the two of us."

 

[Schrift]

Tensai was beginning to lose hope here. He realised his disadvantage. He wasn't going to catch the to the yellow scarfed jack ass at all. If only he had a set of working eyes instead of one. In a desperate attempt, Tensai continued to swing through the trees. Maybe he could attempt to chase Zeren to an opening and take him out there. Or maybe he could try again with the kunai. No, this chase was pointless. He was about to give up till an idea popped into his head. Was it a good idea? Probably not, but for Tensai to come up with ideas like this was sort of rare. He started to jump between the trees, swinging from tree top to tree top. But soon it seemed like there was 2 of him? But then another one out of nowhere. Each of them threw 2 kunai at Zeren, with most of them missing and hitting infront of him or past him. Though this was all part of his plan. The nearest Kunai infront of Zeren suddenly burst to smoke as a red haired ninja had popped out. It seemed Tensai made three clones, before turning into a Kunai to be thrown. It was a well played move on his part. Tensai lunged out of the Kunai, "FUCK YOU", was all he shouted as he poised his Sickles up infront of Zeren. If Zeren were to continue running he'd end up on the business end of a sickle, though if he were to stop Tensai's clones would have been hot on his tail. "Now, please may I have my scroll back? I've got an idea, a decent one at it. Why don't we work together? I'm teaming with another girl already but if there were three of us together... well we could sweep the rest. In return for my scroll, we can be a team", he smiled as he lowered his sickles slighly. Tensai genuinely wanted to work with Zeren. His speed, and strength were greater than his and that in itself had surprised Tensai. "Though, we could fight and we'd both waste a lot of chakra and stamina on each other. So it's up to you"

@Gamingfan

 

[EnviousWorm]

Surprised by his foe's relenting over the satchel, Keito found his footing just as Oba had started to lose his. For the first time since they'd started fighting, the Kumo genin noticed his attacker beginning to weave hand signs. Reflexively, Keito used his feet to push off into a bounding, backwards jump to create distance between the two -- while he used his hands to weave signs of his own. He wasn't as quick as Oba, and he hurried through his motions haphazardly, but he was banking on his better balance and the distance he was trying to create to make the difference.

As his foe fell on his back, Keito landed, the projectile stream of water hurtling toward him, and slammed his hand down onto the ground. A mass of earth shot out from the ground in front of him - just barely matching his height and width - and solidified mere instants before Oba's jutsu was about to strike.

Unfortunately, Keito had prepared his defensive jutsu poorly -- rushing his movement and improperly balancing his chakra; although his Ram Head jutsu had slowed the projectile stream of water down, it barreled through the unfinished earth shield he'd created, turning dirt to mud as the water burst through and struck Keito in his left shoulder, sending the genin flying onto his back as well, the force of the attack pushing his prostrate form quickly away from the small barrier he'd just made.

Worst of all -- Keito had lost sight of his enemy; feeling the branching pain of the now two big hits he'd taken, the young genin began to force himself up, knowing Oba wouldn't be on the ground for long either.

@Mystic Zander

 

[Godjacob]

Koichi had of course heard the noise, as a sly grin crossed his lips. Whatever that was had likely not been another ninja, but it was something fun after a boring first day as something had come for them; something big, and Koichi had done a poor job to hide how pleased he was by this development.

"Oh my oh my seems we got company~"​

Seemed Ryu Ryu had sensed it to, and Koichi moved to a nearby tree as he jumped up a branch and tried to get a visual of just what this creature was. Course, his sharp ears would trace its main location as he had his banjo out and seemed ready for the battle to come as his grin seemed to grow all the more.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Utano immediately reached for her pouch when she and her team heard growling. "Be on guard, this is not the Forest of Death for nothing." Jumping into the trees, the girl lurked to see what was going to happen. If it was a predator, hopefully they were satisfied with the food that was down on the floor. "Dumb, why did we use an open fire? Any predator or ninja can easily find us like that, something to remember for later." Shaking her head at the mistake she made, she prepared to strike if needed. "Bongo Boy, get to safety! Judging by the sound, it is big and I don't know if we can react in time to save you."

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Ryu Ryu began moving his feet up and down as he stood there, "Oh, we got company alright!" Ryu Ryu said looking for cover. He turned to Utano, "You don't have to tell me twice!" Ryu Ryu said scrambling for cover. The bears charged at them quickly. The bears moved relatively fast for their size. Ryu Ryu managed to run up the side of a tree before one of the bears could catch up with him. He leaped to a nearby tree. The bear begin to climb one tree towards Ryu Ryu, and the other bear began to climb the tree Koichi was on.

Ryu Ryu had a hard time believing the bear could climb the tree, but sure enough it was going up. Ryu Ryu jumped towards a nearby tree then leaped out towards the bear hoping to slice it across the back with his kunai. The bear swung its massive paw at him. Ryu Ryu had to adjust the angle of his kunai attack. He pointed the kunai at the bear's paw. The paw struck the kunai causing the kunai to stick in the bear's paw. Ryu Ryu swung his leg out giving the bear a kick to side. As the kick connected with the bear, his kunai dislodged from the bear's paw.

Ryu Ryu began to fall towards the ground. after landing, the bear lunged downward at him, Ryu Ryu jumped back and threw his kunai at the bear. Hopefully this would either hit the bear or possibly give Ryu Ryu just enough time to run at one of the nearby trees. Ryu Ryu assumed he'd at least have the advantage from a higher position.

 

[Pinch]

"There are too many of them..." Takemi said to himself, as he continued to slash away at the giant centipedes. He was really starting to feel the fatigue of constantly swinging his blade.

He needed a plan to get out of there, and fast, his chakra would only sustain him for so long. All he needed to do to escape was pull off one, good distraction, then Overdrive was likely to get him out of there. Though his special Body Flicker technique couldn't manage to do more than blind these creatures for more than a few seconds. All of a sudden, a hail of ice came crashing down on some of the centipedes nearby, definitely from the other shinobi, giving Takemi an idea.

"If there actually is anyone else here, I highly doubt we can fend off this many centipedes, I'd say our best course of action is to cause a distraction and retreat. I'll use my flash technique and scare them for a few seconds, then you need to use one of your jutsu. Any will work, as long as it slows these centipedes down we can get away!"

He yelled, hoping the other shinobi would hear him over the loud clattering of the centipedes' feet. Takemi wasn't sure on that last part either, even if the distraction worked the chances of either of them escaping this many were a little slim.

 

[Gamingfan]

Sounds from behind, Temper Tantrum was planning something again. Sigh.
As if one cue, he heard a multitude of thwacks from Kunai meeting wood and earth, with a few sounding too close for comfort. Fortunately, none had hit him. Thank you forest.
Smoke exploded in front of him. Screw you forest.
Zeren instinctively leapt backwards, greeted by the sight of the red haired ninja again, babbling something about teaming. Sounds of movement from behind meant more trouble if he went backwards.
Tensai at the front and Tensais in the back, whatever shall he do? If only humans could jump.
Oh wait.
"Hello to you too" he replied, grinning as he leapt upwards, doing a quick hand sign sequence to launch a decently sized web of chakra string, which was charged with electricity, out of his left hand. With his right one, Zeren sent a few strings of chakra to hold on a nearby tree branch, pulling himself to it.
Zeren spun around the branch once, and landed again. He winced slightly, dusting off his hands.
Ugh, splinters.
Anyway, he glanced back towards the Tensais, briefly thinking over the offer. He couldn't help but give a single laugh.
"As much as I would love to third wheel for someone who has the intelligence and temper of a toddler, not to mention who literally just cursed me out, I'm gonna have to pass." he spun around and leapt off the branch with a wave. "It's not you, it's me. And your incredible lack of spatial awareness."

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"I see you!" Sasai said pointing at a bush.
There was nobody there.
"I found you!" Sasai said pointing towards a large rock.
Nobody was behind it.
"Thought you could fool me, huh?! Think again!!!" Sasai yelled pointing at a tree.
Once again, nobody was there.
"Huh... Where is everybody... How the hell am I supposed to get a scroll, IF THERE NO SCROLL HOLDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRR-EERR-EERR-ER-ER" Sasai yelled which caused an echo.

Sasai looked around, puppet on his back, ready to go. He decided to climb a tree. If there was anything ninjas did all the time was climb trees. Climb trees cause running across the ground was so overrated. He began making his way from tree to tree hoping to find a ninja nearby. Sasai coulda sworn he either heard or saw something but continued moving. Hopefully this part of the chunin exam would end soon. Sasai still had a bunch of days to stay in the forest so this was definitely gonna be a lot of work. Though it was time for Sasai to start thinking tactically this time. Sasai thought about his strategy from last time and what went wrong, and how he can do better this time.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna leaped backwards as the centipedes around her tree overwhelmed it, knocking it to the ground as they scrambled over it and each other, writhing like a nest of snakes. She landed lightly on the top of the tree directly behind her, but had to change trees again almost immediately as more centipedes began to swarm up the trunk. The girl cursed under her breath. How the hell are you gonna get out of this one, Yuna?

Suddenly a voice called out to her from somewhere behind. Yuna risked a glance behind her before returning her gaze to the tangle of overgrown mealworms that were disentangling themselves for another go at the tree she was on. She only caught the reflected flash of a headband near the ground, unable to tell what village marking was on it, but assured that there was indeed another shinobi nearby. Under normal circumstances, Yuna would have assumed he was an enemy and kept an absurd amount of mistrust in her mind until he proved that he didn’t want her dead. But considering it was highly probable they would both end up dead if they didn’t do something, the girl had no choice but to suck it up and go with his plan. Not that she had any better ideas.

“All right, I hear ya!” Yuna called back in the direction she had seen the headband. “I’ll try to immobilize as many as I can!” The sound of countless insect legs clattering against each other was giving her the creeps, and she was pretty sure she was going to be an insectophobe for the rest of her life. Just get through this test. Get through this stupid test, then you can go back to the Mist and forget all about the billions of centipedes that almost killed you. She gave a self-mocking sigh. Since when did a few creepy-crawlies scare you?

Since they became the size of houses, dumbass. Since they became the size of houses.

 

[kyuukestu]

As they neared their prey the centipedes began to chittered in a frenzy of chitin, fangs, and claws—CHKCHKCHKCHHKC. Although many had been crushed by the felled trees, there seemed to be no end to the hundred-legged insects; and, as they entered range, many of them because to rear onto their hind legs, releasing piercing screeches before spitting globes of venom at their shinobi prey.

Yuna and Takemi were running out of time...

@=Nightshade= @Pinch

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

The air whistle as something moving at high speeds impaled itself into the shattered remains of Keito's mud wall. It had come from seemingly out of nowhere, bringing with it the crackle and sizzle of...a burning paper bomb!

"Two for one, what a steal!"

An excited voiced filled with mockery rung from the forest where a shinobi bearing a sand headband had been attracted to the battle between Oba and Keito; now, that same shinobi planned to profit off the two weary weary shinobi. One had to be cautious even in the midst of battle.

"boom, boom, baby~", the sand shinobi smirked whispering beneath his breath, and the paper bomb followed soon after—BOOOOM!

@EnviousWorm

 

[EnviousWorm]

By the time Keito was back on his feet, shrugging off the nagging pain from his brief conflict with the rabid Oba, he had a new problem dropped right on his head; the paper bomb embedded itself in the remains of his mud wall, some short feet away.

"Two for one, what a steal!" A voice cried out from the forest. Realizing Oba still lay on the ground, motionless for now, the Kumo genin moved away from the paper bomb as quick as he could, positioning himself to face the voice that presumably threw it. And of course, he didn't have time to spare. Somewhere in the forest, his enemy ninja whispered to himself, "boom, boom, baby~" And an impressive explosion followed shortly thereafter.

"How about one for none?" Keito called back out, wheeling and dealing, trying to remind the shinobi that easier prey was nearby, trying to make an offer even as he prepared a kunai in defense, concentrating chakra in his belly and throat. Hopefully this one wasn't similar unaffected by his jutsu, like the other one had, "Instead of fighting me, you take what you need from a mutual enemy while he's even more helpless than I. Lesser reward but it'll save your energy for later, and it's an even surer thing."

@kyuukestu