The boys specialty may have well been water with how fluid he was in his movements. Even with her heightened senses, it was nearly impossible to figure out his next move. He swiftly turned, and pulled her into his back. Away they went, climbing into the air above the golem. Of course it looked big from the floor, but now perspective really cane into play as they soared above it. Kiku unfortunately was not a fan of heights and slightly tightened her grip on the breezy boy. As quickly as they floated up, he landed them. Right on the golems back. She dismounted, and inhaled sharply, thinking of her next move as Shizuka was already onto his. Kiku was usually good at keeping calm, but her sensed were in overdrive with the heat, explosions and clashing of sounds rang in her ears. Her heart was almost beating out of its chest.

Assessing the room, and listening closely past all the other sounds. She could tell that both Jaak, and Kurin were still alive. Good. Her attention came back to Shizuka as he began to talk about his next move and hers. Biting her bottom lip, knowing chakra was very low at this point. She quickly reached into her kunai holder and revealed a handful of shurikens. There was a possibility of her using more chakra for another jutsu, but at this point she was close to dipping into her reserves. As he opened the golems back, she quickly lined the inside with the shuriken, before he laid his explosives. Her idea being the explosion would send them flying within and hopefully it'd acquire more damage. Or not. A futile attempt for the Gen user.

Shizuka then completed his handsigns, and quickly made the vortex on the back. Sealing in their combined efforts. Her hands at her side, as she listened for the explosions, but something was fading. Feeling an aura near her change. Someone's energy was fading very quickly. Her blindfolded face turned its attention to Shizuka as he began to speak, her heart almost stopped as she realized he was falling. He had gone through his chakra reserves and his body now shutting down. Thinking quickly, she grabbed at a scroll in her kunai holder and opened it in the air. Making a quick release handsign, another set of chains and daggers appeared. Learning a long time ago, that keeping a spare of her most skilled weapon was a wise choice.

Quickly grabbing them, she launched the chain forward at Shizuka and lasso'd it around the fainting boys body. As it did, she tightened the chain and sent his almost lifeless body flying towards Kurin and Jaak. "KURIN!" Her voice echoed loudly, "Catch him!" As she had unraveled the chain from around her teammate, she used the momentum from the swing and ran towards the edge of the golem. In this instance she had wrapped the chains around her arms, and made a beautiful front flip forward. Throwing one dagger into the Golem and swinging down gracefully. Not sticking the landing however, her knees buckled under her as she rolled forward. Landing near Jaak and Kurin, she saw Shizuka in Kurins grip and breathed a sigh of relief. Then turned her head as her hearing picked up Jaaks voice calling her name with an idea behind it.

"Shit," bubbled out from behind her lips "Okay, this is the last of what I've got though. Kurin! Its on you to get us out of here alive!" Turning her body to Jaak, she slowly stood up and then slapped his shoulder with some enthusiasm, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "Alright, we got this," Kiku smiled, she was running off pure adrenaline at this point, now dipping into the last of her reserves. Handsigns flew up, and water came out aimed at the exposed palm of their agressor - "Water Release: Water Shuriken". Her release wasn't much, but she was able to hit the palm before her knees hit the floor again and exhaustion swept over the Kunoichi.

_{@Syn@Reflection@Altered Tundra}

Seems like he was right. Those eyes of Nousagi's could see the falter, the drop of the knife, guess he was right. That was pretty satisfying. To be honest, he'd been just a little worried, but beyond all doubt, one must be the reality. But he faltered, blinding for a moment moment by the rush of death that filled his veins. His foot trembling, threatening to trip him right over. Was this fear? Death? His enemy had such killing intent! That small breaking of his focus slowed him, enough for Kaito's defense to work. The tight squeeze of Kaito's hands was actually pretty impressive. It was probably best for him actually, since it allowed him to continue for a moment longer.

The way Kaito spoke, it was fairly impressive. Honestly, the idea of just surrendering seemed almost plausible. After all, he'd already shown that he was the superior by almost taking out Kaito in one blow. That knowledge alone should be a source of pride. Nousagi smiled, a rare thing as far as others where concerned. All that rage, cool calculation faded away from a moment. And then, his left hand tightened. And instead of smiling, Nousagi's face contorted into one of pain. His eyes wide not in surprise or anything else but pain. From the sleeve of his left arm, there came the soft plip of blood. A small trickle of blood splattered softly to the ground, pooling beneath them. Then came the clang of metal. A length of ninja wire fell to the ground, blood coating the metal. It became clear exactly what he had done. Nousagi always used a length of ninja wire hidden in his sleeves as a weapon. A tool to attack from a distance if he needed to. But when he tightened his grip, he had pulled on the length of wire. Forcing it to squeeze, to constrict, and cut through the flesh of his non-dominate arm.

"Plan B, just in case I was wrong." The hyuga whispered softly, twisting his hand. His pointer and his pink held out as his hand curled up. Each of the two fingers pointing to Kaito's arms. He didn't hesitate this time. Suddenly, there was flash of chakra from his two fingers. Meter long spears of chakra lanced from each finger, or to those who knew it, this was Nousagi's Gentle Spear. The problem here was that it wasn't gentle. Because it was just like a spear, each more than enough to slice into Kaito's arms. It was far from lethal, and he didn't go any further than the bone. But the way he did it made it clear. He could go further if he wanted. And as his middle finger unfurled, aimed at Kaito's heart, it was clear that his threat could be lethal. "Surrender. I have you beat. If I wanted, right now I could do something terrible. Consider this your chance to forfeit, like how you offered me that same chance."



Had to admit, being called a pet was at least a little flustering. Like seriously? What else was she going to do? Start threatening to put bows into Bumu's hair? He completely expected having to turn down this offer though, since she still planned to be a shinobi at the end of the week. That and Bumu kinda liked his name... Since it kinda made him feel like an explosion, ready to go off and take the world with him. "I am what I am! And I chose what I am, got that?" Bumu said, a grin from ear to ear. Yeah he'd screwed up plenty, but they where still alive! Just goes to show this was another te-

Bumu's attention snapped back to the army of dead that lay floating in their own blood. The scent still nauseating. but at least he won, right? Wrong. And the deafening scream that reverberated though the water made that clear. Bumu's own sensitive senses betrayed her as the sound wailed into his ears. Brain pounding like a drum, vision fading in and out, blood dripping from Bumu's mouth as it felt like his own body would explode. In fact, when it finished, it was still pounding in his head, as if another would burst her ear drums. Guess this made it clear living underwater wasn't for him. By the time Bumu's senses returned, she looked up just in time to see the king of the deep. He was kinda hoping no such thing existed, but apparently that wasn't true. The scenario was slipping even faster out of control. Was diplomacy still an option? Maybe they could barter? Really really doubting that would work. Especially sin-

Wait... Bumu's eyes drifted to the body began torn apart between the sea king's teeth. His heart skipped a beat, and the fox felt nothing but fear. Why was Chojirō here!? Last time Bumu saw that fatty it was just before they took the water challenge. Bumu hadn't spared a single thought on it, just passing of the Akimichi's absence as hitting some limit, or maybe he backed out at the last minute. But now? It was clear for the first time that this test wasn't like the others. In those you would walk away with a bruised ego. Here? Right now? It was clear failure was death. And that shook Bumu to the core.

Reaching out, Bumu grabbed the closest operating air tank, taking a deep breath as he held on. Clearly she was against drowning, as that would put all the current hard work to nothing. His hands pressed together, and there was a loud puff of smoke. Instead of just one Bumu, there was now three. Heck, there was three Kabas and three Komas too! They where clones, thankfully made of explosive tags so they wouldn't have to worry about drowning. But... If the sea monsters attacked, the clones where more than capable of flying about the water, since they didn't have to worry about the whole swimming thing. And if they needed a ride, the clones where kinda like rockets, so that could be a quick escape.



This was working pretty well, at the start anyway. But as things continued to happen it became rapidly clear that things where coming down to the wire. Between the whole team, it seemed the fight was getting more and more exhausting, with only Kurin himself anywhere near full strength. And yet... He felt terrified. His heart racing like a drum. Not because he hadn't had to deal with this stress before, but for something very different. The Golem smashed the ceiling, melting the roots he'd grown there at the very start. And the room was rapidly heating up. Heat, his natural enemy. But that didn't scare him. No... What scared Kurin right now was the knowledge that it really was all up to him. As a leader he'd worked with teams that had struggled, but often times a screw up didn't mean death. Here? Right now? That knowledge was pumping through his head. But this is what a leader did. They had to be the one to make the world right. To protect his squad! When the chips where down this is his moment. He'd allow them to sacrifice for him so he could sacrifice for them!

"KURIN! Catch him!" Snap back to reality, oops there goes gravity. Kurin's arm reached out like a whip, easily snatching the fading Shizuka right out of the air. Pulling him right back, the wood shinobi turned to Jaakuna, holding out the defeated wind ninja. "Keep the Wind Seeker safe." Kurin ordered, turning away from his team. This had gone on to far. The heat that boiled through the room, the way everything seemed to shake... This moment... Kurin had decide this moment would go on no further! He reached into his bag, pulling out a stack of explosive tags. The red paper fluttered in the air, but it wouldn't remain that way for long. No, right now, more so than ever, Kurin had to use every ounce of his power! Hands pressed together, and the ground began to move. The metals, the earth, it all reacted to his desire. Mixing together, growing up and engulfing the fluttering tags. Layering them under the stone, it was time to be extraordinary. His chakra flared, risking to knock Kurin out. But he couldn't. He couldn't risk such a thing! HE COULDN'T LET THE SACRIFICES OF OTHERS BE IN VEIN!

Because that's just who he was. By the time he had finished, there was a golem of stone before them. A monster, a beast with all the force of a Senju behind it. If one could move spirits, moving the earth seemed like a great enough cause. For a moment the team could marvel the creature. Roughly 10 meters tall, not nearly as big as their enemy, but fine enough for what they needed. The golem wasn't alive for more than a second before it was moving. Barreling like a freight train into the lava. The phonzite material had been gathered near the legs, to keep the whole structure from collapsing right off the bat. The size alone would push it through, aiming to tackle the much greater threat in the room. As it got close, Kurin formed another handseal, considering this the ultimate in what he'd be able to get away with now. His golem raised a hand, and thick tree roots began to wrap out, Making the hand larger, aiming more than anything to grab for that lost core on its palm. No matter how the beast would try to pull away, those wrapping roots would be more then enough to grab hold. But Kurin wasn't done. No, he was their leader! He was the best of them all! He had to be! With three souls on his back, he couldn't stop!

Because entwined with those thick roots, was every single paper tag Kurin had. At least a stack of thirty had been used, possibly mixed in with any his allies had offered up. The pressure of his grip on the core, the size of his golem, the tightening plant roots, the bombs? This was it. ALL OR NOTHING!

Kurin stood there, his eyes focused on the golem. His team had done their part. Their part and more. Without Shizuka or Kiku they'd have nothing. All he wanted right now, wasn't to pass the exam. That seemed trivial right now. More than anything, he wanted to live up to the expectations of those who gave their all. He'd never be able to look himself in the mirror if he couldn't do the same.

Things had been going better than Kyoka had originally hypothesized with the piggyback duo, managing to get halfway before the sudden loud interruption of Yuki's assault had awaken the silent guardians to action. Swift and efficient, they were threaten to be blown away with a gale force, only recovering due to the expected swift and efficient response of Kyoka's cousin. In fact, Kyoka had hardly felt a thing other than Rumia's tightly clasped hand around her wrist. Poor Yuki had received a rather harsh punishment for her noise as evidence by the cute coughing Kyoka heard. Though in truth, the fault was Kyoka's, she should have also specified that the other two approach the scroll with a non-aggressive approach. Sometimes she overestimated the brilliance of her colleagues.

Although grateful for the care shown, Kyoka didn't voice her gratitude as she was already anticipating Rumia's violent backlash towards the temporal clones that had sent them away. Obviously, this would be an error made on Rumia's part as the previous events had just confirmed Kyoka's hypothesis of non-aggression would have won them the day.

Admirably, the only male on their team had realized the problem that a wrathful Rumia could be and likely retreated, to attempt to soothe the raging beast that was her cousin. A shame, really, as Kyoka would have loved to see if Tashiro could sway her stubborn cousin, and even though she doubted it, she would have liked to see his attempts. But this was an exam and Kyoka did not like to do poorly on exams.

"Oh best lay off, Tashy! Let dis here pro handle her cuz!" Kyoka said dismissively as she approached her seething cousin from behind. There was no aggressive move made this time and instead, Kyoka only gently clasped both her hands around Rumia's right hand while Kyoka affectionately leaned her head on Rumia's bicep, her cousin being fairly taller than herself. "Cuz, you ain't gonna do what you want to do. We gonna pass da moment Yuki dear, touches that scroll. And den you win! Dat der is how ya beat dez fuckas!" Kyoka gently squeezed Rumia's hand trying to comfort the raging animal from lashing out. But Kyoka wasn't just holding her cousin to comfort her, if the logic deflected off of Rumia's brain, then Kyoka was prepared to hold her cousin back if it came to that.

When the hokage clones had returned to their position, there was time for the team of shinobi to discuss - which was exactly what happened. But it would not take long before the ice kunoichi marched out again - this time without spreading her tags everywhere. The clones did not react, except for when one of the two Iwagakure shinobi almost attacked. Their bodies would tense up and prepare to deflect and defend, but when the other shinobi calmed her, the clones once again returned to their standard posture. Hime was allowed to walk right past, and grab the scroll if she'd wanted to.

Once they'd retrieved the scroll, the clones would disappear again, and manifest in the strange black and white chakra, and began circling each other again to form the yin-yang symbol. Bright lights would light the room, but only shortly, as the lights flashed very brightly, nearly blinding the shinobi in the room. When they had recovered from the bright flash, they'd find themselves on the edges of the Forest of Death.

“Congratulations. You have obtained the scroll - but be aware, this was only the initial part of the test. This test was meant to separate the synergized teams from the non-synergized. The tests were meant to be completed by people of all skill levels if they worked together and understood the challenges. See this not as a measure of strength but a measure of leadership. Good luck in your test. Proctor Yamanaka out.”

Well, with the reveal of his surname, at least the finer details of the test were clear now - what, you didn't expect it to be a spirit or ghost that was throwing their voice, did you?

---

Three shuriken pierced through the wind as it traveled in direction of a tall, blonde shinobi - his bright blue eyes easily following their movement. With his kunai, he deflected them and smirked with confidence.

"Is that all you can do, Yuu-kun? I thought you were taking the jounin exams - not the genin test!" Quickly producing four shuriken of his own, the man effortlessly tossed them forward in a smaller boy who seemed quite similar him in appearance, except his eyes were vividly green instead of the ocean blue. This younger boy leaped back, dodging the shuriken - while moving his hands and fingers as if manipulating something. His determined eyes had a fire in them.

"Now dodge this!" The boy shouted, his voice oozing with a newfound confidence and excitement for the sparring battle. The man twisted back slightly, eyes widening in surprise. So the initial attack was a distraction, he was planning to strike me from behind all this time? Yuu had attached wire strings to a number of shurikens which he tossed in other directions before - now, he was manipulating them towards the man's back, six shurikens coming at him at high speed. As fast as the man could possibly be, dodging that would be impossible.

They all struck him at once.

Yuu blinked in surprise - but not because of his attack. The man disappeared in a puff of smoke, a tree chunk appearing in place with all the six shurikens lodged into it. Kawamiri no Jutsu?! Yuu thought, just as the man surged from above him, bringing his tanto ready to strike the boy from above and that he did, cutting through the boy as if he was a piece of paper - except, similarly to the man, Yuu disappeared in a poof of smoke and what the man would soon realize is that his sword as stuck in a tree's chunk. He was caught in the same jutsu he used before.

His attention shifted to his left. Shuriken came flying in his direction - as he raised his kunai to dodge, his eyes narrowly caught the sight of more shuriken coming from his right. He's attacking me from both sides at once, how?! Without much time to think of how, the man simply formed three quick handseals before fully extending his arms and opening his hands, palms pointed at the projectiles traveling in his direction. Futon! Kaze-mon! From his hands, powerful gusts of wind were released, forming a small tornado at each side which quickly caught the projectiles within it. The tornado traveled up into the sky and then descended with powerful force against the ground - in the trees around the man. He was hoping to catch Yuu with either of them or at least break whatever secret he held which made it possible to attack twice in the same second.

Meanwhile, Yuu was indeed hiding amongst the trees, but not where the man assumed him to be. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving with each breath - while the man hadn't broken a sweat yet. Two kage bunshin really take its toll on my chakra. I should be more careful when using them. Thoughts which would be useful in a future battle, since for now, the mistake was already done. Yuu was trying to think of a clever tactic or strategy to assault his opponent, but the man was leagues beyond him. He felt the cold steel of a kunai against his neck and the whisper of his opponent in his ear. "You spent too much time thinking, Yuu-kun. In the midst of a battle, you should think while you act, otherwise, your foes will act before you and get the advantage."

Yuu replied coldly, with a rather devious smirk. "Unless you allow them to act before on purpose, right, otõsan?" As the man's eyes widened in surprise, Yuu disappeared in the blink of an eye, only to reappear right above the man, who was smiling in content. Yuu attempted to send a powerful kick against the man's chin - yet, before the attack connected, the man disappeared in the same fashion as Yuu. In an instant, he grabbed the boy's shirt and tossed him in the middle of the training grounds. As Yuu landed with a thud, a kunai stabbed the grass right next to his head, an inch away.

With his blindingly fast speed, the man appeared next to Yuu. He spoke in a harsh tone; "Getting better, Yuu-kun. Had I not been the one to teach you the Tengoku no Fuin, I would be done for. You overdo yourself, however - learn to control your abilities and use them when they truly should be used, otherwise you will run out of chakra and your opponent will easily find an opening."

Yuu wasn't content with just getting better, though. He was a chuunin - and his father a jounin. He should've been able to at least get a hit on his father, but the man had nothing other than marks on his clothing. He took the man's firm hand and helped himself to his feet. The training was over for today - tomorrow would be a true test of his skills.

---

Yuu seemed calm. His expression was... expressionless: A straight, complete poker face. Eyes blankly stared forward, at the figure sitting in front of him - Senbi Jundo, his father. The man had a stern expression and was in fact stern, living true to his name. The much wiser and experienced shinobi inhaled deeply, taking a few seconds to exhale a long sigh. His eyes fell onto his son and he seemed to hesitate - only briefly. The man's lips soon parted and he began to speak.

"Yuu. You seem rather calm." Senbi stated in a matter-of-factly manner. Yuu's vivid eyes simply raised from the table to the man, he nodded. Senbi carried on; "While we shinobi are known for being emotionless, I would understand a little anxiet-" Yuu was swift to intercept the man, shrugging. "I'm confident in my abilities, otõsan. You've trained me since I was a little baby. I've been granted the benefits of being the son of the Jundo's clan headmaster and I'm the youngest Jundo to have mastered our techniques. All I'm hoping for is a bit of a challenge." That seemed to make Senbi content. Finally, two members of the third branch walked onto the kitchen and served the two shinobi with a variety of food.

At the exam, Yuu was one of the latest to arrive. He had apparently lost track of time. At least, he was present right before the Hokage mentioned the choice of skipping the tests and fighting in order to pass to the next phase - thankfully. Yuu naturally enlisted to fight right away, no point wasting his time with the tests if he could simply kick another chuunin's butt and proceed to the next part of the jounin test. And - as Gisho also said, if you're not first, you're last. Yuu was apparently the last shinobi to appear at the fighting grounds.

And now, he waits. Hopefully a challenge will appear soon.

Kaba impatiently awaited a positive response from his teammates, but it would never come. The grin that painted his face before, had suddenly formed into a look of worry. Kaba's skin began to crawl as he had clearly triggered something that he shouldn't have. He would quickly feel a grainy feeling in the hand where he once held what he thought was the scroll they needed. He rapidly recognized that he held a fake. Why would they keep a fake scroll in their shrine? Where would the real one be?

As Kaba began questioning what was occurring he would unexpectedly begin to gasp. He grabbed at his neck, feeling his gills disappearing and studied his hands as the webbing began to also retract. Just a moment ago the feeling of success had embodied him, and now everything was falling apart. Kaba almost began to panic until he noticed the oxygen tanks that had just appeared for them. Oddly lucky, but he wouldn't wonder further. He wasted no time putting the reserve oxygen to use. He wasn't sure if the tank was full or not, but fortunately he was able to use one of his clan's signature techniques to store the oxygen for extended periods of time. If he somehow lost the tank, he'd still be able to breath a bit longer than humanly possible.

Unfortunately, the group would still be at a movement disadvantage. Kaba continued to study what he had seemingly cased. The sand beneath began to shift and creatures horrifying enough to make someone freeze emerged. There were too many too count. Their saviors from before had also appeared, transformed into something terrible. On top of the new threat, the queen herself seemed to make an unexpected change. Rage clearly fueled her new look and she was now out for blood.

Just when Kaba began to accept the fact that the group would probably be doomed, another terror appeared. A King. The power that suddenly filled the area was enough to cause Kaba to tremble. Why was this happening to them? They were supposed to have advanced by now. Worst of all Kaba began to think that he would need to shoulder the blame. 'Move' Kaba tried to convince his body to obey his mind but it was to no avail.

That was until he saw it. His eyes expanded as he begrudgingly recognized the body that the King had seemingly ravaged. It was their would be fourth member, Akimichi. The sight caused a sense of urgency to flood the young shinobi's body, powering his will. If any of his other team members were to become victims, he would have their blood on his hands. 'MOVE!' Without delay, Kaba would begin to make his mark. He noticed another scroll with the King, but knew rushing in would be near impossible. They needed to deal with the horde of foes that suddenly filled the area. He noticed that the Queen and King had focused much of their attention towards Bumu, who had already taken the time to create a group of clones, which would be a perfect distraction for Kaba later.

Kaba was no expert at swimming, but started to make his way towards the queen with a look of determination and conviction in his eye. He recognized Koma's assault upon the kind, hating that he could no longer communicate with his comrades through normal means. Any of the creatures who attempted to impede his path would most likely have been fried to the bone by a Kaba's quick barriers. As he closed in on the queen, Kaba formed a few hand seals as a small cube of chakra formed in his right hand. He wasted little time in launching the projectile directly at the queen, ready to activate it once in range. Normally, a projectile being thrown under water would find a hard time making it to it's target, but luckily Kaba could remotely control it using his own chakra. It would weave around any creatures that attempted to intercept it to save their queen, and it would chase her to it's max range if she were to attempt to avoid it. Kaba was counting on her not even noticing his attack.

---

Stuff happened. Shizuka went an hero on them. Kiku almost did a 'Yamete', but would set aside her inner Sakura to actually be useful. Jaakuna remains gay. And Kurin did a tryhard. But what about the golem? The TRUE Protagonist here?! And his awesome lava wave directed at all those outside of the recently created lava pit? This was going to hurt, a lot. But surely they'd pull through. That would depend on how the universe felt today.

To start off, Shizuka's initiative regarding paper bombs and enhancing them with his glorified Wind Release. He'd approach it with a slash to the protective layer of metal and stone over the main, core battery of the golem. His massively weakened state and environmental hazards would render the attack far less efficient than he could predict. It'd only be thanks to his Oxygen release's remaining strength that his paper bombs could even hope to push through along with Kiku's assistance. Would the battery actually be destroyed however?

Hell no.

That thing was at least three times the size of the ones allocated to the palms. Despair could only reign on the visage of those who'd realize this, even if a giant lava wave was befalling those who fled the intoxicating heat of the lava pit. Nonetheless, it'd seem to be damaged, fuming with black smoke like a malfunctioning engine. It would not stop the mighty, yet incomplete, Dajian. The intact arm remained charged, ready to deliver a devastating blast. But first ...

The lava wave. What would be done about it? It was hurled from its damaged, flaming arm, and as such, far bigger than the teenie tiny ones in tropical islands. Oh yes, the wave was big, and covered the area. Admittedly perhaps a big fragmented and its size would not carry the weight it'd be suspected of having, but the group was all so focused on the Dajian's imminent demise and next moves that they would clumsily react to the large scale blast.

Shizuka would be the least affected, as even if his trajectory to reach the Golem's back would converge with the wave's wake, he'd be hit with a few minor globs on his back. Second degree burns thanks to his attire. His initiative saved him there. Kiku would be luckier too, as she mostly stuck with Shizuka during the wave's rampage, but would later regain Jaakuna, and she herself would expose her being to the last seconds of the lava's wrath upon them. Moreso on the level of her legs where many large splashes from the impact would have lava fragments char her skin and even muscles. She could stand, but the pain would be real.

Jaakuna and Kurin, however, were going to be prime targets for this. Jaakuna was already damaged from the previous explosion, and directed himself away from the Golem's way. Even if he noticed the wave, it seemed the arm had his attention, as he'd ask for Kiku's assistance to counteract it. This would leave him vulnerable for a good lava bath. Of course, he could avoid the worst with his lightning attack being fired immediately to repel the bulk of lava over him, and perhaps damage the charging fist. Though, the blonde would be inflicted with severe burns on his hands and forearms as a result of such proximity to the lava. But he was alive and standing.

Kurin wasn't too lucky with this match-up, and would find himself summoning a golem and saving Shizuka in the time-frame that he should have been defending himself. His Mokuton would certainly be of little use here, but the golem could help. If he were to use it to sponge most of the lava, he'd be spared quite the awful bodily damage. However, in turn, it would be severely weakened and deliver very little in actually restraining/damaging the arm, with most of the Mokuton and paper bomb incinerated by the sponged lava wave. Kurin wouldn't be spared damage in this scenario regardless. Flaming projectiles from his golem's body would still impact his vulnerable being, and delivery quite the hefty, third degree burns, in various areas. But nothing a Senju couldn't resist with their renown vitality.

Once on the ground, the lava was quick to cool and harden, as it had been separated from its main source of power. The floor was not lava.

What would come of the golem, however? The battery on its back remained, albeit damaged. And while Kiku's and Jaakuna's attacks were 'successful', they were also weakened. Factoring in Kurin's golem, burning by lava or not, he'd find that it would be strangely inefficient against the arm. Why? It was Raiton. The blue energy was far lighter than that of the magnetizing beam, and blots of lightning could be detecting surging out once damaged. They were going to have to brace for impact, because the arm withstood most of everything.

Until flames would suddenly surge out of the golem's eyes and mouth, and eventually from the fissures of its body. Something was most certainly wrong, as it'd freeze during this odd instance. It needed an immense amount of power from the batteries in order to charge this attack, and it'd be siphoned by the golem's interference and accumulated damage to its body. With the main battery compromised, the incomplete body of the Dajian could not handle the overload, and would eventually short-circuit. The blue energy coating the arm would spread through the body, while flames continuously blew out of its orifices.

Okay, now they had to brace for impact. From orange to a bright white, energy was overflowing out of the cracks of the now malfunctioning, but static, golem. Almost as if it screamed it pain, a loud shriek from its 'mouth' echoed through the room, before its body would concede to the fatal malfunction. And then boom. The body, arms and legs, would explode in a blast of energy, with raiton discharged all over the room. Debris was annihilated before it could be dangerous to the squad, but the shockwave would propel them all against a wall, no exceptions. The lava pit would also be decommissioned with this mighty blast. Each member of Team Daddy DP would have been at least shocked once by the massive raiton bolts released in the area.

There only remained the head, floating with hints of damage all over it. Its figure cracked and fissured more and more, until it would deconstruct itself, before exploding into millions of fragments of both metal and rock, and reforming in a singular object. The Earth scroll would be formed from the remains of the golem, and elegantly float its way down to the center of the now ruined containment room where they had slain the Dajian. Once they'd touch it, they would be warped to the forest of death.

But before they'd leave, the utter destruction brought forth by the beast and the aspiring team of Shinobi would reveal one final trace left by the civilization that had built the mighty behemoth. A piece of rock that had fallen among the many debris would reveal the following.



-Shizuka: Over-exertion and minor damage from lava globs. Insignificant to long-term performances.
New Ability:
Name: Pressure Sponge
Rank: C
Range: Personal
Nature: Wind
Type: Ninjutsu - Supplementary - Defensive
Effect: Enhanced by the durable nature of the Dajian, exposure to its chakra leaves Shizuka capable of casting a form of transparent bubble surrounding his being. With this defensive, ethereal shell, he is capable of weakening the momentum his body is submitted to from strong, kinetic attacks. For example, explosions would not have as strong of a push-back on his as it would with others, enabling faster recovering as if he were 'floating'. It is a continuous jutsu, and will eat away at chakra.
Weakness: N/A

-Kiku: Lava damage to legs will slow her performances by 5% to 10% depending on the pace of the fight. This will affect her ability to react to surprise and speedy attacks if dodging would involve her legs. Closing distance will be slightly hard to perform, as well as jumps will be painful.
New Ability:
Name: FanShuo's Call
Rank: B
Range: 7 KM's
Nature: Lightning Release
Type: Ninjutsu - Supplementary
Effect: Basically an electromagnetic radar. Kiku can detect with precision various elements surrounding her, no matter how small or big. Similar to a sonar, she could discern shapes. It easy easily cast and cancelled with a single hand sign, and works as a large electromagnetic field. It does not expand for more than 500 meters in radius, but does send electromagnetic waves to extend her view. Of course, the more distant things are, the hard they are to precisely distinguish.
Weakness: This will cause small metallic objects to be attracted to her (she can very easily detect them all however).

-Jaakuna: Damage from Shrapnel will lower his vitality, ability to take hits, by around 10% in the long-term. Since he's already a glass-canon, this shouldn't be too significant. However, he'd also receive massive burns on his arms. Usage of hand seals is slowed, with nerves being dead and all, which would favor the use of his Hiden. But hand seal duration will be 50% longer.
New Ability:
Name: Realization of Fire: Heavenly Judgement
Rank: B
Range: Varies
Nature: Lightning
Type: Ninjutsu
Effect: Keeping up with ripping off from Firebenders, the Dajian has blessed Jaakuna with an innate ability to manipulate the flow of Raiton in his body. To put it simply, he can use lightning the same way they do in Avatar, with the right body movements he'd need for his Hiden. Heavenly Judgement is a simple but deadly bolt of Lightning, easily compared to Raiton: Gian. Yes it is very fast.
Weakness: Usual lightning weaknesses. The guy literally dances around with a bolt of lightning at the tip of his fingers, and linear trajectory.

-Kurin: At the end of the fight, his body is afflicted with a multitude of burns, some more threatening than others. As a Senju, a cut to his vitality is far more significant, with 10% of it even hurting his ability to fully use Mokuton. He will not last as long as he normally would in a fight, even if marginal.
New Ability:
Name: Mokuton: Grudge Bark
Rank: C
Range: All
Nature: Mokuton
Type: Ninjutsu - Offensive - Defensive
Effect: With a hand seal, one is capable of calling upon the Dajian's ability to assimilate and mould earth to strength the plant life conjured from the Mokuton. The wood will adopted a darker brown. It gains a stronger resilience to flames and prevents it from rapidly spreading. Mokuton given this extra level of chakra will be able to resist extreme heat and even have an easier time pushing through metal surfaces.
Weakness: Costs more chakra, and will even matter to a Senju if application of this jutsu become a general thing. Raiton also becomes more deadly as a result, with the earth affinity becoming pre-dominant.

Shizuka Ichimi

---

The sweet embrace of slumber enveloped its arms around the young wind seeker as his body fell nimbly through the sky as if he were a meteor upon entry of the planet’s atmosphere. That was of course until Kiku had sensed the young boys fall from grace. Her quick wit and chains helped secure the boy and whisk him to safety in the arms of the wooden boy. However, as much as she saved him the girl also risked her own safety by ignoring the lava plumes that jumped up and snapped at her legs like a rabid dog, on her way down back to the earth. Shizuka was unaware of what was happening since he had exhausted the remains of his chakra and now was rather unconscious.

His mind faded after he fell from the golem, it drifted like a cool breeze, which was suddenly captivated by the smell of lavender. And at first his mind snapped into frame with the image of the blind girl when they first met, when he approached her quite wildly and she almost fell down before holding onto him, that was a good one. But, it brought him back to his home life in Sunagakure as a young lad running through the flower fields of lavender his mother had planted. Life was much easier back then, he had both of his parents and no responsibilities yet, nor did he learn to control wind and the way of the sword. He wondered what it would be like if he had just gone back there and stayed with them, if he had lived his life out there.

His vision of the past quickly slipped away as he found himself spiraling down in what seemed like a black vortex of nothingness. That was self defeat rearing its ugly head, an emotion that Shizuka never really understood or experienced, yet this new experience of grandeur had cultivated a plethora of emotions he hadn’t felt in 17 years of life. Images of his teammates flickered like a light, images of Kurin the stick boy, jaakuna the thunder god, and again the soft serenity that the lavender haired girl brought him. ”No I have to wake up, I have to protect my friends!” Friends? A concept and word so foreign yet the boy was so succinct in his manner. His clenched fist, his eyes fighting open, the light peering into his line of sight once more. A gasp of air bellowed through the chamber as he shot up from his sleep his chakra and his abilities returning to him at once along with a new power yet undiscovered, but how?

Shizuka turned around to survey the room, he was no longer atop the golem. Matter of factly it seemed like the upheaval left the golem destroyed and scattered on the floor, they did it they really did it! At what cost was the price of victory though? His wide eyed grin and exasperated arm jabs quickly fell limp when the searing sensation afflicted his body. Lifting his fish net his gaze was met with a few amount of burns that ranged from blisters to some burnt skin, second degree burns most likely that would heal in a few weeks. Shizuka was the lucky one it seemed; almost like a scene from a war movie his cascading vision was met with the pain of his allies. Shrapnel was lodged into the thunder god’s body with burns that engulfed his arms, much more severe than the insignificant burns Shizuka was branded with. Kurin with extensive burns, some even life threating. The pain and horror was as if a frog had jumped and lodged itself into the throat of the young boy, speechless.

That was until he made his way over to Kiku, his eyes began to water, a light trickle began to precipitate around the lids of his eyes. Her beautiful slender legs had been claimed by globs of lava that festered and ate away at her skin and muscle, leaving her worse for wear. The premature celebration was short lived, the love he had nurtured for his team was all for naught, he failed them, he wasn’t enough. Sadness was mixed with anger and anguish as he fell to his knees, the small tears erupted into streams down his eyes, a single tear drop falling ever so slowly while the world remained motionless. The light perfectly refracting through the reflective surfaces to give it a crystalline glimmer as it hit the ground, turning into nothing more than a dark splotch. His clenched fist struck the earth crushing it, but leaving his hands battered and bruised. “I’m sorry” a low murmur could be heard, maybe only Kiku would be able to hear him. “I’m sorry” this time a bit louder, “I’M SORRY! I couldn’t do more, I wasn’t able to protect all of you. I don’t deserve to be a leader, but I’ll make this up to you. I’ll be better, be able to protect you all, this won’t happen again.” Standing to his feet the water all but dried up.

The light from the outside hitting the boys sacred ruby eyes that seemed to almost dance in movement when no other eyes could. The glistening and elegance was never seen before and yet they glowed as if his cadence and creed had activated them. Back to full power Shizuka snapped his fingers creating two wind vortex’s that lifted the two boys and carried them towards the scroll. As for the girl he personally made his way over and lifted the girl up into his arms once more. “I’m sorry Kiku, I never meant for you to get hurt. I’ll make sure your legs heal no matter what. I’ll find someone to fix them, just stay with me.” Shizuka with a half feint smile, masquerading his shortcomings with his positive aura. He took the team to the scroll where he gently touched it before they were spat out into the forest of death. It seemed medical ninja had already been summoned due to the severity of their exam. Shizuka ordered the ninja to take care of his comrades first, whereas he would simply wait and keep Kiku Company.
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The image of their dearest departed friend seemed to have shaken the very core and foundation of the water trial ninja. The fat boy did serve to be quite the delicious appetizer for the king, but there was a little too much fat for him, he was trying to remain lean and make gains. It seemed the ninja were quite precocious and wet behind the ears to think they could challenge the underwater king in his domain. He was the yellow flash of the water compared to the sinking anchors that they presented themselves to be. Koma seemed to be by far the favorite of the group in skill and leadership, her level headed thinking and bolstering abilities seemed to manifest perfectly and work hand in hand with one another. The kunoichi acted quickly without second thought. A large sphere of lighting erupted from the small girl’s bow which swiftly clawed through the seas heading towards the Deep Sea King with no remorse, just as he had eaten their fat ally.

Without so much as flinching the Deep Sea King seemed to transform in a blink of an eye, the image couldn’t be fully captured since the distance was rather great between them. The king devoured the ball of lightning it quickly exploding in his stomach. A wall of undead appeared in front of the king as well taking the brunt of her flurry of arrows. Was the king dead? He laid lifeless upon swallowing what seemed to be her ace in the hole. The wall of undead parted open with an army of sirens flooding through the gates heading straight for the group of ninja. They would quickly tear through the clones until they reached their real prize.

Kaba seemed to be the next piece of the puzzle, rather intuitively he aimed for quite a different target than the rest, the queen. It seems as though he had already put the queen in check, all that was left was checkmate and they would be closer to victory. The queen hissed as she sent her two eels scurrying along to fry the boy if they could bite onto his arms or any open skin if they could. She herself tapped her throne as a massive clam swallowed her up, protecting her from the small barrier the boy had created. The undead army groaned as they formed human ladders that led to the boy, there attempts at grabbing his legs and pulling him under the sea of the dead would be decided on the boys reaction. Spears and arrows were also being launched at the boy.

As Koma and Bumu were busy with the slingshot of sirens coming for them they would ready their defense and attack. That was until they stopped dead in their tracks and dispersed to the side of the ninja. What could make the sirens part like that in such fear? Unbeknownst to the team the Deep sea king in all his glory had silently appeared behind the two ninja. The hair would raise on edge as they could suddenly feel his presence with his killing intent pouring out of him, but there was something different about him, he had changed.

Neverending Nightmare

“Did you really think I would die to one of your puny techniques human? I’ve been conditioned to withstand electricity. I train by being electrocuted by dozens of the Queens eels every day, the water is my steroid just as much as it is my domain. Now you will fear the deep blue sea.” The Deep Sea King’s jaw wrapped around the breathing tank of Bumu rupturing it in his mouth as he attempted to shake the fox with it. His other hand however went for a vicious punch aiming to obliterate the young girl.

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


Senna felt a slight flicker in the sudden demeanor change in Koibito, it was a strange sensation that was suppressed rather quickly. She knew this feeling, it was the same feelings she had towards Kyo, so for another to feel the same about her was quite awkward as she was already in a love triangle with her other teammate. Senna would keep the secret between her and Koibito, but give it attention no more as their focus would be solely the mission. Yet the boys comment and compliment made her blush quite well, she was always receptive of praise even if it was small.

“Thank you Koibito, I didn’t know all Uchiha were as kind as you are.” Senna kind of stumbled backwards a bit personally. She didn’t know whether Date’s comment was a jab or a compliment, either way it wouldn’t sit well with Kyo and she turned to face him and see where he stood, knowing full well his expression would be blank and lifeless. Kyo scoffed at the other two ninja remarks, it was quite weird being with other Uchiha that were just as abrasive as he was, he just concealed his more expertly. Kyo nodded to Date and began to sprint towards the tree line.

Breaking past the tree line Kyo’s sharingan was on full display as it picked apart the surroundings like a seasoned detective. More and more clues seemed to be slapping him in the face as if the challenge was insulting his intelligence. Was this really a test to see if he was a seasoned enough ninja to graduate or was all of this just a game? Regardless of what its purpose was Kyo continued on with his search for the scroll. The footprints seemed to fork in two, one pair of prints were easily visible and led in an easily traveled route of someone in a rush. The other set was feint and someone had been fastidious enough to cover their tracks and lead their pursuer to a dead end.

Kyo stopped and waited for his allies to catch up, glancing them over he opened his mouth, “What do you think of the tracks. I believe the ones that disappear are our safest bet to the person who created the tornado. I don’t think the test would be so obvious to trick us into thinking the other set is the correct one. In any case we can split up and check both routes, but I don’t know if we’ll receive penalty for choosing to send two teams. Let us behind here and now which route we choose, we can’t have a team divided.” Time was rather short and Kyo wanted to finish the exam as soon as possible, he could tell they were lagging behind.

-

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Hikaru couldn't help but feel cheated when the figure he faintly saw before finally revealed itself, in all of its sparkly glory, proving that his assumption was indeed correct: The beast was made of lightning. While he'd most certainly deny that if asked later, his immediate reaction was silently cursing Ai for her poor choice of scroll and then not so silently cursing his own luck for pushing him into such a stupid predicament. "Guess this shitty test just became extremely troublesome" He muttered, unconsciously forming a self-mocking smile in his face as he tightned his grip over the handle of his umbrella - the only thing he could possibly use to fend the weird beast.

Turns out that, in the end, such an cautious reaction wasn't needed, for Ayame's barrier managed to hold back the beast, giving then time to plan what they should do next - what Ai did through some weird religious talk. "I don't know what in hell are you talking about, but I probably manage to hit all the drums one last time with the tags I have here. Not sure about a third try though." He uncerimouniously answered the girl's question, demonstrating the now greatly reduced amount of explosive tags he carried - after all, those things occupied a considerable space, and he hardly carried enough for large scale operations, for he wasn't exactly fond of having an excessive amount of highly explosive materials with himself due to obvious reasons.

Ultimately, he decided to simply do what Ai suggested, setting his explosive tags in a way that hopefully would work to drum every drum in their surroundings even without setting one for every drum - quite the tedious work, since he had to calculate the range of te explosion to make it work without wasting his already scarce reserve of explosive tags. In the end, he somehow managed to do the job without having to borrow some extra tags from any of his teammates. "The manual work is done~ Warn me when you're done with the planning part." He returned to the interior of the barrier as aoon as he conveyed the completion of his job to his teammates, sitting down and waiting for them to end their part of the work. As soon as they finished the preparations, he would trigger his tags and hopefully manage to force the once more force the beast to get out of the statue.

---

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Even when he expected such a result, Kamui couldn't help but frown as his clone eas devoured by the weird flames - that seemingly used the chakra contained in it to grow stronger. Wasting chakra like this was, after all, a bother - even if it somehow helped them with identifying the effects of the silver flames. "Guess It's time for plan B..." He muttered, turning back to face Sakana as he thought of what to do next.Ultimately, the act of trying to consult the other shinobi failed miserably, for Sakana was already walking towards the flame while saying something about fate before he could even say a single word - an act that clearly surprised Kamui, who didn't expect to see such a bold move that early in the test. He didn't linger around thinking about how surprising it was for long though, as even if Sakana decided to go by himself his role in the team wouldn't change - Checking the actual effect of the flame in a human being was a need, after all.

"Open." The Uzumaki finally muttered something after making his mind, using the single word as a mantra to concentrate in the task that was almost natural for him by now: opening his mind's eye. The result was rather instantaneous, as he immediately gained a complete awareness of all the chakra in the room in detail - a signal of how truly absurd his technique was. No need to say that he could immediately tell quite a few things that he couldn't before, namely: The fact that the proctor was seemingly considerably stronger than your everyday Jonin, how utterly absurd the challenge room was, with even his sensory abilities being unable to detect what happened outside of it, and most importantly: How the weird flames were capable of directly devouring Sakana's chakra.

Before he could convey any of this, though, Sakana demonstrated how utterly absuder he truly was as the youngest person to join the exam, expelling part of his own chakra out to expulse the flame from his body like he'd dispel a genjutsu - a technique that even Kamui, a genius on his own right, didn't think about. The result of such an unexpected reaction was rather pleasant for the group, since Sakana actually managed to touch the scroll, completing the challenge and earning the rage (and threats) of the test's proctor, that openly insulted the whole team and even said that he'd kill Sakana if he tried that again - a seemingly real threat, as far as Kamui could tell - before he finally vanished, opening the door to the outside for the team - possibly representing their success in becominf jonins, though Kamui highly doubted that, as he not only believed it wouldn't be so easy to become one of the elite ninjas of the village but was also quite certain that the scroll that appeared tied to his waist after the end of the test wasn't given as a souvenir.

His first reaction after leaving the challenge room was, as expected, expand his sensor range to detect any sign of the other participants, going aa far as expanding it to search for any human presence inside a 5 km radius of the group before finally closing his mind eye after failing to detect any other participant in the area. "Seens like we're either the first team to get here or the only team where not everyone can hide their chakra signature..." He dryly said as he made his way towards Sakana, clearly unsatisfied about something - specifically wasting his energy with an unneded scan of the area - as he positioned his palms over Sakana's back. "Want some healing or just transferring some chakra will do the job?" He unceremoniously asked as he positioned himself near his teammate, clearly anxious to deal with this bother before more trouble arrived. Depending on his teammate answer, he'd either just transfer part of his chakra to him or heal any eventual wound and them do the chakra transference, and before finishing either of those he'd add a special gift in the package: A small, almost unnoticeable Self-Cursing Seal - Since he still needed Sakana to fight for him later and had to expend his own chakra to put him back in the game, he could as well use the opportunity to get some insurance.

Hime Yuki

@Pirouette @Savato @BladeSS4

Boldly, Hime strode forth past the two clones as they initially tensed up in anticipation for Rumia's vengeful assault, but was stopped by the reliable cousin and Tashiro with some ease. The Yuki ninja did indeed hum a jaunty tune as she passed by the two clones and stopped at the scroll, it didn't see like a trap at the very least, so she plucked it up from it's resting place and waved to the rest of the team with the hand holding the scroll. "We've got it!"

That was when the room shifted and they found themselves at the outskirts of the forest of Death and were being spoken to from... somewhere, by the voice again, confirming that they'd completed the test of team-work, synergy and leadership.

"You tricksy mind-feeler clan, no wonder we couldn't see you!" Hime called out in response, though it was likely she'd never be heard. "Well, now we've got another mystery coming up, hopefully we'll still be in our team for it, eh?"

---

@Reflection @Syn @BladeX

Dread settles in...

There was little time to understand what actually happened, but her bolt of lightning seemed to have been eaten by the king, sending him into a limp form on the seabed for a moment as the undead sealife began to use their bodies to block their ruler from being hit by further arrows of any capacity. This matter in and of itself was nothing to really worry about, maybe she had actually wounded the sea king with her attack? A few standard lightning arrows embedded themselves into the sirens that approached, and for a moment she thought that her attack had somehow discouraged them from attacking.

Then a wave of dread rolled over her like she'd just enraged the actual god of the sea. She wasn't far off, either, instead it was the very same king of the deep but he was... Worse, in a way, more vile and perhaps even solely transfixed on putting an end to them right there and then, had her lightning bolt had much of an effect at all?

Words confirmed that he had built up a resistance to electricity, though it was hard to say just how resilient he was, training could never make one invincible to their natural weakness. It had to have hurt more than he was putting on, though Koma didn't have time to figure out if that was true as he swung for her after digging his teeth into the air-tank that Bumu had been wearing. Without the fins to assist her in her swimming venture the kunoichi barely managed to avoid the swing that would've no doubt killed her if it hadn't glanced her side, tearing a sizable hole in her uniform, cloak and collection of pouches and all but peeling the skin off of her now-bare, injured and bloodied hip and waist.

With little time to register her now bleeding side and the scattering of most of her worldly possessions, she managed to grab hold of a few of her smoke bombs and sling them towards the king, in her dizziness she couldn't aim properly so she released a very weak breakthrough to fling the bombs towards him with the hope of them hitting and setting themselves off so her other genjutsu would activate.

And with luck that would give them a bit of a fighting chance with the king provided he didn't know how to deal with genjutsu techniques, his hand-eye coordination would be thrown off and so would his depth perception, hopefully it would help as Koma had very few ideas left as she looked for a way to get the scroll off of him. Both her and Bumu were outclassed by him in terms of sheer power, so they had to get some advantage.

And provided the disorientation plan worked, she had a saturation shot of wind arrows charging up and about to fire, albeit lop-sidedly due to her current injuries. Normally it would spread out and cover an entire area after reaching a certain distance, but due to the close proximity, it would end up spreading out upon impact with the Sea King's body and focus 50 arrows on a small area. After impact they would all burst into their own pockets of wind and cavitation would likely be able to do the rest of the work, sudden changes in pressure were never good for things this deep in the ocean.

Kaito's face showed absolute fear as soon as the Hyuga boy's contorted in pain. Kaito moved quickly. He wasn't going to lose this, he wasn't going to lose this! Even before the blood dripped, or the spindle dropped, Kaito moved. During the contort of pain, Kaito's hands pulled. Kaito was no idiot. The moment the Hyuga recovered, Kaito was dead. There was no way he was going to let that happen.

With one twist, Kaito placed himself to the right of Nousagi's arm, towards his back to make it harder for the Hyuga to counterattack as his own body would be in the way of piercing Kaito. The twist continued, placing his arm on Kaito's shoulder.... elbow down. The twist continued, with one fluid movement becoming a shoulder throw. It was also a shoulder throw likely to shatter its recipient's elbow, as it threw the entire body against the elbow. It would also throw them violently to the floor.

Taijutsu wasn't Kaito's forte, but it wasn't like he was specifically weak at it. He was holding his opponents arm after all.

Regardless of any damage done, Kaito quickly jumped back, kicking up his kunai as he did so, and grabbing it out the air. A killing intent filled the air again. It wasn't enough to stun or an attack, just a warning. Kaito was in a bad mood.

"I'm not going to tell you to surrender now. I'm either going to kill you, or force the proctor to call me off you. Losing is not an option. You were born with greatness. I stole mine from fate."

'Hm?' It seemed the queen had caught on to Kaba's attack and attempted to flee to safety. She sic'd her electric eels on the young shinobi, and barricaded herself inside of a giant clam that was once a throne. Kaba smirked, a new wave of confidence overtaking his body. The queen had set her own trap. He had also taken the time to notice that the attacks from the lesser enraged sea creatures seemed to intensify the moment the queen had noticed him. Suddenly, things began to piece themselves together - it was now clear to Kaba that the queen had some sort of control over the relatively weak, but greatly hindering sirens and such.

He quickly glanced over, also noticing that the creatures sacrificed themselves to protect their king. Clearly the two were not invincible, even in their own domains. The trio was at a clear disadvantage, but it would not prevent them from their expected outcome of victory. Swiftly, Kaba brought his right hand up, forming a single hand seal as the eels neared. The tiny barrier he had threw towards the queen suddenly halted. 'Out of my way!'

The cube pulsated and not a moment later expanded, swallowing both of the nuisances. Both eels would be engulfed in total darkness, but their ability to use electric discharges as a sort of radar system would alarm the creatures that they were not alone. Inside of the barrier Kaba left a single clone of his own, which almost immediately would detonate as soon as the creatures realized they were now trapped. The barrier would rapidly dissipate as unrecognizable remains of the eels slowly sank to the sand below.

Meanwhile, Kaba still had other obstacles to clear before he could continue moving towards his objectives. The undead army seemed to be using one another in a futile attempt to reach him. The small army was not particularly dangerous by themselves, but given the situation also coupled with the sheer number of foes they did make things extremely difficult. But the aspiring Jounin did not earn the nickname of 'The Wall' for no reason. Almost effortlessly, he created a barrier below him which would deliver a severe electric shock to the group of enemies attempting to reach him. The shock would travel between all the foes who had come into contact with the first victim of Kaba's, sending them back to their watery graves, hopefully permanently this time. As for the projectiles, one managed to catch just the top of his left shoulder, leaving a not-so-deep flesh would that would need to be addressed later. A small amount of blood shrouded around the area, but the pain did not prevent Kaba from deflecting the rest of the projectiles, even launching some of them back at his attackers. His own adrenaline allowed him to ignore his injury for now as he rushed towards the queen's new fortress.

After what seemed to be years, but was actually only a few seconds, Kaba arrived at the clam, effectively dispatching any and all obstacles. He would not attempt to reach the queen inside, but would instead neutralize and entrap her. Kaba was not sure if his deductions regarding the queen's control over the army were accurate, but for his and his comrades' sake, he hoped so... In the blink of an eye, chains moulded from his own chakra shot from hands and enveloped the clam several times. Adamantine Sealing Chains. It was a technique he had secretly learned from an Uzumaki shortly after becoming a chunin. Kaba was not sure how the queen's power worked, but aimed for her control over the creatures to be interrupted or blocked due to his seal, keeping them from shielding the pesky king in hopes Bumu and Koma could retrieve the true scroll without further issue.

Kaba turned his attention to the two, hoping his sealing of the queen would actually help. Due to the technique, he couldn't leave the clam's side, and was only able to provide assistance from a distance. He considered creating a shadow clone, but still wanted to preserve the rest of his chakra for the next phase of the exams, granted they actually made it out alive. It was now up to Koma and Bumu, who both seemed more than capable of getting the job done now that they presumably had one less thing to worry about.

Date was quick to follow Kyo to the tree line, this test left him scratching his head the foot prints, a whirling tornado in the back ground, what exactly was the point to all this? If this was anything like the Chunin exam then some light should be shed on their situation soon, but in the back of his mind he knew this was not gonna be anything like that. The Jonin exam as a whole would be a true test of their skills as ninja, or so he hoped. Even though he was reluctant at first and really did not wanna take this test because his father told him to, now he wanted to pas it to prove his worth. Date also wanted to have something to show if his mom ever woke up.

When they got through the tree line there was nothing that looked out of the ordinary. But when he saw Kyo's sharingan working in over drive, Date activated his sharingan as well and noticed what he was talking about, there was a clear, easily seen, set of tracks that screamed fake, while the more hidden and "difficult" set would be their true destination. ""Sticking together does seem to be the best option, plus what if something not so desirable is at either end of the trails better we all be together than apart." He said then started down the direction of the disappearing tracks.

Her low chakra, and low energy had everything feeling not up to par. It was barely recognizable to her what was going on. Until she heard a scream, it was from one of her teammates, she realized that they were hurt. Trying to scramble to her feet, she found herself now in searing pain and let out a scream. Riddling with fear, and most of all - pain. Her hands quickly shot to her boots, which was possibly a terrible idea, as she ripped them off she also ripped off whatever had now fused to the boots from the heat. This causing more anguish, and the Kunoichi was now in tears under her mask from the pain.

Audibly, her teammates were in pain too, she wanted to assist - but her own pain was too much of a distraction and cause of selfishness. Amongst her teammates voices, her hands quickly shot back up to her ears as the Golem 'screamed,' - oh how it rang ever so loudly in her ears. She felt like she was under a genjutsu herself in some sense, this was literal hell. Her legs were in a pain, she couldn't understand why - and her head was now throbbing from the piercing of the golems shriek. It was then she quickly curled into a ball - as the oncoming force of the explosion frightened her. She could feel the immense amount of energy disbanding from the Golem, and throughout the room and away. Though, something left her feeling slightly overly-heightened.

She was so stunned, poor thing. From the energy of her comrades, to her own fear of her own wellbeing. The unfortunate empath was having difficulty trying to grasp everything. Usually calm, she now felt a bit sporadic and dysfunctional. Kiku could hear someone talking, but her legs were currently too much of a bother. Raising the mask over one eye - her heart stopped, vision blurred, and breath constricted into her lungs as she finally looked down at her legs. Of course, there was blood - but not much since the lava instantly seared the wounds shut. But the poor thing could see into her calves, and see damaged ligaments, and muscle tissue. Lava had seared through, and ruined her legs.

It was in the moment of instant panic, that Shizuka had lifted her up. Her breath almost stopping again, as she looked up to him. This boy took so much interest in her well being, it almost frightened her in some sense. Her one free eye examined his face, were his eyes wet from the heat and intensity of the situation? Her face flushing again, hearing his words - she almost couldn't breath, from the pain and sudden stance he had been taking for her. Before she could think too much, they were finally somewhere....decently better. The Forest of Death, great. She instantly recognized it from pictures she had seen.

As they had been there, her arms had been wrapped around his neck. She looked up to him, and then nodded to the ground. He swiftly received the message and set her down gently, she stared at her legs. Finally, in one rage filled moment she ripped her mask off and regretted it immediately as light poured into her retina's. Slapping her hands to her face, she laid back and groaned. Pain still searing from her legs, her eyes were now slightly burning in a different way. It was the first time she had taken her mask off in hours, and typically her eyes were very sensitive to light upon being masked for so long. As she slowly adjusted, she finally lowered her arms. Wincing in pain, as someone touched her legs, it was the Medical Nin. Kiku graciously allowed them to fix her, she looked up to Shizuka. Possibly the first time he had seen her maskless, and tugged on his arm. More or less she really just pulled him down, and wrapped her arms around his chest, and hugged him tightly. Her energy had returned, and her chakra levels felt great. She pushed a warm energy into his body, and rested her cheek against his as she whispered into his air, "Thank you....". What more could she say at this time?

Kiku feared being seen as weak, but this particular Shinobi shone differently to her. It was leaving her questioning a bit. She let him go from the embrace, and looked down to her legs as the Nin began to finish. Her attention quickly shifting to Kurin, and Jaak. "How are you guys? Are you alright? How bad is it?" She sputtered out, and then smiled at the two, "We did it guys!"

_{@Syn@Reflection@Altered Tundra}

---

The Ginger beast's anger incessantly rose, as the clones had done nothing but add fuel to their funeral pyre she could only envision. Deformed tissue spread more and more across her concealed flesh, proportionally widening on her afflicted cheek. Had it not been for Kyoka's physical contact, the beast was going to be set loose onto the opposition. Her cousin was so tactile, and was almost uncomfortable sometimes. But the weight of the action did have an impact on the related Shinrikyo. Her tense body became unnaturally still, while the acid lover worked her magic.

It is uncertain whether Rumia would have truly halted her emerging rampage, but the doubt imposed in her mind via Kyoka's words stalled the monster long enough to allow a final gambit, and simply snag the scroll. And to think their resident swordsman was about to balance out the Heisenberg's approach with his own, 'outsider' remarks. He would receive a particularly menacing death-glare, before the odd flesh would revert back and restore Rumia to her former self. At this point, they'd warp back after the announcement of their victory from the Yamanaka proctor.

"Tch. They made us walk da way down 'ere for this? Pussies."

Arms crossed, Rumia scanned the tree-filled area they were ported to. Incults such as herself would have no idea as to what to expect from the forest of death, and like any reckless mongrel, she would willfully remain ignorant to the possible dangers. Very few things could scare this force of nature. Though, she would seem to always keep a watchful eye on her cousin, for it was quite obvious to even this numb-skill that she did not have the same durable nature as the ginger.

"Sword fella'. What do we gotta do now? Let's leave m'lovely cousin a break from doin' all da thinkin' fer us."

Her gaze directed itself toward Tashiro, eyes squinting. There was an aura of intimidation surrounding the lass, as if she were conferring a menial task to a rookie solider and expected the best of results at the risk of punishment. That and Hime wasn't going to come up with any plans.

---

Koibito followed his other Uchiha brothers. Instinctively activating his own Sharigan with them. Probably due to this connection they all felt or maybe it was just their Uchiha nature all in sync. Although He wasn't focused on the trail, his eyes darted all around their path. Searching for anything that could gather more info. To him it all seemed too obvious. Well really non of it made sense. This massive tornado that has a set path away from them and then it's possible master running away and trying to cover his trail. Why was it so easy to find though? Maybe the perpetrator didn't expect a group of Ninjas that all had such a natural sensory skill. Maybe this was just a trap and the Tornado still held a key to victory. It wasn't enough, but he could feel he was not alone. The others were just as confused at him. Trying to find out what game this exam was playing.

Koibito didn't really give a response to which tracks they should follow. To him he didn't think it mattered what path. Both were probably some kind of trap. It would just be harder to defend against if they were split up. He followed Date side as they both started towards the hidden path. As the question of splitting up arrived, Koibito didn't have to think twice with his answer. "Were sticking together. Regardless if one is a trap, we can deal with it better together than separate. What would Senna do anyway if we weren't close enough to make this link useful?" Offering a smile in Senna direction to make his comment a little more lighthearted then it seemed.

Nousagi had to admit, his opponent was fast. Clever too. Using every moment that Nousagi paused as a chance to counter attack. But, it was only a fool that allowed something like this to happen without a counter attack. Considering he was rather light on his feet, and the gentle fist style was all for fluid motions this seemed like the perfect chance to counter attack. As Nousagi's elbow met Kaito's shoulder, he did two specific actions. Which would be listed here.

His left hand moved like a bullet, but it wasn't just to touch his opponent. Instead, there was a spark, a flash, and the head of a lion appeared in the palm of his hand. This was the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists, or fist since he was only using one. The lion fist wasn't just a love tap. Instead it was a force capable of shattering stone, and more importantly the human rib cage. Nousagi's fist collided with Kaito's left side, filling the air with the loud crackle of bone being broken. A few broken ribs wouldn't kill Kaito. Not if he got medical attention. The sooner the better to be honest. But, upon the impact area, it shut down his chakra path, more than enough to make the molding of further jutsu a much harder task. Specifically since it was in such a cluster of important organs. Kaito would lose some chakra too, but that was such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things that it barely needed to be brought up.

The second action came around the time Nousagi was being tossed. His arm broken, but he knew it was coming. Again, a very obvious technique by any stretch of the word. So when he was lifted over Kaito's shoulder, Nousagi managed a kneeing jab to the boy's back. The hit itself wasn't that much to right home about. More like a soft tap. But with full control of his tenketsu points, that made even this love tap a blow worth shutting down more of Kaito's body functions.

After landing, Nousagi was back on his feet, eyes wide and focused on Kaito. Well, only paritally, some attention was given to the broken arm.
"Greatness, huh?" Nousagi spoke, never blinking once. "So you're a thief, and a coward. Let me tell you something. Talk like that? It merely proves how weak you are! You'd rather blame others for your failings, or even your own short comings!" He took a step closer, soaking in the atmosphere. "But the real issue is you. You blame others for your lack of greatness. Claiming you had to steal it and assuming that makes you worthy. But the true fact, the one you're hiding from is that nobody else is to blame for your weakness. Greatness? You might as well be shouting about destiny like a child who thinks he's been denied something. You where never worthy of greatness, because you believed others denied you it! Greatness is free to claim, you just have to earn it!"





Why Bumu? Why Why Why was this happening to the fox? All Bumu wanted out of life was to be really cool. Since you know, it was all better than simply tending to a shrine forever. Instead the fox was now clinging to an oxygen tank, claws digging into the metal as she was being shaken back and forth. The whole motion would have been sickening, if Bumu wasn't already feeling rather sick from all this water. If Bumu didn't become a Jonin for all the shit he had to put up with today then there would be a few angry letters written in fox scratch.

The sea king was fast. Scary fast. It was only thanks to Bumu's incredible s- Okay, that's a lie. Bumu didn't even realize the Sea King had moved until the fish was behind him. The fox felt her spine crawl, and could barely get a response before his valuable air tank was being torn apart. Well, time to resort of plan B. Wait, was this plan be? Maybe it was plan Z? Ah yes, Bumu loved plan Z. As the sea king was biting into the air tank, Bumu took one last deep breath. The eruption of bubbles did an amazing job of hiding the fox from that deadly maw, so guess it was time. Slamming a palm against the tank, explosive tags began to slide down the canister. Crawling if the word was appropriate. Making their way easily into the sea king's maw, folding past his teeth and planting them in the insides of his mouth and throat. Bumu hoped the sea king was too bloodthirsty to realize this, but it didn't really matter. Placing a foot on the sea king's snout, Bumu kicked off, floating just out of reach as her hands clasped together.

If Bumu wasn't holding his breath, he might have made a witty one liner. Maybe something like "Smile you son of a bitch." But that might be too on the nose. After all, what other famous scenario involved a fish monster chewing on a air tank and getting blown up? As Bumu's hands clapped together, the first tag on the roof of the sea king's mouth exploded. Another on the inside of his cheek did as well, exploding inside the sea king. With any luck, the air tank would catch, exploding on its own for extra measure. Depending on how many tags Bumu managed to sneak in before having to escape and detonate, the sea king would hopefully end up with his insides powderized. Though part of Bumu was always that kind of optimist.

As for Bumu's clones, they buzzed through the water, catching Bumu and Koma easily. Thus pulling them away from the king, adding a little more distance in case of a counter. "Don't worry, we'll keep you two mobile!" A clone of Bumu grinned, alongside a clone of Koma. A clone of Kaba would also be in hot pursuit, ready to catch him for an escape as soon as they where done. They just needed the scroll, right? If the king's head blew up, they'd get the scroll! Wow, that's a morbid way of thinking.





Pain, that was the first thing that Kurin realized he was feeling. While his golem broke the flow, he wasn't safe. Lava splattered onto his face, scorching his cheeks and forcing him to lose focus. He staggered back as pain erupted on his chest and shoulders. He couldn't think, didn't want to think, he felt like he was about to shut down. Losing focus, he screamed, his uniform scorched and burnt. He was lucky in a way that he wore so much protection, but in the end this was still lava. The burns that scorched his chest, the terrible searing pain. Had he been a lesser shinobi he may have died from the pain. Guess that just goes to show how great his team was. If anything, his own biology was his saving grace. That unique vitality that made the Senju clan almost immortal saved his life, and yet... He blacked out.

When he awoke, he was on the grass... No... Not the grass, that was just what was nearby. He was on a makeshift bed, medical ninja running around. And yet, he felt stronger, not weaker. One of the medical team was all over him, checking his injuries. Kurin let his eyes roll down to the wounds, and for a moment he could see the damage. Skin was practically melted in some area, and judging from where the medical team was focusing he expected some scarring on his internal organs. And yet, he felt like laughing. He opened his mouth, and let out a winded sigh. Apparently he didn't even have the strength to do that. He'd be fine later though. But looking around, he could see the rest of his team, all of which where being tended to.

He wanted to speak, but he couldn't.
"Careful there. You probably breathed in something bad. You're gonna need to work on your stamina, those gases did a number on your lungs." One of the two medical ninja said. "You'll have some scarring on your chest, and that eye thingy you use? Maybe uh... They'll be some scarring there where the metal seared into your flesh. But we can set up an appointment for that later. Too risky to remove it right now." Well, isn't that just his luck... Guess barking orders at the rest of the team would be out of the question for a while. With a pat on the shoulder, he was told to stand up, stretching slowly as he stood. Kurin looked to his team, and took a step to Shizuka. Holding out a hand, he was making a silent gesture. He knew they did something like this in the land of iron. How you would hold out your hand to somebody you had bonded with. Even if it was a small gesture, he knew it was important. A single sign that said 'you're with me now.'

Hearing Jaakuna speak, Kurin looked to that hot blooded fire starter. It was clear the damage to his arms wasn't going to go away. He smiled, at least they worked well together. They'd have to work on some legit combo moves that didn't involve tossing him around like a toy on a string. Either way, he leaned down, tapping heads and smirking. Guess they were a real team after all. They'd probably have to come up with a new team name, one that wasn't a joke they wrote up. "Thank you." Kurin choked out, a hand on his chest. "Thank you, all of you."





Silently, a proctor was shaking his head as he watched all this unfold. Probably swearing to himself that he had to get stuck with a bunch of overly cautious ones. But, at least there was a smart one amongst them, even if she was literally ignoring one problem entirely to focus on something obvious. Silently he pulled out his hair as the second proctor sipped tea. "Relax dude. It's their own faults."

Back on the actual front of events, it was going... Well just going. Lots of wasting time, reseting barriers, planning to hit the drums. Etc. The proctor honestly just wanted to step in and tell them they only had to hit one drum, but fine. Hit as many as they wanted. Go, have fun. Honestly the sheer number of drums had been designed in intent to distract Raiju. Forcing the beast to jump from one drum to the other long enough for the team to focus on it. Hitting them all at once in such a way was just counter productive. So counter productive that when they hit the drums again, all the lights went out from the sonic force. Leaving the whole team in darkness.

Except for a single light. Raiju, perched in the naval of the buddha statue. Eyes sparking as it leapt out. And in the darkness, illuminated only by Raiju's appearance, the team could see that the statue they had worshipped so kindly was not Buddha. That joyous face, that kind look. Gone. Replaced with a toothy grin, a cruel gaze... The face of the great oni, Raijin.



On one positive, it seemed Ai was somewhat right about Raiju being a beast of chakra. But when one of her tags made contact, it burned up. Sizzling upon touch as volts of electricity tore right through it. Not even the seal could activate in time to stop the pure lightning that made this monster up. Smashing against the barrier again, the wolf was on the prowl, jumping about, leaving its master unguarded as he tried to tear through the barrier to any of the four who disturbed it again and again.

Most of all, the naval was left unguarded, and there, in plain view, shimmering in the darkness, was the scroll of lightning. One of them just had to grab it before Raiju caught them. They only had seconds lift to this, as the whole building began to rumble. The sonic force of the drums succeeding in breaking the structure, forcing their hand. They couldn't wait. They had to move. MOVE!

Hit by the combination of techniques, Kaito rolled foward. It felt like he'd been hit by a truck. As his face grinded with the floor, he eyed his kunai. He writhed in pain, before figuring out pain only made the ribs hurt more. In Kaito's mind, only one question remained... How to proceed next?

Crawling away, Kaito screamed as he sat up, to hear the little speech. Somehow, that was the best part about it. Kaito laughed. His ribs scraped his chest, but he laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until blood came out. With a weak voice, he called out to his opponent.

"You dumbass! Of course I'm a thief and a coward, and I will steal greatness from the likes of you. I don't care how strong you are, or how strong I am, I'll steal it all. Trust me, its not 'free to claim', dumbass..."

He panted heavily from the stress of talking, but had more to say.

"I already stole your future. That, right there, is a shattered elbow. Probably pieces stuck in your muscles. Your bone naturally makes it so it doesn't, oh I don't know, bend 60-90 degrees in the wrong direction. How much surgery until it can even start to recover? Be thankful medical jutsu exists."

Kaito fell into a coughing fit, laughs interupting each cough. It took him a bit to recover. He finally noted the blood from Nousagi's left arm. That was even funnier.

"One last thing. You have two useless arms. Immense pain, just like me. Shock is inevitable for both of us. If victory is yours... come and claim it."

From the sitting position, Kaito held his knife out at Nousagi. Despite literally being on the ground, pained in every breath, fighting a ninja whose taijutsu exceeded his, who's ninjutsu a worst rivaled his, who was outright immune to every illusion Kaito had thrown, Kaito had never stood taller. His pride was intact regardless. The words of a dumbass weren't going to phase him. The loss of a match? Inconsequential. The steel look in his eyes said he was completely and utterly serious. The world span, but Kaito held on to reality with everything he had.

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


Ai watched in amazement and anger as Raijin appeared.

"You're no Buddha."

She noted the burning of one of her tags, and sighed. This thing wasn't going to be easy, was it? Still, the scroll was right there. Everyone could grab it and pass. Ai, however, had other priorities for herself. Hikaru and Renji also had noted they were bad against lightning. Ayame was more defensive, and Ai'd rather she'd hurry and pass to get jonin.

"Guys, I got the mad dog, just go get the scroll and get out of here. Imma teach him not to impersonate Buddha. Hikaru, could you get the scroll? You're probably faster than Ayame. Renji, could you watch Hikaru's back? Ayame, can you help get everyone out? Sorry been so bossy. I'll see you outside."

With that, Ai ran at Ayame's barrier, and grabbed the top, and vaulted herself over. Grabbing a barrier tag, she pressed it against her palm, activating a makeshift shield her hand. Quickly gathering chakra in her legs, she built up to a body flicker. She kicked off against Ayame's barrier. With impressive speed, even among Jonin candidate standards, Ai flickered at the dog, to hit it square in the face with a barrier shield, and give it the words it really needed to hear.

"Bad dog!"

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

Wind trial

As the wind team chose the hidden path of the two, as they got closer and closer, the sharingan users would be able to see the chakra divide more and more as it rose into the sky, until they could get an accurate count of chakra streaming upwards. Twenty different users were behind casting the tornado, all wind users. As they got closer, one light flickered out. A proctor approached them, scratching the back of his head. He held up a white flag for a second.

"Parley! I'm the main proctor here, hear me out. Just real quick. I really kinda do want to know what your plan is? I mean, I thought we obscured those tracks out there pretty well. If you found us through any other means, you must have been able to count. So..."

He dropped the flag, grabbing a kunai. All around him, the whole congregation of ninja gathered, each with their hands to signs. In the distance, the tornado died out.

He rubbed his head again.

"I'm having to act on the fly here. I really did not expect anyone to try this. Well, if this were a combat field, and you stumbled into, say, 20 enemy ninja, the results wouldn't be good. I don't think they should be here either.
Mizu, Toru, Genji, remember Edo? Do that.
Now, you four, the way I see it, you now have an added trial. Escape through a barrier with 17 ninja firing Vaccuum spheres at you, and reconsider where it went wrong, find the scroll. We really don't plan on leaving the area. Geez, the Hokage said, 'find the scroll'. Wasn't exactly rocket science. Your other option is to surrender and the 20 of us don't beat the ever living crap out of you. Well, begin."

17 ninja would start firing Vacuum Spheres at the lot. The upside is they were a little bit tired from maintaining a tornado for so long, so it was like... 9 jonin were trying to constantly bombard them with the technique rather than the full 17, so there was more of a chance.

In the distance, wind began to blow, creating a circular wall of wind around the area. It glowed green as it passed in a circle, and wasn't completely opaque. It would spin anyone around trying to pass it with its rotation, but was completely physical. It wasn't the sturdiest thing in the world from how large it was, but with 17 people shooting at you, the task would seem much more daunting.