Ask to Join Shinobi’s Dawn

[Godjacob]

"Who knows, I thought I heard here here..." Koichi mused though it seemed Ryu Ryu had began a light beat of the drum to signal to Usano as he himself had kept watch though his demeanor remained carefree and casual. Koichi seemed to find the forest almost a place of comfort, as odd as that sounded.

"And speak of the devil..." Koichi mused as Utano arrived and decided to tease them about their encounter with that demon beast. Course, Koichi wished to fight it but these guys seemed a touch too cautious over it. Not that he'd open that can of worms, yet anyway.

"...well, up to you. Personally it is more fun to go find food, though without a place to cook what we catch might be a waste." Koichi mused, as it seemed that while he'd prefer to hunt finding camp would likely be the more beneficial option.

----------
"Cheap tricks..." Mitsuko muttered to herself as Sasai produced a clone as he and it moved in opposite directions, but the ronin daughter refused to be fooled by such an act as she focused on the puppet even as she moved back quickly to gain distance before she raised her swords which shinned blue with her chakra. She'd have a hard time parrying all the strikes, so she decided to go another route as she moved back by a tree and jumped off it.

"Twin Soul Style: Crescent Cross!"
​

Mitsuko aimed to jump over the puppet and gain distance once more, before she delivered her real strike as she delivered twin crescent-shaped slashes to each side of her...aiming to fire a blade of pure chakra towards both Sasai and his clone. Whichever one had been which mattered not to her if she could hit both or even one of them.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Ryu Ryu...~

Ryu Ryu looked at Utano awkwardly... "Ye-y-yeah totally! Of course we fought and won! and the prey didn't fight back because we totally would have defeated it. There isn't a shadow of a doubt whatsoever that the results would have been a resounding victory for the sound shinobi. We should continue moving though" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu looked at Koichi, "I need meat! Sustenance! I suppose if we look for a campsite and find food along the waaay... Win win" Ryu Ryu said.

~Sasai Arasaka...~

Kokori continued to swing its arms like whips and even attempted to grab the kunoichi's ankle. The swordswoman made the puppeteer her real target. "Dangit! That plan was fool proof! I'm pretty sure it was!... Don't let me get hit, you jerk!" Sasai yelled at his clone.
"Your the jerk! Why should I take the hit?! It's your fault!" The clone yelled. The clone reluctantly accepted the blow. Part of the blow struck the actual Sasai knocking him down. Sasai managed to make his hand gesture, "Mud bullet!" Sasai yelled firing a mud bullet at her while trying to scoot back as he laid there on the ground.

 

[Godjacob]

Koichi seemed to chuckle though his general idea seemed sound enough, why make it a choice if they could possible do both at once? Seemed like a way to make everyone and especially him happy as he turned with a cheeky smirk over to Utano.

"So what do you say? Look for camp and bring a meal to go?" Koichi asked with a knowing wink as he seemed to have made his personal decision but had left it in the air for Utano to answer.

----------
Mitsuko of course frowned a bit as she aimed to move back raising her swords into a guard as they shinned with chakra and soon struck into the mud bullet; however, while she protected herself from the blows the jutsu worked to force her back as she slammed into another tree back first and let out a groan as he managed to stave off an immediate counter strike and cause pain in one move.

This one might've had tendencies of a fool, but he also clearly had talent.

Still Mitsuko had managed to keep the user isolated from the puppet to prevent it from being a true 2 on 1, and she aimed to keep it that way. She dashed forward as she aimed to bounce off the tree she was on for momentum as her goal was simple. She would aim to turn the handle of her long blade and try to slam on her foe while she remained on the ground in the gut with his handle in the hopes she'd stun him for a chance to pin him in place with her free blade.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

At this point Sasai needed to get up. Sasai used his legs to true push Mitsuko away from him, "Sand attack! Very effective!" Sasai yelled throwing sand at her eyes. While he he still had control over his puppet Kokori. Sasai was not going to let his potential advantage slip away. He used Kokori to rush in behind the Kunoichi to try grab and detain her. Sasai sat there grinning thinking he had her fooled this time. Third time was the charm or something.

 

[Godjacob]

"Gah! Cheap tricks!" Mitsuko cursed as she covered her eye when the sand was thrown in her face to prevent beind blinded, she prepared to strike at him with the blunt end of her long sword, but the puppet came behind her and worked to wrap her up as she struggled in its grip. She inwardly cursed as the puppet finally managed to slip by her guard and now she seemed all but bound. However, Mitsuko was not one to give up, and while her long sword and the arm it held would be of little use, her shorter blade would prove vital here. as she shifted her twist and tucked the blade so it was held in a reverse grip and aimed at the puppet's gut behind her. Chakra seemed to shine from it as Mitsuko took a deep breath before Sasai could work to truly make her immobile.

"Single Soul Style: One Inch Strike!"
​

A pulse of chakra fired from her blade, in a shockwave like effect which aimed to blast the puppet that held her and worked to knock it back and allow her to free herself. She'd then aim to try and kick Sasai down to try and pin him, and if successful she'd raise her long blade to hold by the neck to threaten him to stand down or risk being beheaded.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Cheapo but goodo!" Sasai cheered in delight. Before Sasai could pull a kunai from the holster, the kunoichi pinned him down once more, "Oaf! Not again...! Not again! Another plot point! Another trick! Something to make this day last longer! I know I got a trick up my sleeve somewhere! Please not the head, aim for an arm or a leg... I can Replace them. While I'm at it, both of us can have new arms! Matching like twinzies! Okay fine, scroll. Oaf..." Sasai said. Just like that, the scroll shot out Kokori's mouth. Though a little surprise, the scroll was fake. Hardened dirt made to look like a scroll.

 

[Godjacob]

"I am not interested in bodily harm, simply show me your scroll and I will have no other issue with you." Mitsuko said, and just as she had spoken, the puppet she knocked aside it seemed to spit out a scroll by their area as Mitsuko worked to keep the blade by his neck as she reached to pick up said scroll, she inspect it, it was a Heaven's Scroll! Quickly she tucked it into her pouch and moved away from Sasai though remained on guard.

"There are voices down by the river, I would advise you follow them if you wish to regain a scroll or even gain more." Mitsuko said, actual advice as she figured a fighter of his skill even with less than respectful "tactics" of her view earned as much before she quickly vanished. Having dashed out of the scene fast as her legs could carry her. With Heaven and Earth now in her possession, there was but one destination for her as she worked her way to the tower moving high long the trees and with as much speed as she ever had used in her life.

However, her mad dashed stopped early. As she hung by a tree, she felt something off once the initial shock wore off. That scroll, something about it seemed curious. She once more pulled out both her Heaven and Earth Scroll. Her Earth Scroll was as expected, but the Heaven Scroll seemed to be heavier for some reason, and as she inspected there seemed to be some curious of the Kanji.

....

"It's a fake, that honorless worm!" Mitsuko roared out, any formal dignity or grace left her as she slashed at the base of the tree next to her which began to topple over. She rushed back to the sight of the battle in haste.

"Stop you trash!" Mitsuko cursed, as she moved into the area of battle and aimed to try and pin and hold both blades to the neck of her puppet-using foe before he had a chance to give het the slip; her eyes seemed to almost have a perpetual flare of fury to them as she glared daggers into his soul. "Where is....the scroll!?"

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Hahaaa!" Sasai nervously jumped. he rolled three times in hopes of not getting hit by the tree. Sasai's flinched when she shot her eyes Like daggers. Sasai held his arm out, and his puppet spit out the real scroll. Sasai caught the real scroll and held it outwards. "Congratulations" Sasai said awkwardly.

"It's the real deal. Check it out" Sasai said sitting down hoping not to be treated the same way she did the tree. Kokori sat on the ground rotating its head and moving its jaw up and down. Sasai would sit there patiently with no intent in moving until the kunoichi left. "I wish I could skip this day..." Sasai muttered.

 

[Godjacob]

Mitsuko of course had been fuming, but she took the scroll and gave it a careful inspection; making sure it was real though avoided opening it as per penalty, and once she had gotten her personal confirmation she put her swords aside, set her scroll in her pouch and set off from the scene; no wise words of wisdom, no advice...this ninja had proved himself unworthy of that. As her goal was just to get to the tower before nightfall and put this whole incident behind her.

I am thankful my father will never know of this...less than pleasant moment. To be fooled so easily....forget it, just get to the tower and move on...

 

[Mystic Zander]

Forest of Death- Day 2

After several hours, the sunlight began to fade, and with it, so did the chaos of combat. Numerous individuals fell on day one; more than the proctors had anticipated. Sadly, the newest generation of up-and-coming Shinobi had inherited their elders past grievances. This, by extension, led to all-out guerrilla warfare amongst various ninja from lesser known villages, all who had aimed to make a name for themselves as fast as possible.

One would think all of the eliminations would lead to a sudden influx in available scrolls. Yet...the vast majority of Genin participating still only had a single scroll by the end of day one. This raised the question...where are all the scrolls?

A vast majority were still with their respective Shinobi, and away from prying eyes. Some had fallen into cracks and quarries, lakes and mud pits; never to be seen again. Some were being digested by the forests plethora of giant beasts, along with the bodies of the Shinobi’s who once owned said scrolls. And some...not many, but some...had been opened.

It was now approximately 0430, and the sun would breach over the horizon in just a short while. With the herd thinning, and the second day just about to begin, their was no way of telling who would be eliminated...or worse.

-Yoshi-

When night had approached, Yoshi really only knew of one way he’d get any shuteye.
Deep underground, at a location only disclosed to his allies, the young Iwa-Nin had produced a large, oval shaped opening, where he could kick back and relax, hammock-style.

“Today’s the day. Either Garu and Kani find a scroll...or I’m gone.”

The dark-headed Genin mentally prepared for the idea of abandoning his comrades. It was a harsh thing to do, but in a situation like this, you’ve gotta do what you do.
Fortunately, these shameful thoughts were interrupted as Yoshi was distracted by the sound of birds chirping slipped through a cracks of the ceiling in his ‘bunker’, signifying morning would soon come.

“Garu. Kani. We gotta get movin’ soon.”

Yoshi mumbled through yet another set of cracks residing just over his left and right shoulder. These gaps led to the ‘bunkers’ of Garu and Kani respectively, allowing the three to quietly communicate with one another.

“The sun should be up in less than half an hour. We should get moving if we wanna get to the tower before the end of day three.”

With that, Yoshi half dug, half wiggled his way up to the surface, where he toon a moment to enjoy an over-exaggerated stretch.

“Oooh man- sleeping on rock sucks.”

-Diàn-

All in all, the first night had been a major success. Diàn had established domain relatively far away from any other ninja, found some mushrooms he’d recognized from warmer seasons in the land of lightning, and constructed a small, inconspicuous base. He was full, rested, and most importantly- alone.

“Heeeeee! Hehehehehehe!”

Diàn went pale as the sound of shrill, high-pitched laugh echoed from the ground right beside his left leg. Turns out, he was just full and rested.

“....AHHHHHHHHH!”

 

[EnviousWorm]

Once Keito realized the other shinobi wasn't a threat - either he hadn't noticed Keito or didn't care enough to draw attention to it - the Kumogakure ninja returned to his high perching nest and let the night come to him. The genin still felt an odd sense of comfort, in spite of sleeping in a tree in a place named the Forest of Death. In spite of the inherent dangers about the second part of the chunin exams, Keito was at least free to move about on his own. That thought helped him sleep, if even a little bit.

Waking up before the sun, the genin wasted no time getting away from where he was. Keito made a bee-line for the central tower; whatever he ran into between the river and the tower, there was bound to be a high chance of coming across a scroll. He just had to be careful not to get trapped by more than one opponent. Everyone had gone into the forest alone, free to make alliances at their peril. Keito had done no such thing in the first day. Though he'd made no enemies, there were no allies to back him up. Unless he happened to come across the other Kumo ninja taking the exam, he was alone.

"Just stay up high and keep quiet." He told himself in a whisper, moving toward the tower.

 

[Pinch]

Takemi spent the vast majority of the night perched in the small hole he'd dug into a tree, sleeping on and off. Although it was wildly uncomfortable, it was better than nothing, or just plain sleeping out in the open where he could've been attacked by a whole host of creatures and other shinobi. Though, despite this place being called the "Forest of Death," Takemi was yet to encounter anything really that dangerous. He knew better than to let his guard down though.
"Should really be thinking about finding some water right about now..."
Almost as soon as he'd woken up, Takemi could feel his thirst creeping up on him, so the first thing he decided to do for the day was to find some fresh water before the fighting picked back up. He packed up his little camp and made sure to put all the things he'd gathered the day before away, before setting out to find a lake or river.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Hmmm, okay." Kani mumbled as she woke up, covering her mouth as she yawned before rubbing her eyes. It was chilly underground, so she'd used her sweater as a makeshift mattress. Putting her clothing back on, the girl made her way out of her burrow like a crab after high tide. "Good morning Yoshi, did you sleep well?" Greeting her friend, the girl smiled at the boy. It was comforting to have him around, his strength was incredible. What would she do without him? "Garu, wakey wakey. We have to get going."

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

The chirping of birds awakened Utano from her perch in the trees, having tied herself to the trunk of the tree with a rope. Yawning, she untied the knot and looked around her surroundings. Their team had a decent meal of fish and other scavenged foodstuffs, but they needed a scroll to pass. There was no sign of life yet, but it could not last for long. She'd give Koichi and Ryu-Ryu five more minutes before waking them from their slumber herself.

 

[Gamingfan]

Zeren awoke with a start, hearing movement nearby.
However, as genjin looked around, no one greeted him. Huh.
Groggily, Zeren sat up, rubbing his gritty eyes. Paranoia kept him awake for most of the night, but he managed to get some shuteye without getting mauled and/or assaulted. He was clean and dry now too
Overall, 10/10 day
Still half-awake, he kicked at the dirt below where he slept, revealing his Earth scroll which he hid, funnily enough, under the earth.
Once again, Zeren chuckled slightly at the joke, placing the scroll back into his pocket and drinking water from the river. He splashed some of it on his face to wake himself up further before leaping over the water. He then continued to walk towards his destination, hands in pockets, moving without a care in the world.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Of course I can do that. I'm a jonin after all. *Snore* Bet. I'd snatch you bald headed before you got a chance. *Snore* So tell her to get off the table then" Ryu Ryu muttered to himself as he slept. Ryu Ryu took a long hard inhale as he sat up straight and tall. 'Wooooo! Wait... Oh. It's you two. Morning!" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu got up, and walked over to Koichi before squatting down right next to him, and looking at him for a few moments. He then got up and looked at Utano, "Sure is a good thing we got fish last night" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu knew he still needed a second scroll but didn't mention it. He sat by the campfire, tossing another log on the dying fire.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna awoke with a jolt as she dropped into a fighting stance... and promptly directed her left eye into a thin tree branch. She cursed as she felt for her scroll, rubbing her eye at the same time. It’s still there. Seems Tensei didn’t have an ulterior motive... there’s still time, though. If we don’t have scrolls by the fourth day... She cast a wary glance over to where Tensei was curled up, half-hidden by leaves. She sighed, brushing tree branches out of her face, and sat down, back against a bough of the felled tree. A large scale from the centipede lay between them, along with a small vial of venom Yuna had managed to extract. They had water, and no doubt forest game would come to consume what remained of the centipede... all that remained was to lie in wait for another couple of ninja to pass by with scrolls.

(OOC: not sure if Tensei is gonna die just yet, or at all, I’ll dm Schrift abt it tomorrow)

 

[sSoul]

The Iwavian genin grumbled to himself as he vaguely heard a voice calling his name to wake up. The young shinobi was deep in his sleep and he usually hated being woken up before he was ready. Fortunately for Garu, when he woke up he realized that he was sleeping underground rather than his comfortable bed back at the Kyoyakishi Estate, and once he realized he was underground, his recalled that he was taking a shinobi exam. Wasting no more time, the Crystal Release user quickly dug his was up to the surface. Once on solid ground, he took the time to dust the dirt from his shaggy head of hair before turning to his allies to get up to speed.

"Did we find any targets for scrolls or anything?" The crystal release's voice was slightly raspier than usual as a result of waking up just recently. Garu let out a yawn before gently but rapidly slapping himself to make himself more awake and alert.

 

[Godjacob]

"Nggg....get out of my face..."

Koichi moved a hand in the air as the presence of Ryu Ryu's shadow seemed to snap him from his sleep, a groan escaped as he worked his way up and he saw that his team seemed to be up. Another day, another chance to get some action...this caused Koichi to smile once he had yawned and gotten his bearings together. Quickly he performed a kip up to get to his feet, he rolled his shoulders and pulled one arm over the other in a brief stretch before he flashed a smirk to his comrades.

"Morning, so you two ready to go scroll hunting~?" Koichi asked as he seemed more than almost giddy to get to the hunt.

---------
At long last, she saw it, the Tower that marked her key destination. Mitsuko had ventured through the night careful to pace herself. With both scrolls in hand all that was asked of her now was to get to the tower, then and only then could she get the satisfaction of true rest beyond brief "power naps" in concealed places to keep her energy at a reliable level.

Soon enough the lone river that divided the field from the tower at the heart of the forest was in view, but much as Mitsuko wanted to just bum rush to the tower and call it a day, a moment of caution aided her. She worked to mask herself well between some trees and foliage, and carefully scanned the area around the rival as this seemed like as ideal an ambush spot for anyone to make use of, and she could not afford to be carelessly tricked as before.

----------
Hiroshi scanned the hidden area he and Kikyo had made their camp, ever since the battle with that Leaf Ninja and with Kikyo's injury they had worked to remain on the down low, and thankfully compared to setting a section of forest ablaze the rest of the first day had been rather dull by comparison.

They picked an area thick with trees in one of the most forested regions in the area, something that also provided for some lush vegitation for food and well...other uses as he had come to discover.

Once Hiroshi had scouted outside, he worked to move in once the coast seemed clear as he went to check up with Kikyo.

 

[Gamingfan]

(Autoing perms brought to me by Schrift. I swear)
Zeren strolled across the Forest of Death, which had so far failed to live up to its name. He had yet to find any rabid snakes, or poisonous bears or whatever. The only remotely "deadly" part were the ninja around, and they weren't exactly the forest's doing.
...What the hell was that smell.
Zeren's face scrunched up in distaste at the smell, and eventual sight, of a dead rotting, and HUGE centipede not too far away. And if that wasn't one of the most obvious traps ever. No animal would kill something and leave it, so it was killed by another ninja. Maybe he was wrong, but he would've bet that someone was handing out watching their bait.
Welp, only one way to find out.
Zeren strutted towards the centipede with what looked like reckless abandon. Even if no one was around, he could hope it was a kamikaze and an unfortunate ninja corpse would be hidden behind the bug, scroll in hand. He could also hope for a dragon would pick him up and fly him over to the central tower.
He made it to the deceased insect, and was greeted with a yell.
A recently awoken Tensei had seen him upon awakening, and with the most confidence he had ever seen, let out a war cry as he went for the attack.
Oh shit, it actually happened, was all Zeren had time to think about as he narrowly dodged the swing to the face, The two male ninja immediately engaged in combat. Tensei was uber aggressive, swinging as if expecting one hit to win the fight. Zeren evaded a fair amount of oncoming hits, blocking some that got too close for comfort. He had to admit, Tensai definitely had strength. However, Zeren remained firm, blocking a few more hits and retaliating. He managed to knock Tensei off balance for a second, which he made sure to take advantage with a roundhouse kick. However, it was not meant to be as Tensei blocked the hit with his bandaged hand.
Zeren grunted as Tensei attacked again, this time taking advantage of his own recklessness and landing a good blow to his chest. However, Zeren grinned as he was pushed back. He had felt something in the badages, something that didn't feel right..
Welp, let's see then
This time Zeren went on the offensive, enjoying a few seconds of aggressiveness before Tensei began slugging again. However, this time he was ready, side stepping away from a full-force punch, grabbing the arm and kicking at Tensei's knee, managing to topple the ninja and giving him a brief amount of time to slip his hand into the bandages and grab the scroll. Tensei pulled away quickly, though, causing the scroll to slip out of his hands and into the air. Tensei leapt at it, but Zeren managed to steal with with a few chakra strings, pulling the scroll into his palm. Good thing he used only a bit of chakra before.
His goal achieved, Zeren leapt backwards, out of Tensei's slugging range and looked at the scroll while rubbing his side.
YES! A heaven scroll! Looks like his opponent screwed himself over.
"Well, that was fun." Zeren snorted, glancing back and Tensai and looking around. This guy gave serious meathead energy. There was no way he came up with that plan.
"Buuuut I think I'll be going now. Good luck!"

 

[kyuukestu]

Kikyō

"Guh—", Kikyō silenced a pained grunt with tightly clenched teeth. She had just finished treating her wounds and now she bound them with a fresh set of bandages. The bandages had been soaked water and wrapped loosely around the crispy skin which had been an open wound hours before.

She had cauterized the lacerations last night; blood loss and infection would dimmish her long-term fighting strength. Her wounds would not easily re-open but better safe than sorry, she'd have to take it easy until she could get some attention from a medical ninja.

With that said, she was back to archery. She retrieved a pair of storage tags, one containing her spare bow and the other containing a quiver of specially treated arrows. She released a single arrow from the seal and inspected its verdant texture. Kikyō hoisted the arrow and once-more inspected it against the backdrop of the forest canopy. Her lips split into a savage grin as the arrow vanished, blending into the forest. The better part of the night had been spent grinding leaves into a green mush which she then baked her arrows in to produce their current state: leafy green and perfectly camouflaged.

Hiroshi would need to man the vanguard while she provided ranged support. It was a good arrangement made even better by Kikyō's preparation. It was easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to avoid an arrow in the dark; It was nigh impossible to dodge both at once.

Hiroshi's return drew the Suna kunoichi's attention. It seemed the coast was clear. She met him with a wild grin.

"Let's go hunting."

 

[Retro Master]

For most of the night, Kazue rested high up on a tree branch. It was risky, considering he’d break some bones if he happened to just fall off, but being so high surrounded by leaves made it a decent hiding spot. Of course, Kazue did make sure to add some traps to his and the nearby trees. Anyone climbing up his tree at night would likely find themselves blown up by the explosive tags he had placed. The sound would alert him as well. On the tree line was also a makeshift wire system, which would ensnare or maybe even cut any unsuspecting genin coming towards his general area.

Once Kazue was up early in the morning, he quickly took down the wires and recovered the explosive tags. It would be prudent if him to save as many resources as he could. Especially if he faces another fierce opponent like Kikyō again today. Fortunately, Kazue hadn’t run into much else yesterday. He had been well rested and his chakra reserves were back up to full. Now he could go back to searching for a scroll.

Kazue decided his best bet would be to head near the center and hopefully catch someone with a scroll he needed off guard. However, this was a strategy he figured others had as well, so the boy had to be on guard himself. At the very least, more genin with the same idea meant more chances to get an earth scroll. After eating a quick breakfast and sipping on some stored water, Kazue leapt off the tree branch and headed off towards the tower.

 

[Mystic Zander]

Just a few hundred meters off from the main river that runs through the forest of death, resided a massive pit of writhing, wriggling centipedes. Naturally, this was not the only nest in the forest- but it was the largest, and most significant.
It contained a plethora of the beastly centipedes, some normal sized, and some larger than anacondas.
A few traits they all shared, however? A very potent venom, sharp mandibles, an armored exoskeleton, and a veracious appetite.

Ticiticiticiticiticiticit!

The bellowing pit of death constantly emitted a skin crawling combination of clicks and scratches as the centipedes moved across one another. Typically, this sound would really only be audible if one were a few meters away from one of these monsters. But due to sheer number of them all, the eerie scrapes could be faintly heard from as far away as the riverbank.

This particular riverbank...just so happened to be the one both Yuna and Takemi we’re seeking out in hopes of finding water.

@=Nightshade= @Pinch

———

Approximately seven hours ago...

“Oba! That’s not even funny to joke about. Why would you wanna open the scroll?”

A young girl sporting a headband oddly reminiscent of a Konohagakure ninja spat angrily at one of her teammates.

“Come on, Meiji- think.”

The shorter, scroll wielding boy retorted, wiggling the scroll in his teammates face.

“The first exam was total bs. The only genuine rule we were given was a complete lie. What makes you think we’re not actually supposed to open these? What if it’s the true way we finish the second test? Hm?”

Meiji was about to lash back, but quickly hit her tongue- realizing Oba the idiot might actually have a point for once.
She contemplated for a moment, gently digging her heels into the soft earth at her feet as she did so.

“I don’t know...perhaps.”

Oba had enough. He quickly spun away from Meiji and slid his thumb along the lip of the sealed scroll.

“I’m gonna open it. Worst case scenario, if something bad happens...you just run. We’re here to prove Kusagakure is just as capable...we can’t shy away from a lead.”

The forest went silent for a moment...and then...

”AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Present...

A small, blue blur zipped throughout the treetops of the forest; tearing through any branches or wildlife that got in its way.
It kept a perfect trajectory straight ahead, no matter how often it collided with something, almost as if it were...hunting.

After several minutes of these nightmarishly reckless movements, the blur managed to hit a clearing, where it quickly dove for the ground, coming to a stop for the first time thus far.
It was Oba...but something was wrong. His body was peppered with fresh scratches, his mouth hung agape as if he were unconscious, and his eyes were completely colorless; being two pure orbs of milky-white. His most prevalent feature, however? An open earth scroll, clutched so tightly in his right hand that blood had begun to run down the interior pages, blotting out whatever may have once been.

The somewhat haunting Oba took a deep breath in through his nose- which produced a harsh, snoring noise due to his mouth being wide open. After doing this a few more times, he quickly jerked his head to the right, locking onto a small speck in the distance, which just so happened to be moving towards him.

“Ruuueeeeuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh!!!!”

Oba roared an unholy roar, before breaking into a dead-sprint aimed right for the speck...which just so happened to be Keito.

@EnviousWorm

———

-Yoshi-

“No. No enemies yet. But I get the feeling most of our opportunities to obtain scrolls will be today.”

As Yoshi spoke, he walked over to a nearby tree, where he swiftly ripped down what once appear to be solid bark, only to reveal it was merely a camouflage sheet. Underneath said sheet, resided a small, leaf-wrapped parcel of fish they’d caught the night prior.
He swiftly untied the parcel from its tree-trunk bindings, and eagerly unwrapped crisp, green leaves- revealing the fruits of Kani’s labor.
Inside were three beautiful, crispy fish fillets, all skewered on the sticks used to cook them.

“Mm. So, here’s my thought-“

Yoshi began to speak as he nibbled bites away from one of the fillets, while passing the other two to Garu and Kani respectfully.

“We slowly move in towards the tower. There will be a higher chance of us running into Shinobi with potentially more than one scroll. Plus, it’ll make actually getting to the tower a lot more convenient once we’re ready to.”

 

[Grand Master Koop]

As the dawn arrived, Hatsumei awoke with a gasp. She had managed to move herself to a small cave the day prior before the poison she inhaled paralyzed her body completely. "Alright, I'm still alive." She mumbled to herself, her theory about the poison not being deadly turned out to be correct. "I didn't have a reliable way to create an anti-venom so waiting for it to wash out of my system by itself was my best bet. Seems it worked." She spoke as she began standing up... before feeling a massive soreness across her entire body. "Ah!" She groaned as the pain set in. "Worked for the most part I guess." She chuckled before beginning to move." Alright Hatsumei, just walk it off. This is just the after effect of the paralysis, nothing to worry about." She said to herself as she began moving.

Elsewhere in the forest, a blur dashed from tree to tree. "Dang it, I waited too long and now I lost sight of my only sure lead." Midori mumbled to herself, she had been observing Yoshi's group throughout day one up until the point they all burrowed underground where the Cloud born swordswoman lost sight of them. "I should have acted sooner! Gah, if father saw me right now he would be very disappointed." Midori scratched her head in a fit of worry. "I need to find a new target. Doesn't matter if they have the correct scroll or not, I'll just keep going until I find one with the right one." Suddenly, a girlish scream was heard some distance away. "The hell was that?" Midori let out in confusion before changing her path to go investigate.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Well, he'd found a friend -- except this didn't seem to be a friendly friend; Keito didn't have many, but he did know friends weren't likely to greet each other with a blood-curdling scream and a bloodthirtsty charge toward reckless violence with the first person they saw. The Kumo shinobi sighed. He'd been spotted even moving high up through the trees, circling around as much open land as he could before giving up the high ground. But now he was running out of tree, and time to think, more importantly.

Keito wasn't sure how well the encroaching danger could see, so he dropped down to the ground behind the protective forest trees for just a moment to create a clone. Before the two separated, they both wove synchronized hand signs.

"Doton: Sekkai Koutetsuban (Earth Release: Stone Breast Plate)!" The two said in unison. Chakra built up in their hands, and they grabbed down at the earth and molded it to their chests into a makeshift armor.

Clone Keito rounded the tree to charge at their foe, hoping that foe - in his seemingly enraged state - would not care to think about anything other than the prey running right into arm's reach. Meanwhile, the real Keito returned to higher up in the tree, trying to keep an eye on both his clone and their enemy, and for more enemies who might be lurking nearby. One, charging man could be the prelude to an uneven ambush, and Keito wasn't willing to let himself get caught up in that - curiosity over an open scroll or not.

@Mystic Zander

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna cautiously glanced around her before approaching the riverbank, wary of any possible ambushes. The centipede scale on her back wasn’t too heavy, maybe a pound or so. Worth it if it would cover her from attacks from behind. She hadn’t sensed anyone on the way from the makeshift camp, but that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t encounter anyone. If anything, it made her even more on edge. She knelt and splashed some water on her face before taking a drink from her hands. Her chakra seemed mostly replenished from the monster centipede from the day before, but she knew better than to let herself relax. She still needed a scroll, after all.

I should check back on Tensei, Yuna thought to herself. I left one of my bird totems, but if he’s still asleep, he’ll be easy prey. The kunoichi retreated back into the cover of the trees before closing her eyes to avoid severe disorientation. Then she performed the hand seal to activate the dormant jutsu she had set, switching her sense of sight to the ice bird she had left in a tree nearby the camp. Ice Totem Jutsu complete.

The next time she opened her eyes, they were those of a sparrow formed from ice, a totem she had left back at the camp. Yuna maneuvered the ice bird down from the branch the totem was on to land on the now-awake Tensei’s shoulder. The bird’s most prominent sense was its sight, and that was what was granted to her for the 20 seconds before the totem shattered and her sight was returned to her real body. She read the message Tensei was in the process of carving into a tree and sighed from the treeline. So he had lost his scroll, huh? She directed the bird totem to fly down and scratch a message into the dirt in response: At riverbank; do what you need to do; don’t get yourself killed. The “d” in “killed” became rather mangled as the bird shattered and Yuna’s vision went dark.

The girl opened her eyes, wincing at a mild headache that had come on, before freezing in her tracks. She wasn’t sure how she hadn’t noticed it before, but a hair-raising sound that seemed horrifyingly familiar seemed to be coming from a ways away. Possibly on the other side of the river, but she couldn’t tell; all she knew was it sounded like the centipede she and Tensei had killed before... but somehow worse. She shuddered slightly at the insectoid sound, then hoisted herself into the tree to get a better look. If she couldn’t see the source of the sound from in the tree, then she would lay in wait to observe whatever happened next.

(Mild autoing perms given by Schrift)

 

[Mystic Zander]

Oba’s frenzied chase didn’t falter for even a moment, and when Keito’s clone stepped out from behind the tree, he sped up even more.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

His deafening screech grew harsher and harsher as the gap between the two disappeared in a matter of moments. And then, just before he got an arms-length distance away from the clone, he jumped.
He jumped clear over the clone and landed on one of the higher branches in the tree next to them. He was now on a trajectory directly behind the real Keito, signifying that the clone hadn’t even phased him.

Without any warning to signify his presence, Oba launched three Shuriken in an arcing trajectory at Keito’s neck, back, and right leg respectively.

@EnviousWorm

———

-Diàn-

The Kumo-Nins heart dropped at the wicked sound he’d picked up on. In a state of fear and panic, Diàn made the unwise decision to eject a large bolt of lightning from either of his palms, ultimately blowing out the wall of his small hidey-hole. He didn’t care about the stamina loss, he needed to know what the hell made that noise.

“They didn’t say anything about witches being in the forest!”

The pale-haired boy stumbled through the now much larger, and rubble-filled entrance. His footing was unsteady due to the shifting rocks beneath his feet, causing to him to fall flat on his face.
He didn’t even take a moment to acknowledge the mouth full of stone dust; he was too busy scrambling away from the ‘cave’.

“W-who’s there?!?”

Diàn stuttered out, trying to quickly regain his footing once he was certain he wasn’t being followed.
His eyes carefully scanned over the small pile of debris, awaiting any sign of movement...and just when he was about to turn away...

“Hehehehehe!”

“Gah!”

Once again, Diàn yet out a small scream as a fuzzy, cackling fox quickly jumped from the rubble, and scurried off into hiding.

“No...”

Diàn’s face turned a deep shade of crimson-red. The realization washing over him was supplemented with a healthy dose of embarrassment, as the source of this ‘witch cackle’ has turned out to be nothing more than a fairly harmless, and actually rather cute, forest-dweller.

“Heheh...glad no on-uh...saw that.”

Unfortunately for him, that may have not been the case. Little did he know, his scream had attracted the attention of a rival Shinobi, and she was planning to investigate...

@Grand Master Koop

 

[Schrift]

Tensai just awoke from his sleep. He wasn't expecting a fight, being half asleep, though his curiosity and ego got the better of him when he saw Zeren. The battle was decently fought, though Tensai's over aggression and him leaving his blind side open, more times than not, ultimately lost him the battle. He had lost at Taijutsu with someone else, man this was embarrassing. He picked up his dropped sickles as he began to scrape into a nearby tree with the blade "Be back, lost scro-", he paused when he felt a cold object land on his shoulder. He let out a slight yelp as he felt it's coldness sink into his skin. He looked at the totem, as he read what it said before it broke apart at his feet. "Time to get back my scroll and beat up a Konoha kid", he grinned as he pulled up his scarf over his mouth. Tensai connected the pair of sickles with a chakra thread as he began to swing his weapon with surprising speed. Tensai launched the blade into the tree tops, having it embed itself into the wood. He broke off into a run, jumping high in the tree tops, pulling himself up with the sickle. As he came close to the sickle, he kicked off the tree and yanked out the sickle. He threw it back into another tree and pulled himself towards it.

Now with a new tactic, and a burning desire to beat the ever loving shit out of Zeren, Tensai chased after the shinobi. Everytime he pushed off a tree, he used his sickle as a grapple to pull him quicker to the next one. As he dawned towards Zeren, Tensai stayed above him. He weaved together a few hand signs as he came down from above. Tensai didn't care about stealth or speed, there was no need to try something that would not help him. Though he did completely miss Zeren, Tensai went low on the ground. He swung his sickle in a large over arcing sweep as he attempted to get everything around him. He was getting cocky again as he lifted his sickles. What would make the struggle different from last time? Well he was now fully awake and he wanted to kick Zeren's ass. He charged at the Konoha shinobi, lifting his sickles as he went for two strikes towards the face. Following up the attacks with a spinning heel kick aimed at his side, Tensai lifted his Kunai and set them ablaze. He really wanted those scrolls back. "I'm not a fan of being ransacked when I wake up", he smiled.

@Gamingfan

 

[EnviousWorm]

'That was as bad as it could have gone," Keito thought to himself, not waiting long to dispel the clone once he realized it wasn't going to distract anybody.

Just then he heard the slicing sound of shuriken whizzing through the air, an attack aimed for his back. Without time to think, Keito jumped off to the side; he knew there was another, adjacent tree that should be within jumping distance. The Kumo shinobi accumulated chakra at his feet to anticipate landing there. As soon as his feet left the branch, he twirled, reaching into his pouch. Just as he did, Oba's shuriken struck; though Keito had gotten away just in the knick of time, the shuriken aimed for his back had grazed his left leg before landing in the tree branch he'd just been standing at, alongside the other two.

Though the shuriken didn't interrupt his spin or his trajectory, Keito had been gathering shuriken and smoke bombs of his own to throw in Oba's direction, the rabid ninja just now coming into Keito's view, in full follow through on his prior attack -- though Keito wanted to aim for his opponent's head, chest and right leg, Keito unleashed his attack a split-second later, three shuriken and three smoke bombs aimed a little low and to the left, though generally still on target.

@Mystic Zander

 

[Godjacob]

While Hiroshi had his own reservations about this, given Kikyo's injury he worried over his newfound ally pushing her body past the point of no return. A fate he had seen both on people trying to gut old injuries to fish, as well as his time as a Genin. However, he knew it had not been his place to question his fellow ninja's capabilities or whether they felt they could go or not.

In this forest, everyone likely had to deal with some wear the longer things went, so no use crying over it especially given Kikyo appeared to be eager for more. With a grin, he pulled one of his giant barrels filled with fresh water onto his back and had his spear at the ready as he seemed to meet her enthusiasm with some of his own.

"Right, let's get us a couple of big ones~" Hiroshi mused, as he of course took the front. He was the main close-range fighter, and as such he would branch out ahead but made sure Kikyo was close enough by so they could play to each other's strengths.

-----------
Naturally it seemed luck would not be her side, as chaos was heard behind and around her area. If she had to guess, other ninja seemed to adopt a strategy and now some fighting had broken out. Mitsuko of course bit her lip, this fighting had been bound to attract some more, and if more came she was likely to be discovered.

Regardless, she had to remain low. She had her scrolls with her, but now she simply had to keep close by the tower till the end of the 3rd day. It was less survival against the elements, and more survival with her cargo.

She moved about quietly in the foliage, careful to keep her eyes, ears and all senses on high alert, as she'd try to seek out the best hiding spot relative close to the tower spot. The one advantage in her favor is she needed not seek out a fight, like others hunting scrolls here, so she'd simply have to try and make it so others crossed blades with each other and not herself.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Sasai Arasaka...~

As the morning sun rose, the sun began to shine through parts of the trees. A small beam of light managed to shine down in Sasai's eyes. His eyes twitched, but he didn't wake up. Instead his arm instinctually reached out as if he were trying to pull the window blinds down. Though being in the woods, there were no blinds to pull down, so the ninja held his arm out in vain.

"Raaaah!" He yelled as he sat up. hair a mess and everything. He looked around. Kokori was propped up against a tree in hopes of scaring away any ninja. Kokori certainly scared kids away, though he wasn't sure if his puppet would scare actual full grown ninjas away. Guess Sasai would need to find better sleeping arrangements. Sasai forgone breakfast. Its not like he never went a day without food before. All those times locking himself away in his work shop.

Sasai was about to check Kokori to see his scroll, but then he froze and remembered he didn't have a scroll. Now he needed two scrolls. "Hmmm... I got nothing. Stupid ninja stuff... I knew I shoulda stayed home... To much work running around collecting scrolls when I could be around making puppets! Bah!" Sasai said pacing back and forth.

He looked at Kokori, "Stop looking at me like that!" Sasai snapped.
Kokori sat there blankly unable to speak, as Kokori was just a puppet.
Sasai squinched his eyes, "You smug son of a b-... No I'm gonna get two scrolls then get the hell outa here!" Sasai said.
Kokori continued to sit propped against the tree silently.
"Let's get going!" Sasai said putting his puppet on his back like a backpack.
He climbed one of the large trees and began looking around for an easy target. Sasai didn't care what scroll they had, just as long as they had a scroll. Though knowing Sasai's luck they wouldn't have any scroll at all. Sasai thought about making another fake scroll, but it didn't work last time either.

 

[Pinch]

Takemi had been at the riverbank for a while now, it had been about an hour and a half since he woke up, and the sun was completely up in the sky at this point. He looked down at the makeshift canteen he'd just made in order to hold some water for the day ahead. It was small, and not very durable, but it would do for the time being. Just as Takemi began to walk away from the riverbank however, he heard a strange, rustling noise in the not too far off distance. He froze up for a second, his eyes darting in the direction of the noise as he began to slowly make his way toward it. The closer he got to the sound, the less it sounded like rustling and the more it began to sound like more of a constant clacking sound. Fearing for his safety, Takemi got himself to higher ground before peeking through the tree leaves to get a look at the source of the mysterious sound.

 

[Gamingfan]

Zeren whistled as he ran, glancing behind himself to see Tensai swinging over spiderman style. Huh, the kid had balls.
Wait, what's a spiderman?
He skidded to a halt as Tensai landing in front of him, looking rather pissed. Well, he no one to blame but himself for losing that scroll. Zeren hopped over the sickle, twirling behind a tree as his opponent, shielding himself from the attack. He repeated the action again as he slashed twice, before kicking off the stump of the poor tree to put distance between him and Tensai, avoiding Tensai's own kick in the process. He kept his smirk, allowing himself a moment of taunting.
"It's the name of the game, friend." he spoke condescendingly, as if explaining to a child. " Not my fault you can't effectively do an ambush."
He sped off again, zigzagging around the trees. Zeren found no need to fight. His opponent was stubborn, but slow. He could take advantage of that.
Then again, that's assuming he could live the suddenly massive target on his back for few more days. He was still relatively early in the game. Should he consider having an ally?
...Meh, whatever happens, happens.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Kani gratefully accepted the fish and passed it to Garu before starting her breakfast. It was an unusual breakfast, but it would sustain her for now. As Yoshi shared his thoughts, the girl nodded and swallowed the food in her mouth before she spoke up. "Not a bad idea Yoshi, I bet that a lot of other contestants also plan on going towards the tower in hopes of getting a scroll. Any strategies that we have to discuss? I'd rather not have a repeat of yesterday, if possible."

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

"Let's get you breakfast first, great hunter. We can't do anything on an empty stomach after all." Utano chuckled before leaping down to the nearby river, launching her snares to impale a fish and tossed the animal on the ground behind her. This process repeated two more times before she relit the fire they used yesterday. "So, what's the plan? Running around aimlessly has brought us nothing but that giant bear, do we go to that tower?" The girl asked as she cleaned and skinned her fish.

 

[Schrift]

So we're dealing with a wuss who can't fight, he thought as he began to swing the sickle. He jumped up, throwing the sickle into the tree and swinging up. His plan? Well it was to simply catch Zeren at first but that seemed to be an issue. It seemed for every branch or tree Tensai had jumped from, Zeren was either one of two trees ahead. What made it worse was that the gap was starting to grow. At this rate if Tensai didn't think fast or quick, he'd never catch up to the ninja. Though he did have an idea. A very ballsy idea that relied on extreme skill or dumb luck. Between swings, he began to weave hand signs. By the time he got to his 4th swing, he swooped low towards the ground. Tensai planted his hands into the ground, launching multiple rocks at Zeren. Tensai wasn't completely sure his attacks had landed, his blind side was restricting him slightly from aiming. "I'm not going to lose my scroll to some yellow scarf dumb ass", he said as he threw three flaming Kunai in Zeren's direction. I wonder if that Yuna girl is watching, if she is I'd appreciate some ice spikes to impale that moron, he thought.

 

[Gamingfan]

Of course, sickle kid didn't seem to realize his disadvantage, and continued his chase. Oh well, this could be entertaining. He'd have to make sure not to lose himself though. He had to take this seriously.
Man, maybe he should try that swinging technique. It looked fun.
He heard a faint explosion from behind, alerting him that something was happening. And considering sickle kid's temperament, it was probably harmful, and considering his distance...
Zeren instinctively spun, once again taking shelter behind one of the plentiful trees around. With a wide array of trees behind him already, only few stones hit his own tree, shattering to dust and followed by three thuds from kunai meeting wood. Seems his opponent didn't realize the concept of a forest yet.
Zeren looked behind himself, taking note of the ninja behind him and the flaming kunai currently embedded into the tree. Woof, that was a wildfire waiting to happen.
With a quick swipe of his katana, Zeren knocked the kunais a fair distance into the brush. Both out of pettiness and limiting Tensei's supply of kunai or wasting his time, increasing the distance between them, depending on if he went to regain them or not.
With that, he kept on his merry way, kicking off the tree again and continuing to flee. If the kid wanted to waste his chakra trying to snipe him through a forest as dense as this, by all means, go ahead.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

~Ryu Ryu...~

Ryu Ryu sat and watched the campfire crackle. Ryu Ryu tilted his head back, looking to look at Koichi while he spoke, "Great! Scroll hunting time! Food then scroll. Skipping breakfast is for losers and dumbasses" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu excitedly ran over to try help Utano with fishing. Ryu Ryu caught a small fish. Luckily for Ryu Ryu, Utano caught plenty. "Ryu Ryu ran towards the camp fire before leaping and sliding across the dirt. Extending his arm out towards the fire so that the fish on the stick may properly roast, "Bear meat is good, but we should probably avoid those since we got food. Plus ninjas with scrolls heading towards the tower have scrolls" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu paused to blow on the fish every so often.

After the fish was fully cooked, he wasted no time in eating it, "Ooo! Ho-ho-hot! Ooo... Hot..." Ryu Ryu muttered occasionally blowing on the fish, "I wonder how many people are dead" Ryu Ryu said while eating a big chunk of his fish.

"Hmmmm... The real question is... Who are we attacking? Three on one? Be hell of an easy strategy, but if we attacked a group, we'd get three scrolls at a time... Hmmmm..." Ryu Ryu said twirling his fish around before taking another bite. He ate two fish for breakfast.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Utano took a bite from her fish before responding to Ryu-Ryu's question. "Three to one is probably the safest thing to do, as it is an unfair matchup. I'm down for it, but what are the chances that we find people by themselves? It is much more likely that we will find groups of people, and we can't afford to let anyone pass by at this point. I say we head to the tower and pick off anyone heading that way. Tomorrow, if one of us is still missing a scroll, we can pick off anyone headed that way. What do you think, Koichi?"

 

[Mystic Zander]

Oba seemed to speed up as Keito launched his counterattack; merely trying to avoid most of it by side-stepping right, rather than outright avoid it.

Boffffff~

The smoke bombs detonated, cloaking Oba in a large, thick cloud of charcoal-colored smoke. Almost at the exact same time, one Shuriken dug itself into the padding on his left shoulder, remaining wedged there. One tore right through his kunai pouch, causing all of his projectiles to fall into the lower branches with a satisfying, metallic ring. The third just barely missed him, wizzing right by his head.

“......RAAAAAAH!!”

Yet again, Keito’s attempt to slow down his attacker, had done little to nothing as Oba launched through the smoke at full speed. With no projectiles to aid him, he instead opted to close the gap even more, hoping to engage in melee.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

"Who's this fool I just stumbled upon?" Perched up out of view atop a tall tree, Midori observed the antics of Dian as he collapse the cave he was in before getting scared by a small fox. "Hmm, this might be a good find. He doesn't appear very competent or intelligent, easy picking." The Cloud Swordswoman then stopped her train of thoughts. "No, that type of thinking will only lead to arrogance. I can't take my target lightly no matter how idiotic they look."

Readying her sword, Midori slashed at the air, cutting off a nearby branch before sending it flying towards Dian with a gust of wind.

 

[EnviousWorm]

'This guy isn't acting normal,' Keito thought the obvious to himself, landing on the adjacent tree trunk - his body stood up parallel to the ground - without taking his eyes off the enemy. Though the Kumo genin had managed to disarm the man of his projectiles - and he'd come into the fight looking a little haggard as well - the wounds sustained from Keito's shuriken didn't serve as much more than a prod to the bull's backside.

But still, lacking projectiles but overcome with the urge to attack, Keito's opponent was charging once more, through the air, through the smoke bomb, straight for Keito. There weren't many options left on the table, knowing he was the slower of the two. Likely, he wasn't as good of a fighter, either. Substitution jutsu could save him in a pinch, but it'd only buy him more time. As a back-up, he snagged another smoke bomb from his pouch and infused it with chakra just as he jumped.

'Bunraku won't work, he'll just overpower it," Keito thought to himself, breathing in deep with his diaphragm, focusing the bulk of his chakra there, leaping in for a crash course for the roaring animal that had once been shinobi. He had to align himself just right, his timing had to be good.

Anticipating being outsped, Keito reached out early for a sweeping kick with his left leg; a split-second after, he twisted his body in from the right, as if he were trying to wrap himself around his foe like the crescent moon. Though his chest was protected by a chakra-infused earth chest-plate, his stomach was wide open. Keito hoped his thoughtless enemy would take the bait and attack at his obvious weak point. And - aiming for inside of the shinobi's ear but okay to settle for his face - Keito started to puff with all his might at Oba, all the chakra-mixed air he'd stored whooshing out in a furious stream.

@Mystic Zander