[IC] Naruto: S.E.T.U

[Shadowcatcher]

Haruhi let out a sigh of relief when Shingetsu came to her aide. She was a bit worried for his safety as the larger man was ten times tougher than he looked. Though Haruhi was tough as nails too, her body didn't seem to agree with her ego, and her sides and back hurt like all hell. She knew that man alone was likely capable of killing all of them just as easily as he did Ayane, so she had to act fast. Slowly her green eyes would close as she lay back on the ground and soon she would be taken into the place where Gobi was sealed away within her. She saw the blue eyes of her beast staring amused down at her, and Haruhi pouted and crossed her arms.

"Why do you give me such a look Haruhi dear? I only offer you a bit of assistance.... Or, is it perhaps your pride is injured more than your body? Hue hue hue." Was the mocking voice Haruhi was greeted with. Rolling her eyes, she stepped forward towards the bars that separated the two.

"This is the last time." she said still with a pout on her face. This brought more laughter from the beast as a cloud of red chakra would leak out from between the bars. "I believe that is what you told me the last time we spoke like this... If only you'd admit that you need me. That the reason your leaders put me here, was because you... are weak."

This caused Haruhi's eyes to narrow and she looked away. "I'm not weak, and you know it... I know what you're trying to do. I won't let you out." A sigh came from Gobi then as her chakra swirled around Haruhi slowly. "If only you knew what it was I really am trying to do." was all that was said before the face of her beast faded into the darkness.

What seemed like minutes in her head was only seconds back out on the field. The familiar surge of chakra followed by a sudden fading of her pain caused Haruhi to finally open her eyes and stand up. Having absorbed only a small amount of Gobi's chakra, there was almost no difference in her physical appearance save for that her once pale green eyes were nkw that of her beasts bright ocean blue color. A bit of red could be seen under her round eyes that looked around and found her friend who had put himself between her and the enemy. Channeling chakra to her feet, she called out to him.

"Houzuki-kun, heads up!" was all she said, and she knew he would know what she meant. She would run up towards him, knowing he would crouch down enough to give her a boost off his back and jump into the air. Focusing her chakra to her left foot, she came down fast upon the man, who somehow caught the blow of her foot in his forearm. How the limb didn't snap from the sheer amount of energy released was a wonder, but the earth beneath him was not so sturdy, as this time his heels dug entirely into the ground at the center of the crater the two made. A cloud of dust would kick up, in which Haruhi would weave her signs for a clone who in an instant, focused all its chakra into a fist, connecting it with the big man's face, sending him flying into a large rock.

Her clone was reduced to a puff of smoke and Haruhi landed on her feet, walking over to Shingetsu afterwards. Already the man was struggling to get on his feet, cursing and spitting out a bit of blood. Haruhi cracked her knuckles and smiled at her friend.

"I say we show this guy what happens when you piss off a Hidden Mist shinobi."

[The Red Seelie]

People had been revealing their combat style, everyone except Nathaniel, why because he didn't feel saying it especially since Shingetsu was eager to start a fight. It would of been fun but really unnecessary considering their predicament but the Kirigakure Ninja stopped himself from taking it too far. that was truly commendable Nathaniel was beginning to like this kid.

Everyone was staring at Ayane for Ideas for what next even Nathaniel was curious as to what she said but she then excused herself. She went without a partner but Nathaniel didn't care She was most capable of protecting herself right? Wrong soon three unmarked people bearing no allegiance to any particular village emerged from the bushes. Nathans eye's glanced over each of them.

There was the short one he seemed not much of a problem but looks can be very deceiving and a female with a kimono yet the one that stood out the most however was the burly one with the huge muscles, he stood out because of what he was carrying. Aryan was helpless in his arms time seemed to slow, words were said but they carried no meaning, then the Crack reached Nathaniel's ear's and something stirred within his head. A bitter memory, it was becoming suppressed by Nathaniel's desire to avenge an innocent's death. He hardly knew her, Sure, but that didn't mean she had to die then as an Ayanes limp body was discarded much to Nathaniel's disgust, a shudder went through his body at the second Crack.

Then everything suddenly began moving quickly, the Kirigakure Girl was the instigator, already leaping at the trio and whipping up large amounts of dust as her fist impacted the ground, She was going after the burly guy along with Shingetsu. Zee was going after the Kimono woman. so that left Nathan with the little guy. He would sweep the floor with the midget and go back and help his fellow Ninja.

So Nathan began his pursuit of the little guy which lead him away from the group. He is trying to isolate me so I won't have the aid of my teammate's Nathaniel thought No matter its not as if the guy's a threat in fact, it makes my job easier because I don't have to worry about his buddy's Nathaniel began preparing the hand seals necessary for the summoning technique but suddenly the small guy was in front of him and kicked his hand's interrupting the technique. "Sorry Sir" The man said with a sneer "but I am afraid I cannot let you do that"

Then the kicks and punch's came raining down blow after blow, Nathaniel tried in vain to defend himself. He was Vastly outmatched at Taijutsu, the punch's and the kick's hit his head and arms causing sharp throbs of pain. Nathan tried reaching for a Kunai with an explosive tag, he pulled it out yet took a sharp kick to the leg and had to kneel down, he threw the Kunai at the individual who dodged it and it exploded behind the man They where both disoriented by the explosive. Nathaniel struggled to his feet frantically going for another Kunai, but this one had no such tag. The other man was already covering the gap.

The Man kicked at his feet trying to send him down, there was a sharp crack, Nathaniel was down a leg, he didn't know if his ankle had been sprained or his foot had been broken, he didn't care, the adrenaline was numbing the pain albeit marginally, The foot came down and kicked him in the face. White light exploded across Nathan's vision as his head jerked back at the force, Nathan's hand reached out and grabbed the Mans leg.

"Let go of me runt" The short man said, kicking Nathan repeatedly in an effort to get him to release him, through squinted eye's Nathan plunged the Kunai into the man's leg, receiving a sharp kick to the head in return that sent him sprawling across the dirt, the shorty wouldn't be running anymore but Nathaniel was in a worse condition, his leg had been broken and he was bleeding from the forehead as well as blurred vision. He started to preform the summoning technique much to the chagrin of the shorty who began trying to close the gap, but the Kunai in his leg was slowing him down.

The hand seal's finished and Nathanial wiped his brow with his left hand rubbing his blood onto his hand, he planted his hand on the ground "Summoning Technique" the seal's spread outwards from his palm as he coughed up some blood, that was a puff of smoke and summoned in front of him was a fox about the size of an elephant. Nathaniel propped himself up on his arm as he clutched his head before saying

"let him have it"

[Keanto]

Ignore this post. I went full retard.

[Keanto]

"Heh, We will show him alright" Shingetsu smirked thus revealed his sharp shark like teeth."You are all freaks!" The big stranger spat out blood as he accused the young group of ninjas. "Look who is talking" Shingetsu answered with a slightly annoyed voice. "At least I am not a fucking shark!" The stranger replied with an even more annoyed tone. "Shut up!" The young Kirigakure pointed his left index finger with his thumb up at his target which was the big man. "Hiden Batsuzoku: Mizudeppō no Jutsu(Secret Clan Technique: Water Gun Technique)" From Shingetsus index finger a water drops began to form and shot out with a tremendous force and speed. "Shit!" The big stranger exclaimed and dodged the water drops bullets, shot by Shingetsu. But he was a bit too slow. A single water drop found it target and pierced his left shin. Blood gushed out from the wound the water drop has made. "Oh..You are pretty fast for being that large" Said the Houzuki ninja with a surprised voice. "But I wonder if you can handle two guns? Hiden Batsuzoku: Mizudeppō: Nichō no Jutsu" Shingetsu now raised his right hand and mimic it to resemble a handgun, just like he has been doing with his left hand. The big man grind his teeth and a sweats began to run down his on his face.

[Shadowcatcher]

Haruhi prepared her own attack as Shingetsu distracted the big man. She was thinking ahead about how to best go about taking this guy down. The effects of Gobi's chakra were not indefinite, so she had to think fast before she ran out of energy. It didn't matter how much chakra she put into her attacks; if she couldn't hit him, it would be pointless. "Think Haru... how do you beat someone who's faster and stronger than you...?" Then she remembered she had been in this situation before a few years ago.

LONG FLASHBACK

Three years earlier...

It was on this day that Haruhi swore she wouldn't wake up her sensei. Getting ready and preparing breakfast was no easy feat--more so when one tried to be quiet. She had tried, but to her dismay, as soon as she attempted to slip out the door, her name was called. Turning to say good morning to Mika, Haruhi found herself gripped into a hug by her sensei's strong arms. A short "Have a good day." and "Work hard." was said before she walked away to the kitchen. Sighing, Haruhi said in her happiest voice. "I'm going to go train with Takeshi sensei. ...you should come by if your not busy." she waited but only silence followed. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Giving up on this battle, she slowly slipped out the door and made her way to the training grounds. Passing through the Hidden Mist early this morning seemed different. Small details she never noticed before began to stand out, making this once familiar route seem not so familiar at all. She couldn't put her finger on it...so as in her nature she chose not to dwell on it.

Upon reaching the grounds, she noticed a figure leaning against a tree. Upon closer approach, she saw it was Takeshi sensei...and he was sleeping. Smiling to herself, Haruhi removed her pouch and other tools from her body, deciding to start running laps while he slept. He would need his sleep afterall, because she had planned to spend all day out here training with him.

Stretching and silently looking around she wondered how many laps would be five miles. Hm...how many feet in a mile...then multiply by five, okay then... she started off at a slow jog counting her steps. She would wait until she reached that many steps. And should she not be able to do five miles today, tomorrow would be ten.

Cracking one eyebrow as he heard the sound of footsteps, Takeshi saw that Haruhi had arrived and was already starting to do some laps. Smiling to himself, he closed his eye once again and attempted to fall back asleep. After a few moments he realized that it was a fruitless attempt. Sighing to himself, Takeshi stepped away from the tree an watched as Haruhi completed her laps. He saw no need to motivate her, the girl looked like she was pushing herself well enough. Standing with his arms crossed slightly, Takeshi simply waited for her to finish her laps.

After an hour, Haruhi's lungs were past the point of burning...she wasent entirely sure they were working anymore. Twelve thousand three hundred and sixty steps...that was in five miles. Nine hundred and four to go, but really Haruhi was sure her heart was going to give out on her. Though as she thought about how many medical nin's had told her she wouldn't live past the age of eleven, here she was four years past that with her 'weak heart' as it kept beating no matter now hard she pushed.

A few minutes later she finished her steps and fought back the urge to lay down. Instead she jogged over to her now alert sensei and waved to him. "Take...ha... okay wait I cant breathe." she panted and put her hands on her knees.

Approaching the exhausted girl, Takeshi smiled. She had just performed an impressive feat for a genin. "Good morning Haruhi. You should take some time to catch your breath." He let out a small chuckle. Waiting a moment more with his arms still folded across his chest, Takeshi wanted to see how quickly the girl recovered. "So are you ready to learn something awesome?" He asked with a playful tone.

A few moments of heavy breathing was oddly enough time for Haruhi to collect herself. The burn in her legs was fading faster than usual and for a moment she wondered why...

Shrugging, Haruhi stood straight and waved to Takeshi. "Yo, sensei. Feels like we just saw eachother like five minutes ago." she said with a smile. "And you better believe i'm ready!" she said with an excited hop. She walked over to the tree he was previously snoozing against and grabbed her pouches, putting them back on.

Seeing Haruhi recover quickly, Takeshi smiled. "Well it is good that you are ready, because today I am going to teach you a new technique. It's called the Chidori." He cocked his head to the side slightly, waiting to see how the girl would respond. He had a feeling that she would like the technique, though whether or not she would be able to master it would be another matter entirely.

Haruhi's eyes widened and she did a little hop. "All right! A new technique! she said excitedly. Absently she wondered how hard it would be to get it mastered. If it was anything as awesome as she thought it was, it was going to take a lot of practice. Though thats something Haruhi never minded.

Grinning, Takeshi raised one hand to fend her off. "Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. First things first I need to know if you're ready yet. We're going to spar. Whenever you are ready Haruhi, give it your best shot."

======================================

Takeshi stared at Haruhi for a moment after the fight, saying nothing... And then he broke out into a large smile. "I must say I'm impressed Haruhi-chan. That was a very unique tactic you used. And very effective too, might I add." He said, rubbing his arms for good measure.

When Haruhi's feet touched the ground, she stumbled back a bit on the uneven ground. When she looked around and saw what she did, part of her was proud and the other part was wary. "Thanks sensei... I uh, didn't hurt you did I?" she asked even though he smiled. Already she felt exausted and she thought maybe she overdid it a little once he rubbed his arm. She too rubbed her hand before a slight smile formed on her face too. "I have to add a bit of bragging...cuz that was pretty neat. I didn't think it would work. You're way too fast. That was literally my only attack that hit." she said.

Takeshi nodded and crossed his arms. "Yes, it's hard when your opponent is faster and stronger than you. But... there is always a way to win. In this case, you did exactly what you were supposed to at the last moment, I think without you even realizing it."

"Oh... really? What did I do?" she asked curiously.

"You used your head. The key to fighting someone faster than you, is to make them move the way you want them to and visualize where they will be in a particular moment where you can make a deadly strike. Essentially, doing the right techniques in a certain order can allow you to predict the movement of your opponent long before he does them. For example, I know that if I aimed a low sweep to your feet, you would jump backwards or straight up to use a counter. If I tried to throw a kunai at your right side, you'd deflect it or move away to the left. By doing a series of moves to create a desired action from your opponent, he's always right where you want him."

"That sounds like a load of crap, sensei." she said placing a hand on her hip. Takeshi laughed and shook his head. "Just try it. Come on. Lets go again. Afterwards we'll get to the fun part."

"Aye!"

A loud and angry roar tore Haruhi out of her thoughts and back into the present moment. The big guy was running straight towards her and Shingetsu who had momentarily stopped his torrent of water bullets. Placing her hand on her comrades shoulder, she nodded to him before running ahead to intercept her opponent. If she did this right like how she was taught, she could finally take him down in under ten moves.

"One!" Left fist raised and a kunai in her right hand, Haruhi aimed a punch to the mans abdomen to which he easily sidestepped to his left, spinning and aiming a kick to the right side of her head. She raised the kunai in her right hand and let him hit her, his leg smashing into the kunai, tearing another dry roar from him.

"Two!" Letting the kunai go as she was forcefully pushed back, she bit through the light pain. Quickly running up to him again, she punched him hard in the face as he crouched to yank the weapon out of his calf.

He rolled a few meters away before and Haruhi was upon him before he got a chance to get to his feet again. "Three!" Jumping into the air before she reached him, she aimed a chakra enhanced kick to his chest and he rolled as she came down and smashed into the earth once again. Wasting no time, she created a clone who ran up and smashed her knee into his jaw as he started to get to his feet. Having him airborne was perfect as her clone jumped up and proceeded to kick him back down to the ground.

"I believe it is in-humane to torture your prey before killing it. I grow bored of this fight... and he is not the only threat here. Finish him... we both know you can now." said the amused voice of Gobi in her head. Saying nothing in response to that, Haruhi stood and watched as the man still got to his feet even as his legs were beyond torn up, and he had various wounds and bruises all over his body. If this guy didn't totally deserve what was coming to him, Haruhi might have actually felt bad. But alas, the last bits of her beasts chakra was running out due to her last attacks, and Haru did want to wrap this up. She created two clones that stood at her sides, looking just as pissed off as she felt."Four!" Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a smoke bomb and tossed it on the ground.

"Transform!"

From within the grey cloud of smoke came a giant shuriken flying out towards him. He easily dodged it and immediately refocused on Haruhi who ran out with her clone transformed as her Kokuyōseki. She had her blade coated in lightning chakra, and you could hear the sound of it as it crackled around the blade. She came up to him with an overhead swing once again and this time instead of grabbing the blade, he caught Haru by the neck with one hand.

"Five!"

"You little bitch..." he said spitting out some blood and snatching Haruhi's sword out of hand with his free one. "Time for you to join your little friend in Hell-"

"CHIDORI!"

Suddenly from behind him, Haruhi would run up with her Chidori and pierce his back, her hand and part of her arm going clear through his chest and striking the clone he held in his grip. His blood coated her hand as she pulled her arm free and kicked him forward into the ground.

"H-how...?" he growled as he coughed up blood.

"Your fast and strong, but stupid as hell. The giant shuriken you dodged was me, not a weapon. My two clones were the one you thought you had, and my sword. When I got behind you, I charged my Chidori. I thought you'd turn once you heard the noise, but I suppose you thought it came from the lightning on my sword, didn't you?" Crossing her arms, she sighed as the manstill eyes widened in surprise and then he went still, his life ending just like that.

Almost immediately after, Haruhi took a few steps back and her eyes returned to their normal pale green color. Just as the last bits of her beasts chakra faded, a rush of pain came over her and she fell to her knees weakly. A small smile would find its way to her lips.

"I did it..."

[Hebigami Shiho]

Zee dashed forward yet again, though this time she did not use her Wind Talon jutsu and instead just dashed forward with her own strength. The girl in the kimono merely moved away again with her stunning speed, but this time, Zee was able to follow her around with her eyes. She quickly moved her hands and started making hand signs at an stunning speed, before dashing against the girl again, this time, anticipating her position and striking her in the stomach with her open palm. It was quite a powerful strike, making the girl stagger.

"H-Hmph, you are more capable than I expected you to be. Adjusting so fast to my speed.... It is no wonder you are here. However, you cannot hope to outpower me." The girl said, before moving against Zee and seemingly, disappearing once again. Zee this time could not keep up with her and was indeed surprised when she found her behind her. "Or outrun me, for that matter." She simply said, before letting out a chuckle and put her arms around her neck. Zee tok up on what she wanted to do. Twist her neck just like what they did to the other girl that was now lying around.

"It ain't gonna be that easy." Zee's real personality comes out to shine with a smile on her face, after she blocks her attempt at trying to break her neck by putting her own neck in fire, making the girl step back.

"W-Wha? Are you crazy or what?!" The fire was quickly put out by Zee herself, not letting herself get burnt by her own attack. She turned around, moving around her neck and making it crack while she does so. She poses her eyes over the girl with the kimono and takes up an stance with her left hand up and her right hand in front of her, both with her palms open.

"Let's stop playing around already. I'm going to show how a Kumo nin really fights when she gets serious."

"My," Recovering her cool, the woman in the kimono laughs as she covers her mouth with the sleeve of her kimono. "You weren't already serious? And here I thought you were making this a little too easy." The woman mocks her, but Zee doesn't even flinch at her hurtful words and her eyes try to pierce through her body, making the woman indeed be taken aback for a bit. It also seems to irritate her, quite a lot in fact. "Don't get so cocky, girl! I'll show you true power that ninjas can never hope to achieve!"

"I look forward to seeing that. I might want to kill you less if they are impressive enough." Zee grinned at her own comment. "I'm going to kill you, regardless." The two of them stared at each other for a long time, waiting for the other one to make the first move. It seemed as if both of them were expecting for a move of the other girl, just waiting, expecting something to happen, anything at all. Even with the others fighting, they still went on with their stare off. After a while, both of them smiled at each other. If neither of them were going to make the first move, then.....

Both of them dashed forward, even seeming to disappear, before they both clashed at the center, with Zee's elbow attack being blocked gracefully by the girl in the kimono by using both hands to stop the attack in its tracks. They were locked up with each other for only seconds, before both of them moved to their next attack. Zee went on with moving her body sideways, supporting herself on the floor with her hand and aiming a kick at the girl's face, who blocked it yet again, as gracefully as before. Zee clicked her tongue but didn't let down her attacks. She turned around, still using her hand to support herself on the floor, and aimed another kick to the girl's head, though this time it was an overhead kick. Blocked yet again, it seemed as if the girl smiled for a moment, before becoming serious again.

"My, that was quite the show. Now, let me show you just how much strength you put into those strikes. Even I was surprised." The girl laughed, before landing on the floor yet again. Zee was still turning around to get on the floor and ready to battle , however, a fierce strike on her ribs sent her back and made her fall. A bit of blood came out of her mouth.

"W-What? How can you pack such a punch!?" Zee looked at her. It was definitely not her power, she was way too slim to be able to do something like that. It could be a Chakra-fueled strike, but since she said something about ninjas before, she was fairly sure that that couldn't be the case. Then, what was that?

With another chuckle, the girl answered her questions. "I am not a ninja, I do not use chakra like you, however, my attacks are different from yours in one thing esentially." With a terrifying smile appearing on her face, the girl with the kimono went on with her explenation. "I do not use my own strength. My body wouldn't be able to hold so much power as it is now. However, while I block attacks of other people, I can store their strength into my body and use it against them whenever I need to." Laughing quietly at the thought of it, a bit of a sadistic smile came to her face, as well as cruel eyes as she looked at Zee. "In other words, people like you who can only think with their fists, are no match for me!" Of course, no one would just sit over and wait for the explenation to be over, as Zee tried to strike her yet again in the last part of her speech, only for her attack to be dodged yet again.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" Not letting any time go to waste, she turned around and shoot out a flame dragon at the girl with the kimono. This time, really catching her by surprise, the girl with the kimono was barely able to move away from the attack. Her kimono was now burned, as well as some of her skin.

"You... How dare you do this? You've caught me off guard once, don't think it'll happen twice."

"Now, let's see if that trick of yours works again. Now that I know about it, you'll hardly catch me like that again." Even though she said so, she still had some blood on her mouth. She was badly hurt, but that wasn't about to slow her down. 'Dammit, I think that broke some bones. Those were three full power attacks, its no wonder that would happen. And all released at once.... I need to adapt, or I will not win this fight...' Zee made a mental note for herself.

[The Red Seelie]

The midget was close maybe a little too close, he was barely a hairs breadth away from the jaw's of the fox when it lunged to take his head. one could feel the gentle breeze that emanated from that rapid closure, as the man had to take to the defensive. he was evading a very angry fox. A haze of Orangey red fur and teeth, this particular Fox lacked the Lantern commonly acclaimed to its specie's. A young-ling perhaps? Still it was effective and placing the ever weakening midget on the back foot, the Kunai that was embedded in his leg was jolting around at the speed he was traveling at opening the wound even more, Nathaniel watched through half closed eye on his position on the ground, Nathaniel was going nowhere but soon neither would the other guy but the fox was taking its time, and the noise that was produced by its constant growling and its snapping of branch's would attract somebody more able bodied which would result in a untimely death.

Grimacing Nathan propped himself up on his arm's and began preparing the hand seals for another technique so as to finish the fight quickly and efficiently and very very painfully for his opponent, finishing the hand seal's Nathan waited for the man to be above the fox on a branch "Wind Release, Gale Palm" Nathaniel said before clapping his hands together sending out a burst of Air towards the midget, it seemed to do nothing The midget laughed he thought he would live to see another day... The Branch snapped and down went the midget man, who fell like a graceful stone into open mouth of the fox *Crunch* The noise startled a flock of birds that took to the skies The fox spat out its now dead prey much to Nathan's apparent disgust at the ruined corpse.

The fight had ended yet Nathaniel had come out worse for wear why because he had been ignorant to the fact that one should always be braced for anything, he wouldn't make that mistake again. Now he just needed a way back to the other's he remembered the directions back but he had a broken leg so how was he gonna move himself then he noticed the elephant sized fox just watching him with its head cocked to the side "care to give me a lift?" Nathaniel asked politely even though it was normally dishonorable to carry a passenger in Fox culture, the fox obliged probably cause of his injured state, Nathaniel reached out and grabbed its fur and clambered on board its back.

during the slow walk back to the jagged rock's Nathaniel decided to list his injury's within his head.

> Broken leg which is gonna make subsequent missions until he can get help very hard.
> Disoriented though it should clear up with some time
> Headaches again just needs time
> Broken nose, not that bad as long as he finds something to support it
> Nose bleed: again it needs time
> Head injury with mild concussion - Concussion needs time Head injury needs some sort of covering.
> Bruises : in contrast to the other stuff not that big of a deal
> Lost 80% of all vision in the right eye

"well an't that sweet" Nathaniel murmured once he was done listing off his injury's as the fox slowed its speed till it was barely moving faster then a crawl as it prepared to drop Nathaniel down and guard him, Nathaniel's left eye picked up something about the "Corpse" of Ayane. It looked convincingly human but its skin seemed kind of wooden almost puppet like "Damn you" Nathaniel cursed under his breath before feeling the world turning around 180 degrees before fainting from the concussion sustained from his fight with the midget.

[Halvtand]

Ayane had watched the whole fight from above. While she’d done her business she’d noticed the three strangers. As she got ready to head back she’d gone around a big tree, summoned Jin and quickly transformed it into her own likeness. Jin had then walked back toward the rocks while Ayane was safe among the branches. She was lucky the strangers weren’t ninjas, in that case one of them might’ve seen through her trap.
Just as she thought, Jin was grabbed, and killed within a minute. As soon as that happened she let go of Jin and summoned Zanza instead, the doll with the two great swords. Is things got really ugly she was ready to have Zanza rush to the battlefield, swords swinging. Even though it was a predictable and direct attack, even a skilled ninja would have a hard time dealing with a surprise attack like that.
The rest of the team exploded into battle, holding nothing back in a furious attempt to avenge the death of their new friend. They did well, so well that Ayane didn’t use her doll even when Nathaniel's leg was broken. Not that she could’ve done much to prevent it. And after that, well, he seemed to have it under control, better to save the element of surprise for when it was really needed.
That situation came soon after both the men had been taken care off. The female in the kimono had only appeared as a nuisance at first, but had then struck Zee swift and hard, and had revealed an ability which many ninjas would die for (some might have). While Ayane hadn’t been able to do much for Nathaniel, she wasn’t going to let the same happen to Zee.
Ayane had watched and learned. The Kimono-clad woman used a special martial art that consisted mainly of blocks and (Ayane suspected) counters. A very bad matchup for a close-quarter fighter like Zee, but against a sword-wielding puppet with no sense of self-preservation? Perfect.

The woman made a swift move against Zee, ready to block a half-assed counter-attack to begin storing power for a new attack. Out of the tree where Ayane was hiding came a wooden puppet dressed in rags, about the same size as a normal man. In each hand it held a zanbatou, a great sword, rivalling those of Shingetsu and Haruhi in size. Like it weighed nothing at all the puppet soared through the air and managed to intercept the woman only a few steps before she’d reach Zee. Both swords were swung at her, but Zanza’s speed was no match for her.
“What?” She asked as she'd managed to get back on her feet, and stared in disbelief at the doll in front of her, standing and moving seemingly on its own. Ayane wasn’t going to let the element of surprise go to waste and immediately followed up with another attack.

While Zanza attacked the woman made no effort to counter. Simply dodging the massive blades was hard enough, blocking them was out of the question. Every now and then she reached out and nudged the huge swords very gently, but just enough to alter their path in order to dodge them easier. Her speed was greater the puppet's. At best, Zanza could only keep her occupied, and not for very long.
While Ayane kept Zanza on the offensive with her left hand, she drew the scroll containing Oni with her right and summoned it. Luckily, summoning objects didn’t require blood.
Oni was about the size of a small man, also clad in rags, but instead of hands it had long, sharp metal claws. She formed chakra threads with her right hand and placed them around Oni’s body, flexed his limbs a few times to check her control before she sent him into battle as well.

“I grow tired of this game!” The woman cried, obviously no longer surprised or impressed with Zanza’s performance. As it swung both great swords against her she released all the power she’d managed to build during their short duel. The first blade came in horizontally from the left, she struck it from above and sent it straight into the ground. The second came from above, this was gracefully sidestepped and struck from the side, which sent it halfway through a thick tree. “You’re done!” She said as every ounce of power she could muster was put into one furious attack aimed at Zanza’s torso. It struck hard, and sent the whole torso flying, spraying damaged parts, leaving legs and arms behind.

Oni arrived then, this time the woman didn’t even flinch. “Another?” She asked, and looked around to see where these puppets were coming from. This had been her first mistake, Oni was not in the same league as Zanza. In the blink of an eye Oni had closed the distance between them. The woman realised too late, but still had enough speed to turn away. Oni’s claws tore through the chest of her Kimono, but failed to draw blood. Again, before she could escape. The claws tore the lower part of her dress, and a nasty wound on her thigh.
”I have her.” Ayane thought, and sent Oni down to the ground with a low attack aimed toward the legs. The woman tried to jump, but the wound on her thigh prevented it. Oni’s claws dug deep into the woman’s calves.
”Time for the finale.”
As Oni appeared behind the woman it opened it’s arms, both claws were shot out and buried themselves in two nearby trees. Oni then turned and went below the woman, around the right side, above, down the left…
The woman could only watch as she was covered in razor-sharp ninja wire.

Ayane left her hiding place with a might jump and landed not far from the woman. Oni was standing still in front of her. Only one thread of chakra went from Ayane’s right hand to it, but there wasn’t any need for more.
“You!?” The woman asked, confused “You’re dead, Toshi killed you.”
“I am a puppeteer of the Sand” Ayane replied, confident now that her opponent was trapped in a death-trap. “We’re not killed that easy, it was just a trick to see what your intentions really was.” In fact, this is the first time you’ve seen me at all. What that big brute snapped the neck of was just one of my puppets.”
“But I saw you…”
“I used a transformation technique to make it look like me, its one of the easiest tricks a ninja can use, and you all fell for it.”
The woman didn’t take to that last part kindly, she screamed furiously and produced a knife from somewhere within her clothes and began to cut the wires that held her. Ayane flicked her finger.
Servoes began to work hard within the arms of Oni, the wires were being pulled back with amazing force. The wires tightened and before they started to cut into the woman’s skin the claws were pulled out of their trees.
After that, it all happened very quickly. The claws began to zig-zag through the air faster than the naked eye could see. They returned to Oni with two distinct “thuds”, then the woman began to fall apart. The arms were chopped into bits, as were the legs and the torso, even the head fell to the ground in no less than five pieces.

Utter destruction.
Only a few minutes before the site had been almost serene, a scene in the forest, green leaves, trees, birds singing in the distance. Now it was a mess, craters, destroyed rocks, blood and corpses…
Ayane sealed Oni back into the scroll and approached her team. There was no use in hiding anymore. Jin’s identity was known, so to keep hiding wouldn’t be good for the team. Ayane approached her team mates with a nervous smile and a wave.
“Hello again. I’m _so_ sorry for making you worry about me. I would’ve helped you out, but once you got going there wasn’t really room for me. I’m so very sorry” She said, and bowed to her new friends. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful, or like a slacker. She really hoped they could forgive her, Nathaniel especially, he had a broken leg and nose because she hadn’t pitched in.
“I’m no medic, but I have some spare parts that could be used as a splint for his leg.” She said after looking at him, and bowed once more in apology… What was that?
Something was poking out of the big man’s clothes, and it didn’t look natural. Led by her curiosity she went over to the corpse and searched it. Two scrolls were found.

First scroll:
Letter of pardon for B-rank criminal Igate Toshi
As the owner of this letter, the man known as Igate Toshi is free to travel, live in or leave the country of fire at will. His crimes will be cleared and all records deleted.
Signed by the daimyo of the country of fire.

Second scroll:
Instructions for the forest of death.
You have volunteered to participate in the SETU-exam in the forest of death in exchange for a chance of pardon. Your task is simple, but not easy.
A number of teams will enter the forest and attempt to survive there for three whole days. Your task is to make this as hard as possible.
Please note that these teams will consist of five people, but only one needs to be terminated for the whole team to fail. After the exam you may exit the forest by any of the major gates, your individual letter of pardon is your ticket to freedom.

Ayane read the two scrolls, and then passed them around the team, speechless.

[Bright_Ops]

To say that Raito was rather annoyed by the current situation was a bit of an understatement. Undoing your own bonds when your hands were tied behind your back was a time consuming process that generally required a lot of focus on the task and having to listen to two grown men choking to death on chlorine gas wasn't helping.

It was quite a sad fact of life that many other shinobi would have, when ambushed with five to one odds by a shinobi team that was about the same level as them that had a mixed bag of deadly melee and ranged fighters would have decided to charge in screaming at the top of their lungs and most likely have gotten killed for it. Raito had examined the situation carefully, thought over the pros and cons of fighting and decided to surrender peacefully instead. A chance to escape would no doubt present itself and allowing himself to be escorted peacefully meant that he would be in a much better condition to take advantage of it when it did.

The squad of chunnin from different villages had handed him over to a couple of men in order to watch him so that they could go and take part in the exams. The men had believed that with his hands tied behind his back and his weapons removed from him that they could have kept their prisoner under control. They were dead wrong in that regard.

Finally managing to work his hands free, Raito took a few moments to recover his equipment from the bodies of his former jailors. With a sigh, he started towards the door. He was rather thankful that he knew for a fact that at least one of his cousins were on the staff overlooking the exams; Things needed to be worked out and it always helped if you were working with someone you knew.

......................................................

It hadn't taken Raito long to find his cousin and once recent circumstances had been explained things had happened quickly and (More importantly) quietly. A diplomatic incident was the last thing anyone wanted to deal at the moment after all.

This did leave the other glaring problem that was Raito's current standing in relation to the S.E.T.U exams. Had the exams been held by any other village he would have been out of luck and asked to retake them in a few years, but in Konoha he had the kind of connections that could afford him a little... leeway in that regards. A quick briefing and a couple of files being copied later and Raito was darting through the forest, seeking out signs of his teammates in order to properly join them, a folder tucked away safely under his arm. It would do little good to walk up to his team without proof that he was meant to be on it after all.

Following the sounds of combat, the first engagement that Raito had come across belonged to the very team that had tried to remove him from the exams to begin with. While he could only account for four of the team, at least two of them were quite clearly dead and the remaining ones were clearly not going to withstand the assault by a surprisingly able team of what appeared to be bandits for much longer. Without reveling himself Raito continued to look elsewhere.

The second engagement he had zeroed in on had ended before he had arrived, but a quick look at those still standing confirmed that four of the people still standing were his teammates... as well as the location of the final, missing member of the squad that had caused all the problems in the first place.

This had to be handled carefully. Outright attacking the infiltrator off the bat would just backfire since the rest of the team would naturally assume he was hostile and side with her.

Taking a deep breath, Raito jumped into the clearing, landing a fair distance away from the other shinobi so that they would clearly see him coming, his cane linked to his belt so that his hands were free and he could show that he wasn't hostile. "Good morning." Was a simple enough greeting, but it would serve to alert them if they had somehow missed him before.

Despite the fact that he was unarmed, Raito wasn't stupid and was already in the process of dodging when the first bright ball of burning light was launched at his head. A quick cartwheel allowed him to dodge the second ball of what he seemed would be burning death while a few quick hand seals resulted in him spitting out what appeared to be a wall of water that was almost immediately struck by a third such ball, resulting in an explosion of steam that shrouded where Raito he been for a few seconds.

When the steam faded away, Zee's Wind Talon powered drop kick struck the masked man right in the chest, only for the splintering of wood to fill the air as the wooden branch that had been substituted shattered under the blow. The flare of pain that the strain of doing such a physical attack on Zee's damaged bones would cause her to flinch and stumble.

At a different entrance to the clearly, Raito presented himself once again, a strangely good cheer in his voice as he offered "Why, it's almost as if you are afraid of me talking for some strange reason. I wonder why?" His tone losing the cheer quickly, Raito acted fast in order to get the infiltrator to stop attacking him while ensuring that his own team didn't just bum rush him. "Look, I saw the rest of your team on the way here. Two of them were already dead and the other two didn't look like they were going to last when I left. I bare no ill will against you because I have to admit your plan to infiltrate another team was a good one but the rest of your team has failed you and made the point of this battle meaningless. I am asking you to cut your losses and walk away with your life."

Hopefully it would be enough to make the girl see reason and the rest of his team pause long enough to hear him out and allow himself to present the files proving they were meant to be on the same team. Things would get nasty otherwise.

[Keanto]

Shingetsu took the scrolls from Ayane and began to read. After he was finished and started to read them again, this time for making sure that he hasn't missed anything. A habit he got from his father "Always double check. Especially when it come to documents". Hmm, well I cant say that I am surprised. With this level of exam a wildcard is always in the game. Maybe even more than one cards Shingetsu thought for himself and the young Kiri ninja strapped back his greatsword.
As Zee started to launch her attack against a newly arrived ninja brought back Shingetsu from his thoughts. A new enemy? he thought and reached for his greatswords hilt, Shingetsu was now ready for combat. Although...it is rather strange that this masked shinobi approached us alone. And on top of that he didn't answer any of Zees attack
"What are you talking about??" Shingetsu demanded an answer from the mysterious ninja with the mask.

[Halvtand]

Ayane braced for impact, knowing that her tactic in the previous encounter wasn’t for the teams best, which was proven by Nathaniels broken state. The scrolls she had found wouldn’t hold the onslaught back for long, at least the girl from Kiri looked like she had one or two things on her mind,and was just about ready to tell everyone about it.
"Good morning."
A man was standing on a branch overlooking the clearing. Somehow he’d managed to sneak up on the whole team, but they had been busy with other stuff. He wore a mask, which made it impossible to say anything about his features, and his clothes left no patch of skin revealed. Going from only his voice it was a young adult, but he might’ve been older.
Attack is the best defence, or at least Zee from Kumo though so, she immediately launched a couple of attacks against the newcomer. A short fight erupted, Zee fought like she had before, with fury and intent. The newcomer seemed to focus on blocking and evading. Was he just here to grab their attention while the rest of his team snuck up on them from behind?
Ayane looked around, suddenly every branch and bush seemed impossibly humanoid, she could’ve sworn that one or two of them had moved as well.
A huge explosion covered half the clearing in mist, and Zee charged right through it. Ayane stood still, one hand already forming chakra threads that sought Zanza’s weaponry. As a puppeteer her place was almost stationary, she was supposed to survey the battlefield, find an opening and strike hard. The threads reached Zanza’s large swords and Ayane felt a tiny bit relaxed, at least now she was armed, but not in a way that most people would notice. If they were ambushed she could send two razor-sharp zanbatou at the attacker(s) while her team got ready and she had time to summon a functioning doll.

Something moved in the corner of her eye, small and swift. Then the man stood before her in full figure. Somehow he’d escaped Zee’s attacks and managed to get to the other side of the clearing without being intercepted. Either everyone else had gotten extremely slow in the last two seconds or they were waiting for something.
"Why, it's almost as if you are afraid of me talking for some strange reason. I wonder why?" His words were aimed at Zee, but he seemed to keep one eye on the rest of the team. "Look, I saw the rest of your team on the way here. Two of them were already dead and the other two didn't look like they were going to last when I left. I bare no ill will against you because I have to admit your plan to infiltrate another team was a good one but the rest of your team has failed you and made the point of this battle meaningless. I am asking you to cut your losses and walk away with your life."

…

”What?” She thought, her mind racing to form a question, but Shingetsu from Kiri was faster. “What are you talking about?” He said, it was crude, but short and concise, straight to the point. She liked it. Anyway, back to the point, what?
What other team? Who was this guy? Cut what losses? The questions bundled up inside her, but she couldn’t just shout them out, that wouldn’t be proper. Instead her eyes shifted rapidly from Zee to the stranger. Zee was getting ready to attack again, Ayane saw it in her eyes, she was in battle mode, perhaps she hadn’t even heard what the stranger had said, only that he had spoken. With her fingertips Ayane tried moving the sword just a little, just to be sure that they weren’t stuck. If the battle erupted she might need them.

[The Mad Hatter]

The hours go by rather slowly, when traveling the world all by your lonesome. You also learn to entertain yourself without really doing anything, because simply thinking about your life would lead to severe depression.
At least, that was how Tsubasa felt. Whenever he let his thoughts wander, he realized that his life was painfully empty. Missions and random hook-ups aside, he had no life. No friends that he hung out with on his days of. No family that actually bothered to come see him.
He never complained. His mother had told him, when he was still very young, that there is always someone who is worse off. Obviously, this was the case for him, as well. He was rather well off, actually. He enough money to retire, should he so please. He was good-looking, to say the least. He was friendly and charming and generally very good at social interaction.

So what if his job required that he spent days on end with no one but himself? He was good company. Better company than most. Certainly better company than his mother had been. He never yelled for no reason, spewed insults like there was no tomorrow or threw things at other people. He also never broke down crying, blubbering about how terrible his life was and how he had lost everything. His mother had. Often.

Shaking his head clear of the troubling thoughts that began to surface, Tsubasa let out a small, quiet sigh. There really was no point in thinking too much about things. It would only do him harm. He was pretty sure that having too much time to think was what drew his mother over her edge and even if he was pretty sure he would never touch an alcoholic beverage in his life, he knew better than to believe himself to be stronger than her; he would just pick up another habit or addiction.

It was raining. Of course, that was to be expected, so close to the border of the Rain Country. He was still within Earth Country territory, but it would not be unusual for Rain, Grass or even Leaf or Sand ninja to be roaming these parts. He was heading towards the Wind Country, where he had been employed by some rich fellow or another in one of the smaller villages. He did not even know what for and he honestly could not care much less. The pay was good. He could live without the travel, though.
He was currently right smack dab in the middle between Earth, Stone and Rain. Traveling through the Stone Country was a bit longer, but with less risk of getting mauled by bandits. He quite liked his face the way it was.

Tsubasa paused mid-step as he felt a flare of chakra nearby; the flare that usually meant that someone was channeling for a technique. With the heavy rain, it was hard for him to see or hear if anyone was sneaking around. He was lucky to have a sixth sense.
Now that he was focusing on the world around him rather than his own thoughts, he could clearly feel the presence of five people, one of which either had ridiculously low reserves of chakra or was attempting to conceal his presence as he sneaked around on the cliffside to his left. Another one was straight ahead, roughly twenty feet away and was, just as Tsubasa had first assumed, channeling for a technique. The other three were on his right, supposedly hiding in the shrubbery there.

Drawing in a slow, steady breath, Tsubasa formed the seals necessary for his escape, molded his chakra and held it. He waited for just the right moment and as soon as he felt the release of molded chakra from the man in front of his, he released his own as well. Just as he sank into the ground below him, he saw a fireball hiss over his head before everything got dark.
Without his sensory skills, maneuvering around underground probably would have been much harder. As it was, he could easily “see” where his targets were and burrowed his way to the an that had tossed a fireball at him. Without really thinking about it, he reached a hand above the surface, snatched the man's ankle and drew him underground as well, with just his head sticking up. Even with dirt all around him, he could still hear the man yelling to his buddies for help. He was not planning on sticking around long enough to find out if they would.
He continued his journey below the surface for as long as he could, but after just about two minutes, he was already running out of lung capacity. He had gotten a good distance from his attackers by then.

Returning to the surface was always a blessing. His first few breaths instinctively came in desperate gasps, but he quickly calmed himself to take deep, steady breaths instead and wasted no time in hightailing like the pro he was. As soon as his legs would allow it, he was sprinting away from the scene of crime and towards his original goal of The Land of Wind. He had not gotten the title as The Coward by fighting bandits.

[Bright_Ops]

Raito sighed.

It was rather clear that the woman wasn't going to take his advice and walk away, which vastly reduced the number of ways that this situation could end in. All he could really hope for was that he could end this without the others joining in against him.

While it was clear that the damage to Zee's ribs was hindering her somewhat, she still managed to perform the second Wind Talon almost perfectly, vanishing from where she was standing and moving to strike her masked opponent...

CRUNCH

While Zee was fast, Raito had been expecting such an attack. Moving just enough to dodge the high powered blow to his chest, Raito had counter attacked with a blow aimed right for the girl's damaged ribs before following through and driving her into the ground. Between the physical power behind the blow itself, the violent landing on her back, the damage and strain that those ribs had already sustained and the high speed that Zee had been moving at, the end result was a sickening crunch that sounded through the clearing. The Kumo girl was more or less folded in half from the punch itself before being slammed down into the unforgiving earth, mercifully passed out from the pain.

Taking a deep breath, Raito stood up straight and looked over at the rest of his team before properly taking hold of the folder he had brought with him. "Before you try and kill me, please here me out. I can actually prove that I'm meant to be on your team."

[The Red Seelie]

Nathan mind was a mixed sensation of light,pain and noise neither the less he had sustained worse so he tryed to pull himself upright Grimacing and wincing as he did so. His summon was gone Disappeared returned back to its land of summoning. However even with a blurred right eye. Nathaniel spotted the Ninja who had almost effortlessly taken down Zee. Nathaniels hands reached behind himself in a attempt to grab a scroll and remove the danger but he had something that made him stop. through a raspy voice but still mustering a light shout "Do tell" he said. Before going back to using his waning strengh just to prop himself up. He needed treatment, Badly.

[Keanto]

"Do it quick then, before I get too excited" Shingetsu said and pointed at Raio with his left hand mimicking a handgun. The young Kirin can't quite decided if the new stranger was speaking the true, but in any cases Shingetsu doesn't want to take any chances.

[Halvtand]

Ayane noticed the broken Nataniel lying on the cold hard ground. He’d come back to life and despite all the pain he was surely in he managed to ask the newcomer for proof. She wanted proof as well, the situation was unbearable. Their teammate was being attacked and no one made a move to help her. At the same time the attacker tried to convince them that he was the real member of their team and everyone was waiting for proof. It didn’t bode well for future missions together. As they were standing around talking about it the strangers whole team could be sneaking into backstab position. She had to admire the man’s balls though, being the bait in a trap like that could go really bad, really fast.

Letting go of her chakra threads, Ayane dashed over to Nathaniel and stopped watching the stranger for a moment. Risky, but she had to trust the team on this one. After all, the Kiri swordsman sounded like he was on the edge of attacking himself, so he wouldn’t allow the stranger to blink in a strange way without doing something about it.
Ayane grabbed Nathaniel’s chest and lifted him up only far enough to curl her arm around him, then she sat down on her knees, ready to jump away at any sign of trouble. She let him sink down against her chest and shoulder. even though she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the closeness, it felt better than letting him rest on the ground. At least he wouldn’t drown in his own blood like this.
“Stop stalling! Give us the proof, if you have any or leave us alone!”

[Bright_Ops]

For whatever reason, they were giving him the chance to talk. Admittingly their patience was clearly starting to wear thin but they were listening and not trying to kill him. Raito found this to be a bit of a mixed blessing; Sure, it was great for his current situation but had he been trying to distract them to allow unseen allies to launch an ambush they would have fallen for it hook line and sinker. Something to work on it seemed...

Holding up the folder he had brought with him all this way, he started to speak up in order to be heard clearly despite the distance between them "This is the file of who was meant to be on team five. Before the exam began, your friend there-" Raito took a moment to point his thumb over his shoulder to the out cold woman to enforce his point "And her friends decided to ambush me while I was on route and replaced me with one of their groups members... IE, her. This was no doubt a plan to set you guys up for a fall but as I said earlier I spotted the remains of her team on the way here. Turns out removing a member for this plan has backfired on them rather badly. The people they left me with were rather sub-par guards and are now very dead. I pulled some connections I have and here I am, talking to you and holding a file of who was meant to be on team five because I just knew that if I came here with no proof of my claim at all that you would rather wisely not believe me."

Waiting a few seconds to let this sink in and taking the time to look at the shape his team was in, Raito also offered "I have training in medical jutsu as well." Nothing like offering a skill that was in despite need to rig the scales of thought towards the 'Believe him and let him live' option.

[Halvtand]

No one in the team dared to move. Even Ayane was frozen in place. She hadn't expected any kind of evidence at all, and the complete files on the team was... Well... Overwhelming. Even the people who ran the exam wouldn't have full access to that information, alliance or no alliance. It was a huge deal, because all villages had secrets that needed to stay secret, and gathering the teams in some kind of folder and passing it around could be devastating.

She let go of her weapons and formed new chakra threads aimed at the folder in the stranger's hand. She grasped them carefully and then with a sudden tug she jerked the papers out of his hand. They flew through the air almost impossibly straight toward her. She simply reached out and picked the bundle out of the air as it passed.
The folder opened in her hand and she quickly scanned the papers. It was all there. Name, rank, village, speciality... Luckily the stranger hadn't gotten hold of any kind of info about their techniques or anything like that. That would've been very bad.
She put the papers on the ground and spread them out a little so she could see them all at once. Her eyes darted from the ground to her team as her eyes found the paper that confirmed their identity.
They were all in there, even the stranger. But that didn't make any sense. That would leave them with a six-man team and the instructions had been very clear about the number of people in a team.
She scanned the papers again and realised her mistake. There was no paper with "Ikazuchi Zee" from Kumo on it. Instead she read "Hīringu Raito" from Konoha.

She stared at the documents in disbelief. It was too crazy to believe, the whole thing was far too suspicious. But there it was in black and white, with official seals and everything. Either this was the real thing or the guy in the mask was a master forger who had somehow had time to make an exact replica of the official seal in just an hour or so to fool them. The seal had been on display at the briefing earlier this morning before the exam started.
"He's telling the truth" She said, still not entirely convinced, but the evidence couldn't be false. "Zee isn't supposed to be here, he is." She pointed at him. "He's a med-nin from Konoha called Raito."