Summary: Sayuri and Chinatsu run after the summon and fight with a determined attitude to get those bells.
" They almost got me last time. They got ambushed by that spider, but this time ... I will be the one to ambush them. And this time, they will have to do their very best."
Hiroshi was not setting any traps or wires to ambush them - instead, he was aiming to catch them surprise in a large, open area. And he had the perfect plan for that. Biting his thumb and performing the necessary seals, he sumonned Hirudora. The tiger was not surprised at the summon, and waited for Hiroshi to explain the situation." I am going to need your aid, my friend. I intend to test them again, but I need your smell to locate them. You will go with my Shadow Clone ... " Hiroshi paused for a moment, creating one." I need you to find them and lure them back here. As soon as you see me, retreat to a safe location - I am going to hit them with a wide area technique. Once that is done, I would like you to regroup with me - we are going to test how they trust in each other."
Hirudora listened calmly to the plan and nodded." Got that, Hiroshi. I am already on my way." A second later, the tiger headed off with an enormous leap, the clone Hiroshi following quickly behind. Only a minute or two later, they were on the right track." This way, Hiroshi. I found them." Hiroshi smiled at the comment and followed Hirudora as he changed directions." I knew I could trust you, my friend."
Taking a deep breath, or several, Chinatsu tried to ease some of the frustration. She did not like failure, nor was she able to cope well with it and it only served to irritate her as the seconds ticked on. "I think we need to start heading to the center of the forest," Chinatsu said, pausing before turning to her clone then continuing "clone, run the peremeter of the forest." Grabbing a stick, she began cleaning the spiderling covered arrow and muttered something under her breath, once most of the spiderling goo was off her arrow, she put it back in the sheath and crossed her arms. Taking a bite of her apple after a second, chewing it slowly before slowly swallowing it and looking at Sayuri. "Failure is not an option, we have to get those bells and we have to succeed." It had been a couple of hours sense they heard from or has seen Hiroshi-Sensei, already beginning to feel more aggrivated and stressed. She needed to shoot something, anything as long as she got to use her bow and arrow, stopping mid-stride, she took off her bow and nocked an arrow. She aimed at nothing in particular, it was unfornunate that a small bird happened to fly over them and that became the aim, letting the arrow fly. Of course, it hit dead center, with all her practice and presicion, it would be shameful for it not to. The bird and arrow fell to the ground, lifelessy.
Sayuri was leaning against a three. They were searching for Hiroshi-Sensei for a couple of hours now, while resting in short intervals." I am glad you finally cleaned that arrow. The stench was unbearable. And the way they crunched when they touched something ... I had a hard time keeping that apple down. Agreed. Failure is not an option ... but then again, to succeed, we will have to do some miracles." She was catching her breath - avoiding all the wildlife trying to kill you was difficult, but they did a great job so far. That is, if you count out the spider. But time was against them." Chinatsu ... I have been thinking. We really need to wrap this up quickly. The sun is setting and ... I don´t know how about you, but I don´t want to spend the night in the forest. Everything in this place is trying to kill us ... or eat us. We have to do this before night falls. What do you think?"
The possible humor in her fisrt few statements were lost with Chinatsu, she was not in the mood to joke around anymore as she was putting all her energy on figuring out those bells. "I am not leaving until I have those bells in my hand," Chinatsu said, firmly. If it took all night and the next day, then so be it. But there was no way that she was failing this mission, this test of sorts, it did not matter what it was or how it would affect the future. All that mattered now was that she needed those bells, she would not stop until she succeeded. "Lets go," she said, starting to walk again and not caring how loud her steps were. She took in every detail, every movement and every sound, very little escaped her eyes and senses. Her expression no longer causal, it was no longer curious or impatient. It was very evident on her face that she do anything for those bells, anything at all, anything to avoid failure.
" Yeah, that´s true. Tell that to the next spider trying to sneak upon us when we fall asleep." But deep inside, she held the same feelings - no leaving without the bells. So they made their way towards the very heart of the forest. Passing several places that could provide them with shelter should they need it, she did her best to memorize them. In the worst case, they would take turns on the lookout. As time passed, she thought she heard a few branches to creak as they moved around them, as if somebody was moving on them, but decided not to pay any attention to it - a forest was full of wild life. But a few minutes later, she regretted the fact that she did not tell Chinatsu about it. After a loud crack of a branch behind them, she saw Hiroshi-Sensei accompanied with a tiger moving towards them - and their teacher was already attacking.
Using the Manipulating Attack Blades, the clone Hiroshi managed to sneak behind them. The kunai were travelling towards them with far less speed than he would usually hurl them in real combat situations. Sayuri noticed her and a split second later, so did Chinatsu. The kunai were about to fly past them in a safe distance, when Sayuri hurled herself forward, tackling Chinatsu in order to save her. The clone smiled - that is what he wanted to see.
Chinatsu spun around as she heard the loud crack, narrowing her eyes at Hiroshi-Sensei and the tiger that accompanied him. Not having time to react to his instant attack, she was knocked to the ground by her team mate and held down for a moment as the kunai that would have hit her flew over them, making a whistling sound as they did so. Shocked, stunned, uncertain and a lot more emotions flashed across her face before she managed to get Sayuri off her. Once back on her feet, she quickly nocked an arrow and aimed at her Sensei, if he was intending on trying to kill them then she would certainly not hold back on him either. Aiming at his heart, she let the arrow fly and was moving a second later, performing hand seals as she moved. Moulding her chakra as her jutsu needed, she just needed to be close enough to him.
Knocking the arrow away with a well placed shuriken, Hiroshi tucked Hirudora - they started to move away from them in a slower pace. Seeing Chinatsu was about to counter, he determined that to be the best course of action - to see how well will they handle frustration." We´re not letting you go away this time! Come, Chinatsu!" Sayuri was quickly back on her feet to and spotted her teammate firing an arrow away. Leaping after the direction Hiroshi-Sensei went, she picked up the arrow Chinatsu fired seconds ago. The clone Hiroshi, together with Hirudora moved back towards the original Hiroshi, who was luring them into an ambush. A second later, Hiroshi and Hirudora separated - the tiget quickly disappeared into the distance, while the clone Hiroshi was steadily heading towards the ambush site.
Chinatsu did not stop, she sprinted after him and kept her eyes on Hiroshi. Although she did find it odd that they retreated, but all she could focus on was that he was in sight and she wanted those bells. "Dont feel like playing, Hiroshi-Sensei?" Chinatsu asked, her tone almost made her sound like she was mocking him. She sprinted faster, keeping her chakra moulded as she tried to close the distance between them. Regardless of the situation, she kept sprinting towards him with a look of pure determination, it was one that could intimidate anyone if she wanted it to.
They were gaining on him! Hiroshi-Sensei was closer and closer with each passing second- Leaping from a branch, they were over a wide area - exactly where the real Hiroshi wanted them. Standing with Hirudora at his back, he nodded. Letting his clone disperse, he moulded a large amount of chakra, with Hirudora doing the same. The tiger let out a huge Flame Bullet, which Hiroshi enhanced with his Wind Release. The resulting inferno of flames was quickly approaching the duo, but Hiroshi knew what he was doing - the technique was aimed way udner them, making sure to avoid them - but from their angle, the technique was approaching them.
Sayuri almost stopped in her tracks, but she kept running towards the inferno. A plan formulated in her mind - a bold, crazy one. Making a quick series of seals, she used her Water Whip and latched it onto a branch close to Hiroshi. The size of the technique was working in their favor for now - it obstructed Hiroshi´s vision of them." Chinatsu! Go above them! We can avoid it!"
Nearly skidding to a halt, she eyed the inferno and gritted her teeth in frustration, flicking her hand in the upward direction she felt her whip grab hold onto something and used it swing herself upwards until the branch that it grabbed snapped due to the lightning in the whip. Forunately, she had enough air under her at the time to be able grab a different branch and latch onto it like her life depended on it. "I put too much lightning in my whip, next time I will try calculate that better," Chinatsu said, more to herself than to Sayuri. She began to see the mistake, following after them like that, it was a big mistake. "Sayuri, I think this was planned."
" A good thing we counter planned! Chinatsu - you will know when to shoot, and do it! This is our best chance!" Sayuri let go of her whip and landed on the tree, using her chakra to run upwards on it. Picking up one of the two scroll she had remaining, she unsealed the one containing the one with the sealed weaponry. A flurry of kunai and shuriken was approaching Hiroshi. Not wasting any time, she leaped away from the tree to another nearby one, hurling her own kunai and shuriken towards him. Leaping again to a branch higher, she used it as a springboard to launch against Hiroshi, drawing out Dragon´s Bite - Hiroshi was now being cornered from several directions, but deep inside, he was satisfied. What he witnessed was splendind teamwork. But he still had to see some more.
"I always know when to shoot," Chinatsu said, airly. She had already began performing more hand seals, a different jutsu and a different idea that would work with what Sayuri wanted as well. Now she just needed some more time, just a little, but still time. And it looked like she had it, even more so as her clone came running into the clearing and threw its own kunai at Hiroshi sensei, prepared to throw a shuriken as well as the other kunai in her hand. A minute later, she was ready, her arrow now covered in her lightning chakra and as it was nocked, she took aim. Not waiting for a signal, she let it go and just like last time, she was already moving towards Hiroshi-Sensei.
Cornered from all directions, Hiroshi was satisfied with the result - but he wanted to see a bit more. Using his Wind Release, he deflected Sayuri´s barrage of weapons. Quickly dodging Chinatsu´s arrow opened the window for Sayuri - unsealing her last scroll, she sent it to Chinatsu´s arrow using her Red Flash and made it fire the net - the only one she managed to retrieve from earlier towards Hiroshi´s back. Another puff of smoke - and Hiroshi was gone from behind the net, using the Substitution Technique. Sayuri arrived way too late to pose any danger, and so did the net - but that was all part of her plan. Grabbing the net and gritting her teeth, she sent it to the Red Flash seal on Hiroshi´s back - the one she applied in her previous encounter.
Caught by surprise as he though he was out of their reach, he saw enough. The two girls were capable of working like a team and despite cleanly being frustrated and pushed, they refused to give up the mission. Letting himself be captured by the net and making it look like he was done for, he waited. Sayuri immediately spotted this and credited it to the surprise they achieved. Leaping towards him, she went straight for the bells." Go, Chinatsu!"
"Already working on it," Chinatsu said, already having Hiroshi in her sights, readied her bow and sent two arrows at him. One hit his left shoulder and the other his right, firmly pinning him to the ground for the moment as the clone approached, so did the real Chinatsu. The clone getting there first, a kunai steady on the back of Hiroshi-Sensei neck as the real one got there in time to locate the bells. Wanting to claim both of them, she would let Sayuri get her own, she was a very capable team mate and one to rely on as well. Grabbing and snapping the small cord that attatched to his belt loop, she jumped away with the bell in her hand. She rang it, once then once more, a very proud and arrogant yet lofty smile on her face. "Alright Sayrui, dont dissapoint me now. Get yours," Chinatsu said, stilling ringing the bell.
Hiroshi was a bit surprised at how much Chinatsu pushed their point as he found a kunai on his neck. But it was a god thing - not letting down their guard even against a seemingly defeated target. He stood there, motionless - allowing for Sayuri to grab the second bell. The girl was a bit surprised at how easy it was. The moment the girls got the bell, Hiroshi got rid of the net, as well as of the clone that was still holding a kunai to his neck. He jumped and landed right in front of them. Extending both his hands, he placed them on top of the heads of his students, with a wide smile setting on his lips." Chinatsu, Sayuri ... you both have done well in this mission. The purpose of this mission was to test your ability to survive in a hostile environment - that spider confirmed to me that you can take care of yourselves. To survive the unexpected - like my assault right after the spider attack. To not give up on the task at had - I was following you, thanks to Hirudora. You were on the edge several times, but you persevered. And the willingness of both of you to give your everything, and maybe a bit more. There were certain areas that were lacking, that is for sure ... but I will take care of that. Chinatsu Hon, Sayuri Cho - you are now officially Genin in Team Six!"
"Well, what did you expect? Us to fail miserably?" Chinatsu asked bluntly to, glaring at him harshly. Finally after a long silent glare, she turned to Sayuri with a grin. "Told you, we would succeed, there was no reason to leave before dark," Chinatsu said to her. Nodding, she looked to the tiger and eyed it carefully. "You led us into ambush, was that really the smartest thing to do? Knowing the outcome now, it does seem to be smart thing to do?" she asked. It had worked, so to speak but it was a good training and or misson for the first time.
" I expected many things, Chinatsu. You did well,but don´t let that get into your head. Leading you into an ambush was a way to test how quick can you react and come up with a plan. If you would take note, my technique was aimed under you ... but you did great. Next time we will do this exam, I expect both of you to be at the rank of a Chuunin ... and you can expect me not holding back." Sayuri was silent most of time, still comprehending what happened in the last few minutes." I think ... I think we did just fine. Not bad, not good ... just fine. And we learned that we don´t like spider-ka-bob ... but ... yeah. I knew we would succeed, Chinatsu ... but now ... can we just, you know ... get out of here, Hiroshi-Sensei?" Hiroshi chuckled a bit." Of course. Thank you, Hirudora. You are free to leave, if you desire so. I will be leading my team out." The tiger bowed it´s head and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Hiroshi waved his hand and signaled his team to follow him.
" Both of you have one free day - you earned it. But expect us to continue on carrying missions - more and more dangerous."