Historically, one of the major nations had hosted the Chuunin Exams. However, that tradition had ended quite abruptly. First, from the rampaging bijuu and their aftermath that had consumed far too much from the world for anyone to concern themselves with hosting such things - and the fact that promotions from rank were very often given on the battlefield. The second, and complete end, was a small three line note in the Three Nation Accords that identified the Kyuuseishi would be responsible for hosting the Exams. It been a point of little contention, not soley from weariness, but from the logical position that a neutral, and consistent host would be a positive change. Plus, the Kyuueseishu could potentially recruit from the ranks as well as provide them with a purpose since they no longer were the caretakers of the Jinchuuriki.

The Chuunin exams had a greater importance to the world than most of their participants knew. It was a reason for the world to converge and celebrate, although most of the gennin were too young to understand the significance. The setup was roughly the same each year with three rounds: a written examination, a 'mission', and a one on one match with another gennin. The written exam took place in stages prior to the 'official' start of the exams, which is when most people showed up to watch. There were a few, such as the Yuki clan of the Land of Fire that came to cheer on the written exams with such excitement that they often made the crowds for the more generally exciting portions seem apathetic.

The build up over the next few days would be important. Many high ranking officials would be using the exams as an opportunity for many official and unofficial meetings with other officials - it was actually an event where most of the years political negotiations tended to happen.

The three Kages always met prior to the opening ceremony, along with many of their most senior government officials.

Kyokujitsu no Tochi would be represented by Ayameko, along with a begrudgingly present Masazane Io of the Land of Iron, Yuki Shiori of the Land of Fire, and the right hand to the Sankage, Shien of the Land of Rivers. Kyokujitsu no Tochi always sent a formal delegation of four people, usually the most senior council members. The rest, of course, were welcome to be present at the Exams, but were not typically admitted into the Kages meeting mostly do to time and space constraints.

It was not typical for villages to be nearly empty of all but those needed for essential day-to-day operations. Of course, in a world with a cooperative shinobi travel network, that did not mean the leaders were more than a minute away from their village at all moments. For the Kyokujitsu no Tochi, they made sure that they travelled with a small contingent of shinobi capable of transporting the Sankage back to the village immediately in times of crisis, instances where seconds mattered.

The island was always a significant effort by the Kyuuseishi. Many vendors specifically constructed small stands to sell items commemorating the exams and to show their national pride and support for those gennin participating. Food vendors would come from all across countries in order to make a name for themselves, often creating unique dishes specifically for the event, and usually with names as homages or puns to some current event, place, or participant. The last staple to these events was the number of Masazane clan members there selling their wares, often trying to convince those eligible for the practical portions of the Exams that their tool would give them the edge - the shadier ones tended to make themselves scarce when Masazane Io would make his presence known. There had been many instances where one of those who had not gotten his permission had their stand destroyed by the clan leader himself.

Weather, of course, had been meticulously planned out in advance. By a combination of analysis and a few strongly Fuuton users, the Exams would, not just expected to, have perfect weather.

The Chūnin exams had their roots in a history of war and strife, Kyoko noted, but with the peace that had tentatively settled over the land it had been a long time since she had seen them as the instruments of war that they previously were. She knew full well the horrors of war, and what the promotion to the next rank had historically entailed; it was a particularly cathartic experience for her to have helped change the exams into the mere formality that they were now. It was still vitally important to maintain the tradition, as the support offered to the Kyūseishu was given only upon the reputation for proven and continued excellence that she had worked to foster. Though part of her wished to simply do away with the unnecessary effort of organising the entire spectacle, it was a remarkably useful opportunity to get the world powers together to discuss matters of importance and ensure that the Bijuu were securely sealed and adequate safeguards maintained. That particular aspect had fallen to the wayside in recent years, but Kyoko remembered the full extent of the recent rampage and had never quite been able to let it completely slip into the sense of complacency that the world fostered.

As she stood in her office, looking down at the arena that had been constructed and the surrounding festivities, Kyoko could not help but sigh in relief. There were no pressing diplomatic issues that she'd been informed of thus far, no threat from the shrines, and the exams themselves had progressed entirely smoothly up to this point. It was set to be an uneventful year; which was, she supposed, eventful in and of itself. After a few more seconds of surveying the area, she turned around to leave her office and motioned off to the side. One of her attendants dutifully walked over and bowed, awaiting their commands.

"Please ask the event staff to bring the festivities into full swing, Midare." Kyoko asked, nodding down at the young man and patting him on the shoulder gently. He immediately nodded, face flush with a heady red glow, and scurried away to carry out the simple order.

Kyoko herself walked out of the office, and took a practiced route down towards the main staging grounds - she may only use this office once every year, but its walls were just as familiar to her as her office in what used to be Kumogakure, or her home in Kyokujitsu no Tochi, or the underground complex in which she had spent many, many years of her preternaturally long life - she knew the routes like the back of her hand, and the level of loyalty her subordinates showed her ensured that nobody would ever get in her way. It left her plenty of time to think about things to come on the walk.

After a short while she arrived precisely where she meant to, and was promptly joined by another woman. With a slight turn of her head and a nod, she spoke a single word:

"Kinjiro."

"Kyoko." came the reply, the woman's lips turning into a slight smirk before she faced straight ahead.

Picking up a microphone, Kyoko raised it to her lips as the woman beside her flooded it with the Raiton chakra necessary to make the announcement:

"May the Rankage, Sankage, and Tsuchikage please report to the main Kyūseishu building at their earliest convenience. Everyone else is free to enjoy the festivities until the main event takes place in one week's time exactly. Lodgings have been prepared, as usual, and all are welcome to a room free of charge. Please direct any concerns or questions to Jikangai, Kinjiro - who will be serving in a managerial position for the next seven days... And good luck to all of the genin that have come to participate!"

With that finished, Kyoko vacated the stand and made her way to the separate compound specifically for the Kage meetings. The next three days would be going over the old treaties and making amendments as appropriate, and the remaining four days would largely involve a combination of economics and talk on current affairs. In truth, the world was largely in a good enough place that seven days were not really necessary - but having the extra time to interact with the other inhabitants of the world was part of the key to peace, and it was the Kyūseishu's job to maintain peace.

"Tōdai, Meirō, your sensei's a bit under the weather, but I'm here to support you."

A voice, unnoticed by 90% of the inn came from behind them. It was Han'yo, the village leader, though distinguishing him from any other nin from the Hidden Sound would be hard to anyone who didn't know his voice, or had been yelled at to run laps for practicing too flashy a jutsu in the underground.

"I want to give you my support for this exam. Oh.... this is Han'yo, you knew that, right?"

He almost asked the last part beggingly.

"In any case, seeing as sensei's out, is there any particular training you two would like to work on? Or maybe, hang out? I'm not sure what all the cool kids are doing these days. Maybe get a bite to eat? I remember Kyuuseishi having a restaurant with the best plain white rice balls. "

In truth, Han'yo was bored, and trying to distract himself. He'd never managed to get free time, and yet here he was, taking vacation time to go support his genin. He assumed he would be allowed into the Kage's conference, being what he thought was a pretty important leader. He had pretty much rebuilt the Hidden Sound, and lowered the theft rate of jutsu from the other villages. But, nope, he was forgotten about... again. He would kill to be recognized in the Kyokujitsu empire. He did have to smile, Tōdai and Meirō were not normal, they would get more recognition than anyone from the stupid Land of Iron or Rivers. Their Hidden Village would shine this time around, and maybe then Han'yo would be invited to these sorts of things? He already missed his wife, he wished she could have come too. Then he wouldn't be harassing Genin. They could then maybe have fun, maybe even a game of bingo?

"So, if you don't mind, ol' Han'yo will be with you the rest of the day."

Yōseki did not always look forward to the Chunin exams. Often times they were long, sometimes even arduous processes. The exams themselves were a joy – of course. But, the political nuance required of her at all times during these events was tiring to her. Luckily she didn’t have to go alone. While Iwagakure typically didn’t bring as many delegates as the other two countries, Yōseki wouldn’t approach a foreign land without at least her advisor and right hand man Kanashī. The young man, well, he hated being called young man actually. He was only two years younger than the Tsuchikage and she was the youngest Tsuchikage to date.

But she still called him young man constantly. He became her personal bodyguard when she first returned to Iwagakure and challenged the Tsuchikage to a duel for the title. After defeating the reigning leader in a single stroke, he immediately drew his blade and some of the bystanders screamed, some got even more excited, two duels in a single day. Yōseki simply sunk back into her battle ready stance.

But Kanashī did not turn his blade on the young ruler. Instead, he knelt down and offered it to her. From that day forward Kanashī spent nearly sixteen hours a day with his Tsuchikage, by her side. It wasn’t until a council meeting when she was being advised on how to deal with bandits that his promotion would begin. She was receiving advice on some well positioned entrenched bandits that had taken over a few small farming communities. It wasn’t until Kanashī suggested going underneath their trenches and attacking from the very town they were holding hostage that Yōseki promoted him. Many of the council members were furious, the Kage and her right hand man were together, younger than half of the previous Tsuchikage when they took office. But the two proved to be decisively effective.

Her ears perked up as an announcement was made on the communications system. "May the Rankage, Sankage, and Tsuchikage please report to the main Kyūseishu building at their earliest convenience. Everyone else is free to enjoy the festivities until the main event takes place in one week's time exactly. Lodgings have been prepared, as usual, and all are welcome to a room free of charge. Please direct any concerns or questions to Jikangai, Kinjiro - who will be serving in a managerial position for the next seven days... And good luck to all of the Genin that have come to participate!"

“Well, work never stops I suppose.” Yōseki said with a forlorn grin. When she became the Tsuchikage, she hadn’t assume there’d be so much work to do. “We’ll have to go now Kanashī-kun.” She said tapping her assistant on the shoulder and leading him to the room in which the Kage always met.

Her brown hat denoting her political power came off as she entered the room, brushing her hair to the side of her shoulder. She sat down with a smile and patted the seat for Kanashī to sit in with a casual smile, crossing her left leg over her right, waiting for the meeting to begin.

---

Tōdai yawned, stretching his arms and legs as he waited in line. Meirō always wanted to train so early. It was kind of a pain. But, Tōdai was always there for his friend, without each other he wasn’t sure anyone in the village could’ve been as closely matched. For every time Meirō defeated Tōdai, the young Nara learned more and more about his fighting style. At this point, they were near equals though Tōdai always felt as though his luck was against Meirō. Still, what better sparring partner than one that can eke a victory out of almost all of your matches.

Meirō made Tōdai sharp, he helped the young boy hone himself. Tōdai leaned over the counter with a grin examining the dangos. “Make sure you get extra sauce on the second one please!” He said happily tipping a few extra ryo. He had plenty of cash on him from his job at the flower shop and his mission rewards from being a Genin. Though he was definitely hopeful to get the promotion to Chunin. That came with a pay raise that he could definitely use.

The cashier happily handed him his brown paper bag of food and Tōdai bowed deeply, thanking her, before running off down the series of tunnels that made up their village. Otogakure was certainly a different place than Kyokujitsugakure. Finally, however, the tunnels opened up and Tōdai found himself facing his old friend in a large clearing. The grass was uncut and came up to their ankles and the sun was only just rising on this beautiful day.

Hopefully this kind of weather can persist for the exams Tōdai thought to himself as he retrieved Meirō’s Dango from the bag and threw it to him when he saw him. “Yo, you about ready?” Tōdai asked taking a large first bite of his Dango with a smile on his lips.

Staring at the sky, just below the sun, Meirō’s ears picked up the sound of someone approaching. After a few seconds he identified the gait of his friend and raised a hand. On time, a Dango flew through the air and landed in his grasp as he caught it. “Always,” he said in response, having already absorbed a fair deal of light. Fukantai had long since ceased to work on his friend so he’d had to begin practicing a host of other tricks, though he’d really only used Fukantai on Tōdai about four times he knew the genin had seen the technique used far more on other people, with very efficient results.

After all, if Meirō was anything it was efficient.

Bringing the dango to his mouth he ate one and began chewing even as he turned to his friend and--without warning--threw a kunai wreathed in chakra directly at Tōdai’s leg. His expression was still blank as he did it and took another bite from his Dango. Man did he love them with extra sauce.

Tōdai smiled as the Dango hit his friend’s hand. Right on schedule. He immediately began channeling some chakra into his foot and tapping it against the ground. Zwerchau. His staff came up and out of his shadow, deflecting the kunai his friend had sent for his leg. It propped up his leg, in a perfect Captain Morgan pose. He rest his arm on his leg and took a bite of his second Dango, with only one left.

Their fights tended to start in similar ways, it was something of a routine of theirs. A dance of the already known until someone changed the pace. Meirō’s face remained rigid, but Tōdai knew he was enjoying the snack.

Meirō knew well about Tōdai’s techniques and some kind of trick Kagemane was never going catch his friend. To the same effect, it was almost impossible and improbably that any of his light-based techniques would do him any good. That was Meirō’s specialty.

“I guess, the exams are getting started fairly soon, huh?” Tōdai said with a knowing smile. “Probably shouldn’t bother with the pleasantries.” Tōdai said with a full mouth. Tōdai took a bite of the last dango and holding it in his mouth. Tōdai grabbed an explosive seal from his pouch and skewered it with the dango stick, not wasting any time to throw the skewered stick at his friend with a light smile. It would land only a foot in front of him.

While his friend talked, he finished his third bite, pushing chakra through the stick, twirling it between the fingers of both hands. He trapped visible light and infrared into the object forcing it to compact inside the chakra he’d infused so as not to burn the thin stick.

“I mean, I guess,” he said, shrugging a bit, using his right arm, again to throw kunai at his friend, though this time he released three, each at a different time and angle, one flying at Tōdai’s left shoulder, another at his stomach, and a third at his foot. The one in the middle was moving slightly slower than the others and had a bright trail of light following it.

As he’d flicked out the kunai, he had let an explosive tag be summoned between his fingers, which he rolled around the stick tightly, binding it with chakra and then disguising it to the same color as the thin stick. Then he noticed the dango stick fluttering through the air in his direction and his eyes narrowed a bit. He bent his knees and lunged back and away from the stick, throwing a smoke bomb as he did so. The two would collide.

Tōdai noted his friends movements. The dance begun.

He bent his knees a little and snatched a kunai from his back twirling it around his finger in anticipation. First three kunai to deal with.

He decided avoidance was best, parrying the one aimed for his left shoulder as he moved in that direction, sidestepping the other two completely. He snagged his staff off the ground and prepared for the explosive seal to be dealt with. As the dango stick lightly pierced the soil a smoke bomb collided with it, causing the two to erupt in a voluminous amounts of smoke. Some soil and small stones spewed out of the impact crater as Tōdai’s eyes narrowed in on his friend.

He couldn’t quite make him out, which, of course, was a terrible thing when he fought against Meirō. But that also meant that Meirō would have a hard time finding him as well. Using the time that Meirō would spend recovering from jumping backwards, he took a knee and performed his special handseal.

Meirō had only recently discovered Tōdai’s usage of this technique, which would only help the young Nara’s plight. In an instant, five tendrils sprouted from the ground and Tōdai waited for the approach of his friend.

Yet, as Tōdai dodged the light that had been trailing the middle kunai suddenly scattered--as if dispersing as Meirō lost control, something Tōdai had seen plenty of times. The light followed its natural trajectory until it passed the smoke and--unseen by Tōdai--it hit Meirō’s eyes. He grinned and flicked his wrist to the left, sending the ‘slower’ middle kunai suddenly whipping towards Tōdai at his left arm. In the meantime, Meirō finished the preparation of his dango and attached a thin chakra string to it, tucking it up into his sleeve and binding it there with chakra, before he transformed an explosive tag into a kunai, and then had it detonate in the smoke, spreading it out further and blasting debris and dust at Tōdai.

Tōdai’s eyes immediately transfixed on the kunai as light dispersed from it. He couldn't help but grin as he imagined Meirō tripping in the smoke as if he couldn't find his way. But before he could laugh aloud and ask if Meirō was okay he saw the kunai drastically change directions.

“Oy, you little shit!” Tōdai called out pulling his hands up to guard himself as one of the tendrils dexterously pinned the ring of the kunai and lodged it into the ground. Once it was in the ground, Tōdai noticed that there was a chakra thread attached to the chakra thread.

Tsk. That's bad. He can see me, huh?

But with a thread was also a lead.

While keeping some amount of attention on the kunai Tōdai quickly readied his hand seal and prepared his technique. He held his hand to his side, out of view of the kunai and prepared his attack, staring into the black, dispersing smoke.

Meirō grinned, even knowing his attack had been deflected.

Damn. Oh well.

He switched tacts...well, not really. Channeling chakra through the wire, he used chakra flow and chakra thread at the same time, using the conduit to send wind chakra into his kunai and amplify its cutting potential drastically. Then he used Kazaho repeatedly using the smoke--which was rising up more than dispersing outwards--to cover his rise of about 5 meters above the ground, and then he whipped the wire, using the chakra thread to amplify the motion’s strength several times, causing the kunai to slash at Tōdai again from the same side, but this time with far stronger cutting power due to the wind blade that had formed around it.

Then, knowing the wire led back to him---but had not yet given away his rise in altitude--he threw the wire down, having attached one end with a kunai so he could do so.

Finally, he threw a senbon and followed it up with three others and a dango--which was transformed to look like a senbon. All of the “senbon” appeared to have bells on them. Having accomplished his purpose he pushed wind chakra up from his body, and then backwards, making him fall down and forwards so he’d descend into the smoke cloud from the back--still unseen he preferred to stay. He had bent the light around the “dango” senbon so that it would not be visible as it flew, but he had also wreathed the other senbon with light so that it looked as if there was just an ambient brightness around the senbon in general, making it hard to pinpoint their exact location.

He noticed he was smiling, took a deep breath, and let the expression fade. Too bad a tiny smirk remained anyways.

Stubborn emotions.

This was where the real fight began. No doubt Meirō was already thinking about how to end it. The smoke began to rise, but Tōdai needed a location soon, he couldn’t let Meirō continue to poke at him like he was. So he unleashed Redoublement into the smoke. It was a tactical decision with drawbacks and benefits. The most simply draw back was it used chakra, and Meirō could use the light.

The payoff was firstly that the technique was loud as all hell, especially when it went off right in your ear. And it would illuminate a figure through the smoke for at least five seconds. That should be enough for the smoke to stop being a factor.

Tōdai let it go, but as soon as he did Meirō’s plans came into effect. The kunai sprung to life and the thread’s angle began to rise. He had to defend himself and his tendrils wouldn’t be enough as he watched the wind chakra begin to irradiate off of it. In fact, he had seen this same technique used against plenty of people before, guarding with another kunai wasn’t an option it’d get sliced through in moments. That only left retreat.

Tōdai springboarded backwards as he tried to focus on the kunai bouncing up at him. He analyzed its wild movements, controlling a kunai with chakra thread while jumping through the air was obviously difficult to do delicately. But as soon as he knew he was safe from that threat, in typical Meirō fashion he heard bells.

The bells. Come on Meirō.

Tōdai shifted his attention to his newest threat. It was incredibly difficult to see senbon coming at you due to their speed, Meirō’s fuckery, and how thin they were. The bells also turned your sound onto that and forced you to use it. Which was a terrible idea because any senbon without bells didn’t make sound, but you were listening for them anyway. Meirō had beaten him with this kind of technique before. Luckily for Tōdai, he had developed a countermeasure. He performed a handseal and threw his staff into the air, just upwards a few inches.

This was a tricky combination technique, but he had done it once in practice so it was similar enough. He kicked the staff and immediately released the Jutsu, Kageayatsuri no Jutsu. He slipped into the shadow of his staff as it traveled about fifteen feet East of his location, clattering against the floor. As soon as it touched the floor he sprung out of it. Rolling on the ground beside it. But there was no time to waste at all.

He formed the tiger handseal while further moulding his chakra into his staff, this would have to be quick. The smoke continued to disperse and Redoublement was just behind it at this point. It erupted loudly into green, white, and red light shimmering through the smoke and highlighting Meirō’s position.

He moulded the chakra into his staff and threw it as hard as he could from a crouch at the other boy, attempting to hit him or his shadow.

The senbon hit...nothing, light diffused through the atmosphere and some reached him, notifying him of his failure and of something else. His eyes widened and then it went off, not a few feet below him as he was falling. The sound was deafening and he lost focus, the smoke his only real--shit his shadow would be visible through the smoke. Quickly, though three seconds too late, he absorbed all the light from Tōdai’s technique.

He swore under his breath and lunged forwards, using light to blast his shadow behind him so that it couldn’t be easily hit.

Emerging from the smoke at high speed, he used a measure of light to keep full awareness of his surroundings, and then--having crossed only two feet--he smiled at Tōdai.

“Fukantai(_不感帯 'Dead Zone')..”

Shit. He’s smiling. He’s really into this. Tōdai thought, preparing himself.

“Tsk.” Tōdai said as he began to react.

Then all light was gone, just gone, a sudden descent into pitch blackness...for Tōdai, and in darkness there were no shadows. Meirō meanwhile could see his opponent with a fair amount of clarity, though they were tinged in reds and oranges, with details in odd violet hues. He could also see the staff, and he only managed to partially dodge, the weapon glancing off his shoulder. He winced, but it barely phased him. However, when the staff hit him, it didn’t make any sound at all, and neither did Meirō’s movements as he continued running straight at Tōdai--something he had never done before, for you see usually it paid to change directions the moment darkness fell, but that wasn’t Meirō’s plan.

Not exactly.

He drew Sasu(刺す 'Sting').

Tōdai sighed.

The bastard lips clearly spelled out Fukantai. It was pretty much all or nothing from that point. As soon as the two second wait time had begun Tōdai pulled out all five of his flash bombs placing them directly behind him. He was going to get maybe a second, probably less of light from all five of them, but his shadow would easily cover the entire area. He had to act as quickly as possible as his time came.

And then, darkness.

Tōdai waited in silence and darkness for his flash bombs to go off moulding together as much chakra as possible. And preparing to pin his teammate. He would have to absorb a hell of a lot of information as well.

And then they went off.

His shadow immediately began to grow as he got a glimmer of sight back.

“Kagemane No-”

But before he’d managed to get the words fully out of his mouth, Meirō deactivated Fukantai, suddenly flooding Tōdai’s incredibly dialated pupils with all the light.

He threw a kunai wreathed in chakra straight at Tōdai from no more than 7 feet away, propelled by a burst of wind chakra.

”...-Jutsu!” Tōdai said as he was blinded, the light all flooding in at once as Meirō released the technique. And then stabbed as Meirō, dickishly threw a kunai into his left shoulder.

“Ow.” He uttered holding onto the Jutsu as much as he could.

“Heh, Meirō looks like I actually got you this ti-” He said, attempting to bring Meirō and his own hand up to put Sting to Meirō’s chest. But he couldn’t move.

Meirō was channeling the chakra through his kunai and Tōdai was channeling chakra into Kagemane.

“Ah man, we did not just tie.” Tōdai said, refusing to release the technique.

“Bummer,” he said, but there was the barest hint of amusement in his voice as he said it. “Want to see who can hold this position longer, or maybe we move on?”
It was a question, but...it was said as if the latter was the only real option.

Huh, he was pretty happy. Tōdai watched his Meirō’s chest rise and fall and noticed his own heartbeat in his ear. Whew, they had been going pretty hard today, huh?

“Nah, I’d lose anyway I have a smaller chakra pool.” Tōdai said oversimplifying it and releasing the Jutsu from Meirō, his shadow retreating back into his own space. He waited for Meirō to stop channeling his chakra before wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Okay, we need to head to the exams pretty soon. We should grab a bite to eat and then head to the ferry!” Tōdai said.

Meirō didn’t stop, walking up to Tōdai and flicking him in the forehead before he removed the kunai, ending the technique

“Oy!” Tōdai said, flicking him back.

Amusement flashed across Meirō’s eyes and then he cast out one hand behind him as he walked in the direction of the ferry or whatever. The threads snagged his various tools--and Tōdai’s staff--and brought them to him. Without looking, Meirō threw the staff at Tōdai and stowed his weapons back in their proper places.

The two would head to the departure point with the others who would be heading to the exams and they began the trip to the island where the chuunin exams would be held. At some point on the way there, Meirō turned to Tōdai with his characteristic blank expression.

“Do you think any of them will be any good?” He asked.

With any luck by the end of this thing, we’ll both be Chunin and have fought others who were worthy of the title too.” Tōdai said, taking a moment to imagine the truly limitless possibilities that existed for them. It was going to be incredible.

“But, I don’t think they’ll be able to beat you.” He said honestly. “I might have a harder time if I find anyone who can mess around with light like you can.” He said noting his very limited ways in which he could end a fight.

Meirō tilted his head slightly, still staring at Tōdai. He was silent for an uncomfortably long time before he spoke again, turning away as he did. “No, you’ll be fine,” he said with no emotion, which was his equivalent of absolute confidence.

Eventually the two arrived on the island, it was certainly going to be a new experience. Of course, as usual, Meirō was more interested in business--aka finding the other genin--than he was in looking around.

“Where do you think we should look first,” he said, glancing around, his eyes scanning the crowd.

“Well…” Tōdai said scanning the area in front of them. “If you couldn’t find any Genin no matter what you did, where would you go?” He asked rather simply. He tried not to focus on how far Meirō had come. When they first met it took nearly a month for Tōdai to get a single word out of the boy. But now, they were friends, brothers. They communicated and it made Tōdai feel a lot more confident knowing his friend would be watching him.

He made sure to commit Meirō’s tactics to memory for the next engagement. The boy barely managed to snag a tied fight, had Meirō not dissipated his last technique, Tōdai would’ve been fighting blind against a man who could see.

Meirō frowned as he felt his stomach churn a bit, “Mmm. Actually, not worried about them. Food,” he said and then glanced at Tōdai, expecting him to lead even though they were in a totally new place, as if his friend was just the master of locating sustenance.

Their friendship was just funny like that.

“Well then food it is. Don’t want you thinking of anything else during that test, your growling stomach would make it impossible to focus!” Tōdai said cheerily ruffling Meirō’s hair pointing him in the direction that his nose thought was suitable. “But nothing too heavy.” Tōdai said quickly as he walked in the direction of the food. His only real hint was the smell of pork, and that of course, was too heavy, but he saw a girl with a ramen bowl and that’d do.

So it was that the two found a ramen place--mostly because of Tōdai’s nose--and enjoyed a meal before heading off to see what else was going on the island.

Fun times were surely ahead.

-

---

They'd gone to get something to eat, they'd scoped out the island—as they did every year—and she'd even checked on their genin personally, and the announcement still hadn't come. Sighing Kikue made her way towards the small office room that the kage always met in during these little annual events. The meetings were supposed to be important, but honestly they always ended up being something of a drag. Generally she enjoyed the dealings of her own country even when it was stressful and full of problems to overcome, but here? Here she was just another big fish in a big pond, as it were.

Making an effort to not glance at Riku, one of her two second hand men, she spoke. “Both of you keep your mouths shut while we're in the meeting, like last year. You can flirt and act disobedient on your own time, but this...this is about our countries reputation, this is about keeping up appearances and we have a good image.” There was a firm authoritative tone in her voice and a presence about her as she spoke. Five minutes after she'd finished she arrived at the door and then entered, finding her place in the room and taking it, with a respectful nod to the other kage, and the Grand Ambassador of the Kyuuseishu. She didn't bother uttering greetings, they'd get to that in due time.

As she scanned the room with her peripheral vision, Kikue made a conscious effort not to drum her fingers on the arm of her less than regal chair. It grated really, even if she did have a fairly friendly relationship with the other leaders.

Sighing internally she awaited the beginning of the meeting and hoped that, as usual, that this wouldn't be so dull as last year's. Then again...perhaps dull was good.

The Land of Fire was a big country that became even bigger after all that happened during the Bijuu Crisis. Thus, it is no wonder that it took a relatively long time to travel from Kyokujitsu to Kyūseishu, where the Chuunin Exams were held. What is more, when tasked with the transportation and protection of the Sankage herself to the neutral territory, you ought to be even more careful while traveling. Basically, your journey is bound to be a long one.

The transportation of the Kage could be seen as an S-rank mission, and a team of experienced jonin would have to be gathered. This meant that newly advanced jonin would not be allowed on the team, and neither outsiders would.

Thus, it is no wonder that Fujita Kaimu was surprised when he first got notified that he was assigned a spot on the team. Although technically being a jonin of Kyokujitsugakure, his status as an Emissary of Harugakure meant that he was almost never assigned missions of very high importance, due to Harugakure and the Land of Spring being under the banner of the Land of Earth.

Being an Emissary meant helping foster good relations between your country and the country you are sent to, and Kaimu had done just that at the start. However, his efforts seemed to do nothing other than retaining what neutral disposition Kyokujitsu had of his country. Over the passage of time, seeing his efforts bearing no fruit, he stopped trying. It had become apparent to him that a mere shinobi could not hope to influence the diplomatic relations of two countries, especially when it comes to big countries such as Kyokujitsu.

As he kept on reading the scroll with his orders, however, his excitement was wiped out in an instant.

You are to set off right away, travel to Kyūseishu on your own on a scout mission. Every 6 hours use this scroll and report back to the main team.

Crap, not again.


Kaimu walked among the food stands, searching for delicacies to accompany his home-brewed drink. The Chuunin Exams was a big event, and people from all over the world came to Kyuuseishi to watch. Par for the course, wherever there are festivities, one can find merchants trying to make a name for themselves and their products. Especially with the nature of the Chuunin Exams that encouraged competition, everyone was in high spirits.

"Oh! This takoyaki looks delicious!" Kaimu exclaimed, his attention fully centered on the plate in front of him. He grabbed his gourd, pulled the cork out with a pop, and dug in with fervor. In the background, an announcement echoed out, calling for the three Kage to gather, and encouraging everyone else to enjoy themselves. A satisfied expression appeared on Kaimu's face as he washed down the fried octopus with a swig of sake.

Riku walked rather cattily next to his kage as they made their way to meeting. It seemed rather surprising he was her body guard and advisor, especially seeing as he'd tried killing her three years ago. She was a monster. Eh, he'd thought it worth the effort. He regretted nothing. Well, he supposed in a way he was glad he'd failed. The amount of paperwork a kage had to do was insane. She 'shared' enough with her adviser for him to know that.

“Both of you keep your mouths shut while we're in the meeting, like last year. You can flirt and act disobedient on your own time, but this...this is about our countries reputation, this is about keeping up appearances and we have a good image.”

Riku's face immediately assumed a state of fake shock.

"Why me, flirt? You must have me mistaken for some scoundrel. I am a gentleman in every way. Like when I gave the guard to the Tsuchikage CPR during last years conference. She might have died without my intervention!"

A click sounded from Riku's mouth as he checked the area. Mostly checking if the Rankage was about to sock him. If she wasn't, he had a loose leash today. Last years conference was fun, fun indeed.

Entering the building, he actually did stay mostly silent after clicking to survey the area. His sense of smell identified most of the participants from last year. It was a pity that he didn't know what any of the females looked like. He tried to envision it in his mind, but he'd not really seen enough to know what 'look' meant. It was frustrating to no end to Riku. Oh well, for a blind shinobi from a traitorous clan, he had to say, he'd done pretty good for himself. Advisor to a kage, a (relatively) respectable jonin, he'd not done too bad.

Shikata Ayameko

Ayameko had arrived precisely when she meant to. The announcement of Kage meeting meant that she, along with Shiori, Shien, and Io would be required to present themselves in the meeting room. At this point, Ayameko, despite her generally pleasant demeanor had begun to have her fill of the grumbling leader of the Land of Iron. She had been regretting a few of the choices she had made on her travel to the Chuunin Exams...

Shien had handled most of the logistics of their journey - which she had done splendidly on. Typically the Sankage would have used the transport systems that were set up by the various nations with the intention of bypassing much of the tedious travelling, however this year Ayameko had opted to travel by foot in order to travel through some of the smaller villages and territories that may not frequently get her audience. It was valuable for her to ensure the people's needs were being addressed by their representative. Of course, Io was less than amused by the choice, Ayameko having conveniently not told him about that portion of the trip.

Ayameko, along with her contingency took their seats. Politely she nodded to each of the other leaders, while Shiori, Shien, and Io were directed to their seats into some seats away from the main table. While bodyguards were atypical for such a meeting, they were permitted - not that anyone at the table really needed the protection from a bodyguard.

"Fellow kage," Ayameko began her opening remarks, her starting first a perk of her being the oldest of the three national leaders, "I hope your journeys went well. As usual, we are gathered together to watch another year of hard work on display. As always, we would like to thank Kyoko for her leadership in organizing this event and moderating these meetings, which continues to be of the utmost importance. Given the importance of our continued cooperation, I would like to make a couple of proposals this year."

Ayameko cleared her through before continuing, "The first is the establishment of shinobi squads with members from multiple nations. The second would be the establishment of an exchange program, partially to facilitate the first. I look forward to your thoughts and recommendations on such programs."

With that, she concluded her remarks, opening the floor for one of the other leaders to speak in response. Typically these meetings were a mere formality, but this year Ayameko wanted to actually make them function beyond that. Their peace had been long, but complacency was never good. Deepening their ties would ensure that none of them took for granted the peace Ayameko had sacrificed so much for.

Io was, of course, displeased with the Sankage's remarks, but it was not a forum he could protest in. However, his displeasure was not invisible to anyone, but given it was a consistent expression on his face it would be hard for anyone in the room to tell he was even more displeased than usual. Shiori, on the other hand, was pleased, having been a part of the council subcommittees that had helped flesh out some of the formalities from Kyokujitsu no Tochi's end.

---

Turning her attention to Ayameko as she spoke up, Kikue leaned forwards slightly, to show the barest shred of interest—even if she didn't feel it in the least. As the old woman finished the pleasantries she typically went through and mentioned that Kyokujitsu no Tochi actually had some proposals, her eyebrow twitched incrementally—as if she had been about to raise it—nonetheless she did not. Then the sankage dropped the first of her little 'proposals' and Kikue managed—as she typically did—to keep her expression largely neutral, but slightly interested.

The reality was different for through her mind swam numerous possibilities. Using the village's genin as spies to scout out the strength, defenses, status, and possible political moves of Kyokujitsu was just one. However, another was the possibility of what this could mean if they all agreed to it. It could mean defectors, or the borders of their three countries opening up. It could mean greater safety and better relations among the three great nations, yet, she wasn't sure if she trusted the other two on that front. Plus, genin, and many chuunin teams as well, typically had a jounin leader and who would lead and teach those teams? Whichever village snatched that would basically be drawing the attention of the genin and making them look up to individuals of another village.

The implications and possibilities felt endless, and she was seeing as many problems as she was benefits. At the same time, having genin in an exchange program go to multiple nations meant that the cultural diversity could grow considerably, and they could be made aware of the differences in other cultures around the world, they could be trained how to deal with vastly different terrains and social climates. It would be very good for genin, but it could be very bad for the Land of Storms if anyone of them let slip information to anyone else about what they might come to know about the defenses of their betters. Secrets revealed, friendships made, but rivals too, perhaps enemies.

Knowing the Sankage, this was likely not a move to broaden the spy network, and knowing Kyoko, it was more likely meant to foster peace. However, Kikue had grown up in Kirigakure, a place where the strong fought amongst themselves, and preyed on the weak in kind. She had grown up with stories from her mother about the wars of the past, and then even older stories of the same from the elders of her clan...and later from those of the village and elsewhere in her country. She was wary for she knew that the smallest thing could begin a domino effect that led to chaos...that led to death...that led—she clasped her hands together on the desk—to war.

She smiled, the expression curving innocently onto her lips, though it did not entirely reach her eyes, ”Who would lead these squads?” She asked, her first move made, tone level, demeanor relaxed, but interested. She was used to dealing with complex problems, and just as used to snatching up opportunities as they were presented to her.

Perhaps she could turn this to her advantage. If not, well...hopefully she could make it something that was disadvantageous to all of them. She glanced at Kyoko briefly, then around the table. It appeared that, this year they might be in for a rather interesting meeting.

As Sankage Ayameko noted her proposal, Kyoko nodded in agreement. It was a move half born of instinct, and half born of the desire to influence the other Kage positively in its favour - she was well aware that the place that her organisation had carved out for itself in the world was becoming less and less necessary with peace having reigned fairly securely for the past thirty years, but as an Immortal Scion herself she could not help but believe that the Kyūseishu's work must be allowed to continue for as long as the three nations existed. It helped enormously to reduce friction between the nations, as well as safeguard against an eventuality that Kyoko knew could well happen at any time: The Bijuu.

Kikue then spoke up, the slightest hint of trepidation obvious in her voice to the Architect of Thought - she knew full well that the denizens of Kirigakure were distrustful by nature of anything that was not the natural cycle of predation. The land had always been a battleground - a self-contained war - and the only victors were the strong. It made sense that Kikue would seek primarily to ensure her strength, and by proxy the strength of her nation, was preserved. Simultaneously - there was a strength that could only be achieved with unity, a state of perfect balance, that was all but impossible in the finely-tuned ways of the now Land of Storms. Without a guarantee - one independent of heartfelt wishes and based solely upon method and result - Kikue would never commit to Ayameko's vision as she had little to gain comparatively to the losses she invited should failure occur.

"I believe that I can answer that question, Kikue. Historically, any efforts that have required a multinational approach have been spearheaded and maintained by the Kyūseishu. We have failed in this regard only once, with the Kazekage's betrayal, and though that was a tragedy that does not bear repeating it is only in adversity that we are able to come together and emerge stronger. We will begin a procedure to select from a pool of experienced Ninja proffered by the three nations, and I will personally oversee their training as neutral agents insofar as their training duties are concerned - it is my belief, one that I hope is shared amongst all in this room, that we must needs work together to achieve a lasting peace that we can not only enjoy, but bequeath unto the next generation. If we do not work with a vision of peace, prosperity, and unity we will be stuck forever as the feudal societies we have been stuck as since time immemorial.

Nobody should lose their family, their life, or their home to war - and yet we have all suffered these losses. We must view the world as we wish it to be, not as it is, and commit to a future together. If not, we will perish alone." Kyoko spoke, offering her own thoughts on the matter to the table. Hopefully she would inspire Kikue and Yoseki, as she knew full well that Ayameko already shared her vision for the future.

Some time ago
Kyūryū Ikeda
----------------------
Kyūryū had been been shadowing the tsuchikage since their arrival to the place that would once more hold the exams that would split those who had promise and those who needed - something more to bring out any potential promise, the Chuunin Exams. Once the message of the starting of the Kage summit had been announced, Kyūryū had watched as his Kage and the others who would be in the meeting walked in to the room where the meeting would take place, he himself dropped from where he was watching over him as a loyal member of Iwagakure's ANBU (although this was not his main role within ANBU) and took of his Bear shaped mask and put it away in one of the inside pockets of his jacket before popping his neck and headed off towards the main function room where most of the shinobi seemed to have gathered for the start of a week long party or gathering.

present time
Kyūryū was sitting in one of the unoccupied corners of the room, slowly sipping away at a saucer of sake while watching the others. It was one of the things he did to calm his nerves in new environments - people watching. Be it for potential information (drunk shinobi sometimes had loose lips) or just to see what he was getting himself in for.

As he watched, he was interested to see some of the other high ranking (from what he could observe from the flack jackets and the fact they were here as opposed to actually taking the exams) drool over the food, taking things to be that the food must actually be something to rave about Kyūryū stood from his corner, finished his sake and started towards some of the tables that were straining under all the different food to see what would take his fancy.

The yearly meetings called by the Kyuseishu were predictably dull - this much Yuhi knew, as he had once had a hand in organising them. Indeed, his was the work that had paved the foundation for the exceptional bureaucratic system which now governed the various multinational events that the organization put together, and though he found the events to largely be a waste of time that could be better spent reading a book or writing a book or categorising various books, he attended regardless. In his time with Yoseki and Kanashi, he had somewhat softened to the idea of more interpersonal interactions - and to his chagrin that had resulted in Yoseki asking him to take the lead for Iwagakure in the upcoming meeting. It was almost certain that the meeting was going to be the same thing repeated a hundred different ways as it was every year, and having a stand-in would free Yoseki up to actually interact more with her people.

It wasn't the worst fate that Yuhi could think of.

And yet, as he took his place at the Kage meeting, he still could not help but feel terribly out of place.

The meeting largely went on as he imagined it would to begin with - pleasantries and such being exchanged freely - and then Ayameko began a proposal which was rather unexpected. She wished for greater international cooperation and the institution of teams from each of the countries, and the creation of a secondary project to facilitate the first? That sounded like it would be a lot of work - bureaucratically speaking, of course - and Yuhi was personally excited at the prospect if only for the longing to perform some work that he deemed worthy of his time. Once he had cracked the metaphorical code for Iwagakure's systems it had ceased to be entertaining, and he was stuck with all of the workload and none of the fun. It would almost certainly happen exactly the same way this time around, but it was at least something to do.

So, when the time came for Iwagakure to say its piece after a rather rousing speech by Kyoko, Yuhi simply nodded in assent and said:

"We will be happy to do our part in seeing this vision become reality."

It was simple, but in speaking for an entire nation Yuhi was wary that anything beyond assent or dissent could be tied directly to him - and culpability was not a good look on him.

Ayameko waved her hand as a point to end the discussion, "There are many details to work out, but they can be done in time. I just wanted to ensure that we were in agreement this could be a worthwhile pursuit."

It was then there was a knock at the door.

"Enter," Kyoko replied.

Ayameko was surprised that there was an interruption. As the doors open, Ichigaya Norio was revealed. He strode confidently to an empty seat at the table, but opted to stand behind it, resting his arms on the back.

"Greetings great leaders," he bowed slightly to them, "I am Norio and I've come a long way to speak with you. I lead a group of island nations in the far south and I wished to speak with all three of you, as you have time privately, on two fronts. The first, to discuss opening trade relationships with each of your nations and the second to discuss petition admittance this very table. I do not hold myself in the same statuses as any of you, but I do lead my people and I feel that as we develop further trade relationships my involvement will make sense. I would abstain from any voting, but would merely like the capacity to have input."

Ayameko nodded politely. Norio's goals aligned in principles with her own - a deepening of their global relationships. While he was definitely young, she could respect his goals and the charisma with which he delivered them on.

"Norio," Ayameko spoke, "You have indeed come a long way. While I cannot speak for the rest of the leaders, I would be supportive of opening dialogue to examining those situations in private with the other leaders following this meeting. As for trade, I would be happy to sit with you upon conclusion of this meeting and begin that negotiation, should none of the other Kage need my time for more urgent pressing matters."

Norio nodded, "Thank you Lady Ayameko, the Shima Renmai is happy to work with you. You can find me alone at the inn closest to the exam facility."

"Alone?" Ayameko queried, "You came all this way on your own?"

"Well," Norio paused, "I have a few members from my nation on board the ship at the dock, but essentially yes."

While it was peacetime, Ayameko was not having that response, "Shoyū," she called, followed by, "Shiryō." Both shinobi had been stationed close by and were there within a moment, "I am assigning you as guards to this man."

Norio nodded, shaking her hand as customary with his culture, "Thank you Lady Ayameko. While I would like to kindly refuse your offer, I feel this would be a good way to end the nagging of my assistant who has spent the last few weeks scolding me for not bringing a sufficient guard contingent along. I know none you know much about my lands, but we lack much of the military prowess of your countries, so such resources are in short supply. However, I would like to note for any record that we can be quite fearsome on the sea."

He gave a large smile at conclusion of his remarks before turning to both of his new guards and beginning to introduce himself.

It was at that moment the first blast ripped through the wall near Ayameko, throwing the Kage to the side as the sphere of energy exploded outwards. As she was thrown she called to Kei to create a barrier, managing to right herself and pivot towards the attack point near the Tsuchikage. However, before Kei could manifest a barrier, the second blast had already entered the meeting room, engulfing the Tsuchikage and Ayameko in an inferno as the building began to come down on the Kage. Vision was quickly lost of the two kage.

The third blast on the meeting area was partially blocked by a barrier from Kei, but it was then they could see the source of the attack - from the area of the shrine was a hulking corporeal beast. While it was clearly still bound in some fashion to the shrine, it had begun to break free and was launching an attack on those that had imprisoned it so many years ago. With the damage from its attacks mitigated by Kei's barriers, it turned to more helpless targets, launching hundreds of explosive fireballs at the exam grounds and surrounding area, all in the span of seconds. Even with a surplus of skilled shinobi in a singular area, the surprise attack in such a quantity would devastate the area around the chuunin exams, especially with two Kage buried in rubble and others likely wounded.

"Ayameko!" Shien shouted, but there was no response. Realizing she was now the de facto leader, she summoned the shinobi she knew she had to begin a rescue effort. Io had already begun to mount a counter assault on the beast at his own discretion, marking the distance sky around it with weapon's seals, but it quickly vanished, seemingly yanked back into its prison before it could continue its carnage.

Shadan quickly appeared outside the ruined facilities that the Kage had been meeting in. Shiori, Io, Shien, and Kei had evacuated at the beginning of the assault. Shien informed the towering shinobi that Ayameko was likely trapped within the confines of the the rubble, along with the Tsuchikage. It only took the large man a second to live a large portion of the roof off of the area the Sankage had once been, revealing the severely wounded body of the Tsuchikage. The Sankage was nowhere to be found.

Norio was surprised to be alive. It was only by virtue of the guards Ayameko had assigned him just moments before the attack. Both had shoved him back, allowing all three to survive with only minor injuries. He was a bit shaken up, but had managed to keep most of his wits about him as a medical team arrived to begin treating the wounded. After he was treated, profusely thanking the medical staff being led by Shiō, he insisted on helping search for survivors as gratitude.

What was clear from the situation was there would be dead and given what had happened, the future held more.

---

Somewhat relieved by Kyoko’s response, Kikue leaned back somewhat, though she remained attentive, gaze sharp and discerning. When there was a knock at the door, she raised an eyebrow, and then a man entered. A certain ‘Norio’ apparently, a representative for his country, and with some experience on the sea it seemed, interesting. He offered new opportunities, she smiled at the man. She would make time to speak with him later.

Then, as she moved to rise, Kujira called out to her telepathically. Her eyes widened then as something ripped through the wall. Immediately she sent invisible tendrils of her chakra outwards invisibly and rapidly in all directions.

Tsukekomu Meirei – Tengoku Kaizen(_{付け込む命令- 天国改善} 'Imposed Order – Heavenly Refinement').

As that finished Kujira notified her of the strike before it came, and in an instant there were a system of crystallized barriers, as the strike came and the rubble flew in her direction it broke some layers, but not them all. She kept spreading her chakra throughout the room. While the others recovered she already began removing rubble out of the way and sending instructions to Kujira.

The Great Spirit Whale dropped in altitude drastically and began providing support, moving rubble away and stopping any additional structures from falling by sending her chakra through Kujira and into the structures reinforcing them with crystalline structures.

She turned her attention back to those in the same room as her and noticed the absence of the Sankage. Her eyes narrowed, “Well, it appears that we have been cursed to live in interesting times,” there was the faintest tinge of perverse amusement in her voice as she said it. Yet, at the same time she knew that this was not at all good. Who knew what the future held.

Riku Orochi

Riku, surprisingly, stood quiet throughout the meeting. It was pretty boring, he took most note of the voices he heard. A few of them sounded quite pretty, and he spent much of the meeting imagining what they must look like. His fantasies were broken, much like the room, by the blast erupting. Riku swore, but was covered by the second blast. He stood by his kage; the Rankage's defenses were impressive. He was, in title, her bodyguard, but in practice, it was starting to feel the other way around. Still... There were a lot of things that didn't add up. The Sankage was gone, and there was a beast he could FEEL in the distance more than see, and this Norio had either the worst or best timing he'd ever seen. Riku drew his bow, pulled a single arrow off the quiver on his hip. He held it infront of his nose, almost posing.

"Smells like ink."

He notched and fired it in a second towards the first of his three mysteries, at Norio himself. The arrow had two odd properties. The first was that it was blunt, and the second, why it was blunt, was it was an enclosing sealing arrow. It would seal someone inside it, they would find themselves in a blank room with a seal on the bottom of it. Riku turned towards his master.

"Interesting times? Don't lie, you were just as bored before this as I was, I can hear your heartbeat.

“Well, I'm equal parts your adviser, so here's my advice. There are three roads we can travel. I find our newest guest’s arrival suspicious, I vote we ask on his impeccable timing, already fired an enclosing arrow. You can hate me for being beautiful later. Second route, follow the Sankage, perhaps a kidnapping in the confusion? Perhaps a culprit. Third route, ensure our safety. You check the totem while I seal our students to safety. Well, which path do you decide? You have the eyes. In any case, my path is clear, and I shall work on whatever you direct."

Riku began a series of handsigns, focusing on opening his mind's eye.

Mind's eye of Kagura

He breathed deeply as he concentrated, trusting his master in case of any further explosions. He slowly sought out chakra around him, feeling the kages and guards around him. And then concentrating further as he searched for both the genin, and for the missing Sankage. To see what was alive, hoping the answer to be ‘all the genin’. The genin could do without being traumatized, restabilizing the Mist had been bloody enough. If it just weren’t for those darn assassins sent at the Rankage Riku thought with a macabre smile.
===================



Han’yo sat in a small little room with his genin, an awkward silence as he tried to be ‘cool’. Maybe he was too old for this? Still, he, as their leader, had to suppo-

A large boom echoed in the distance. Han’yo was instinctive in his response. His hands flickered, and walls of stone rose around the small house. Despite his speed, he wasn’t fast enough, as debris shot through the house, clearing the table and much of the room. Han’yo leapt to the side, more debris being heard crashing against his defenses outside

“Damnit, I was too flashy, Earth Style Wall is too slow. If I’d known Moving Core, there would have been no damage.”

He found Tōdai in the debris. The boy would live, but it was an unfortunate injury Han’yo would have to be ashamed of not stopping. Han’yo could sense what it was without looking, and he could tell it was over. He began wrapping the injury.

“A bijuu…. Seems I’m not the only one too flashy, building a city around these totems is a bad idea. We are lucky none of us are dead. If it had decided to hit here first, we all would have been. Meirō remember this, ninja are not flashy. Why is this? Because no matter how strong and stylish we may be, we will not measure up to the might of the Bijuu in a straight fight. They surpass us naturally. Yet they are the ones sealed, not us. Our strength, if used right, if subtle, surpasses theirs.

Meirō, repeat to me right now what you know of the bijuu. This is the perfect time for a history lesson. You just saw the glimpse of one. Once you are finished, we will find out what happened. It is best not the be the tallest blade of grass right now.”

Ordinarily, the task of managing the Kyuuseishu Island during the festivities was extremely boring. Kinjiro was never really especially suited to do it, and both she and Kyoko knew this, but it was important for Kyoko to be seen to be neutral and effectively taking her out of the action helped a great deal in that regard. Many did not have the vision required to see Kinjiro for what she was, and though the ignorance of the masses was not something she had ever been able to care about on a personal level it somewhat irked her to be placed in a role year after year in which she had to talk to people and refrain from duly chastising them for their stupidity.

And so when the first attack came, it was a combination of both awe and terrible despair that filled the pit of Kinjiro's stomach. She could see in the distance the incorporeal form of the tailed beast struggling against its restraints. In an instant, Kinjiro vanished from her previous location and reappeared directly at the Shrine - she had insisted on some small security measures when she had helped design them - before activating one of her signature techniques.

"Fukutsu no Ishi!"

Immediately as the technique was activated, Kinjiro begun to weave her chakra around the beast in such a fashion as to restrain it. Incorporeal though it was, and breaking free from the shrine, Kinjiro was barely able to suppress the monstrosity for long enough that the remainder of the island might get to work in helping those injured. The beast's manifestation in its current form was impossible, Kinjiro thought, as she wove her chakra more thoroughly into the seal and the beast. The bindings were perfect, and try as she might she could not ascertain any possible reason that the event had occurred - it was by all rights impossible on a fundamental level. The blood seals were intact, and though she was no master of the spiritual she could not detect any anomalies within the spiritual aspect of the shrine... Though she was well aware of her limits in that regard. And just as quickly as she had begun to restrain it, it was yanked back into the prison.

She would need to ask Kyoko to call for Chiyoko - if she could not fix the problem, nobody in the Kyuuseishu could. If nobody in the Kyuuseishu could fix the problem, then all possible emergency measures needed to be activated - and quickly. Calling out to the fragment of herself bonded to Yuhi, Kinjiro relayed all of the information possible in as short a span as possible - she knew that her prodigal librarian would be able to make sense of things as quickly as possible and relay all relevant information to the Kage.



As the first attack ripped through the walls of the room, Yuhi's first instinct was that of self-preservation. Flooding his body with chakra, he activated the Shikigami no Mai and prepared himself for the worst - it was not in his skillset to attempt to save another, and before he could really register what had happened another attack was on its way. Thanks to Kei's barrier and his own resilience in his paper form, he was left almost completely untouched by the blast, though many sheets of paper were strewn around the room thanks to the sheer force of the blast.

As the chaos begun to die down, Yuhi noticed from the corner of his eye that Riku, the Rankage's advisor, had notched an arrow at their new guest. His mind stuttered for a fraction of a second, unbelieving that someone would knowingly breach the rules of the Kyuuseishu (especially in a crisis, where the proper crisis protocols were to be followed). Commanding an extant sheet of paper in the vicinity of Norio, Yuhi imprinted it with the Kanji for "Stop" and his cube overlaid a seal to counteract the sealing component of the arrow, stopping it dead in its tracks before it had gotten close to Norio. Though Yuhi was also suspicious of his arrival and the almost immediate attack it was just that - a suspicion. If Kyoko had allowed him audience (she always found a way to know about these things) then he was almost certainly not the cause.

"Stow your weapon, Archer of the Mist, or you will be shackled and punished duly under article 6.6b of the Three Nation Accords. We do not attack any parties in a time of crisis unless there is a clear motive that does not equate to unjustified suspicion - please be mindful of the rules of the Kyuuseishu during your stay here." Yuhi called out, internally seething at the audacity Riku had to breach the clearly outlined protocols. It did not even occur to him that due to his blindness he had certainly not read the pamphlets containing the rules.

When he heard Kinjiro's voice in his mind, Yuhi immediately spoke up once more:

"Mistress Kyoko, Kinjiro calls for aid. She requests an immediate audience with Chiyoko of the Moon Tribe to investigate the nature of the breach."



As the events begun to unfold, Kyoko retreated into her mind. Using a genjutsu to slow her perception of time, she thought over every possibility given the information that she had acquired thus far: The only conclusion was that the seals on the nearby shrine had somehow failed - though from what she understood that was all-but impossible. Kinjiro and Chiyoko had constructed the shrines, two absolute prodigies in every sense of the word, and she knew from experience that the work was nothing but impeccable. What, then, could have caused the emergence of the bijuu?

She went over the possibilities in her mind. Everything had happened like clockwork, and the shrine had never failed before. The only new element was the arrival of Norio, and so she would have to question him once things had sufficiently calmed down. Kyoko was confident in the crisis protocols that the Kyuuseishu had drafted up, and though there would be damage and the Chuunin exams were almost certainly cancelled, she was confident that no major loss of life would occur. Injury, perhaps, but that was easy enough to remedy.

Returning to reality, Kyoko witnessed the aftermath of the first blast and avoided the second thanks to both Kikue's crystalline barrier and Kei's barrier. Then, Riku drew his weapon and attacked their new guest. As much as she agreed with the sentiment of suspicion, it was a flagrant breach of the rules that they had laid out, and as she moved to stop him Yuhi had already done so. She was thankful, in truth, as she doubted she would have been quick enough to stop him from firing the arrow and she had no capacity to stop it once it had been loosed. When Yuhi asked her to summon Chiyoko, she nodded gravely. They had worked out a system in which a scroll that had been linked via complex seals to another scroll would allow writing on one to be shared with the other in real time - it had been a complex endeavour that the Yuki clan and the Kyuuseishu had worked on extensively, and it had resulted in a long-distance method of communication that did not rely on the caprice of technology.

She impressed her chakra into the proper seals and sent the message to Chiyoko:

"A Bijuu has escaped from a shrine, briefly, and devastated the Chuunin exams. Sankage Ayameko is missing and Tsuchikage Yoseki is severely wounded. Come to Kyuuseishu Isle anon." along with a seal at the bottom to instantly relocate her if she wished.

Then, she turned her attention to the matters at hand:

"Norio, you are required for questioning. By the authority given to me by the Three Nations Accord as leader of the Kyuuseishu, I, Hyakune Kyoko, hereby place you under arrest until further notice." Kyoko spoke, though her tone was one of necessity, not one of judgement. She gave a meaningful glance to the newcomer to impress the urgency of taking action, though she did not wish to alarm or unfairly implicate him in the slightest. It was a temporary measure in the event of a crisis - and she imparted that through her look as much as she could.

"Boom!"

with the first blast and the accompanying shock wave, the plate that Kyūryū had just made up with small helpings of the different dishes laid out for the guests to enjoy, some of them Kyūryū recognised as some of his favourite meals from before he joined Iwa's Ninja Academy, fell from his hands, shortly followed by the ever present blade of grass that was hanging from between his teeth.

Fuck! the bubble ninja thought to himself; I wanted to eat that!

"Boom!"

Somewhat unprepared for the second blast wave he stumbled a step or two before getting his bearings: Damn The single thought flew through his mind briefly as he recognised the fact that the two blasts where aimed at the same place from what he could tell from the feel of direction the shock waves travelled.

A Third blast was soon heard/felt, Kyūryū's eyes widened as if a light bulb went off over his head, the shock waves were coming from the direction of the hall the Kage meeting was taking place. Looking around he could see that the unoccupied seats and tables had been shunted by the shock waves and most of them had even been smashed into bits where they hit the wall or others in the room.

Got to make sure Lady Tsuchikage is safe.

Stooping down to grab the falling blade of grass Kyūryū put the blade back between his teeth has he dashed over to his corner where he had left his main weapons, fixed them back in place slung over his back and in a quick bubble shunshin had left the gathering hall where the most of the people not involved in the kage meeting or actually taking the exams (he didn't know where the Genin were as he did not have his own team) were to get to the source of the attack.

Stopping a few moments later he could see that there was a massive smoking hole in one side of the building, the rubble that used to make up the wall was scattered over the place, noises of movement and yells of Jutsu a small portion of what could only be described as a barrier of some sort, but he had little time to ponder that as a huge roar drew his attention, looking over the Monk like ninja was shocked to see a massive orangery/red gorilla like beast with what could be seen to be a number of octopus like tentacles sticking out its backside.

"What the hell is going on? Could this be one of the legendary Tailed Beasts? All mention of them had been blotted out a number of years ago." he quietly mumbles to himself - knowing he has no chance of fighting off the beast for the mean time, he takes a number of deep calming breaths as he fixes his bear mask (a Panda mask would make defeat the object of the mask as he is the only one known to summon pandas) to his face once more and heads towards the hole in the wall.

Cleaing some of the smoke away with a low powered Wind Style: Great Breakthrough he speaks in a calm (and slightly distorted voice).

"Lady Tsuchikage! Lady Tsuchikage! Are you alright My Lady" Turning to one of the others who seems to still be cognizant and aware of whats going on. "You there. Is that thing thats attacking what I think it is?"

As he is looking out for his Kage he notices one of the occupants of the room that has the same robes on as his Kage and quickly moves to kneel next to the wounded person who does indeed turn out to be the Tsuchikage, her shoulder like black hair caked in sweat, blood and dust from the explosions.

"Bubble Style: Bubble Dome" he intones, instantly a bubble pops into existence around himself and his Kage, once more looking around at the Kage's and other assembled people he once more intones, the only thing that can be made out from the voice distortion is a very slight ruffling sound of the blade of grass moving up and down inside of the bear mask: "Is there a Medi-nin here? My Kage needs attention."

"Uhhh.... What? Oww.." Měihóu rose her head from the ground, ever so slightly. Everything tasted like burnt, and everything felt like pain. ~Is that a skull plate infront of me? Ugh.. If that's mine, that explains a lot.. Let's do a quick diagnostic...~

-Viable Biomass at 88%. Child form possible. Replacement biomass environmentally available. Back up deployment unadvised.- She shifted her eyes around, and saw some genin ninja, if the headband was any indication, who was probably not going to be doing any more ninja-ing what with the missing arm, crushed skull, and lack of unburnt skin.

~Well, he's not gonna need it at this point.~ Měihóu reached out, grabbing hold of the corpse, and as its flesh disappeared, Měihóu's reappeared.

"So, I don't much remember how I got here, but hey, might as well make myself useful." Měihóu looked around herself as she got back on her feet, shaking off a little debris that had piled on her, and a few things that had probably once been attached to her body. She noticed that she was at some sort of festival, that also seemed to be on fire.

Transforming some broken glass and what remained of the corpse into vials of plasma, she set off to aid anyone harmed by the explosions. She wasn't a medical nin by any means, and didn't have an hour to analyze their bodies to repair them properly, but she could still apply tourniquets, give plasma, and dig people out of rubble with ease.