Remram
AchronumKazuhiko Taketori
Morning || Land of Fire: Konohagakure
Celebrating Team Six passing the first stage lasted an afternoon with his sensei and all of around five minutes at home. His father acknowledged the news with a single, satisfied nod as his mother fawned over him, but there were only so many hugs and praises she could give before he started feeling awkward. As kind as his mother’s reaction was, Kazuhiko found himself preferring his father’s reaction, which was more like what he’d been expecting. He was the clan heir, one of the strongest contenders in his age group, and, as Atomu kindly put it, “way overdue for a chunin title.” For him, passing the first stage wasn’t surprising in the slightest, just as passing the second wouldn’t be. The third stage was trickier, given its more individual nature, but even then he was expected to pass, if not make it to the finals. So yes, while celebrating with his team felt natural, being praised at home didn’t. Nothing in the compound, not Atomu’s knowing smile nor the calligraphed idioms hung around his house, suggested that he’d done anything except meet expectations, and that was exactly how Kazuhiko expected it’d be.
What he hadn’t expected, though, was how the second stage of the exam would be. Though he’d figured that the stage couldn’t have taken place in the academy courtyard even though that was where they’d been told to gather, and though he knew that the second stage tended to take place in an undisclosed training ground to test the adaptability in unfamiliar environments, which was important enough of a skill for them not to alter the testing conditions too much, he hadn’t been expecting to make a trek as long as they were currently making. “Follow me,” the green-haired woman who could only be the stage’s proctor had said before turning tail and bolting into the forest. And the group did, after a second of hesitation, making up for the lost seconds by jumping branches in the forest at double pace. They’d been headed due west, which made sense until they started broaching the border, then made none when they’d crossed from sparse woodland into arid grassland. By the time that the true desert began peeking through in patches, the group was smaller than it was when the stage began, which Kazuhiko only faintly noticed, the endless running occupying the rest of his thoughts with heat, sweat, and tiredness.
“Why—hah—are—hah—we running—hah—so much,” Natsuko managed, her breaths the most audible between the team. Though her question was simple and likely half rhetorical, Kazuhiko took a guess at what she meant.
“We’re probably doing the stage with the Suna genin,” he said, breaths breaking up his words as well. “The second stage usually spans a few days, at least.”
“Well I—hah—hate it,” Natsuko huffed.
The sight of a fence-like structure up ahead passed a tangible sense of relief through the group, and in minutes they’d arrived, near everyone bending over to pant or just straight-up collapsing in relief like Natsuko.
“Never again!” she panted, drawing the eyes of their proctor, whose high jacket collar hid any smile she may have had, if she was even the type to smile. Unlike the genin, she showed no signs of weariness, or even being winded, for that matter. In fact, her face showed no sign of anything as her eyes left Natsuko.
“Good morning, all. My name is Sayuri, and I am one of your proctors for stage two.” Her voice was clear and crisp, only serving to amaze Kazuhiko further. He doubted there were many shinobi who could manage running such a distance without breaking a sweat, jonin or not. How had he never heard of her?
“This is the Demon Desert. Genin from Sunagakure will join the test from the other entrance. In three minutes, a game of tag will start,” she said, pulling a scroll from the bag strapped on her back. “You will start with either a Heaven or Earth ink character. Tagging someone will let you claim their character. Each member of your team will need both characters in order to pass,” she said, opening the scroll. A flurry of black exploded from the paper, rushing at the genin. Kazuhiko stumbled back, hearing Natsuko cry out from beside him as something slapped itself onto his back. A glance around revealed that it must have been an ink character, seeing as ink strokes spelling out ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’ had now branded themselves onto the backs of each genin, spanning their clothes from sleeve to sleeve to form a very visible and literal target.
“The game will last five days and will start in one minute. Breaking rules will result in disqualification.” Finished wrapping the scroll up, she slid it back into her bag, her eyes sweeping across the genin. “I’ll meet you all back here in five days. Good luck.”
This time, the group was collectively faster on the uptake, dashing into the arena within seconds. “This way,” he’d said, leading his team deeper into the desert. “We should head deeper to avoid groups that are focusing on fighting their way through on the first day.”
“Ugh, but I’m tired,” Natsuko grumbled, but kept up all the same.
Natsuko Rinha
Early Morning || Land of Wind: Demon Desert
“Get it!” Natsuko yelled, dashing at the sand-colored rabbit, which hightailed it for its burrow as soon as she yelled. And, as the plan went, Kazuhiko threw an electrified kunai from the side, bringing an end to the chase, which had gone on far too long for Natsuko’s liking. She was, however, unable to complain since the whole thing had been her idea. That said, yesterday’s suggestions for dinner—scorpions, lizards, and mice—helped motivate her since it was either overly cautious rabbits or the large nest of sharp-beaked birds that’d proven too fast to reliably dodge. Though the team had filled their bellies with grilled and bony birds, the amount of effort that’d gone into fending off and nabbing a dozen of the tiny things had tired everyone out. Add in cuts and scrapes from the birds’ beaks and claws with spotty sleep due to shifts keeping watch and Natsuko was not a happy camper, which was another reason why she’d stubbornly refused to deal with anything except for rabbits today.
“See, I knew it’d work!” A grin hung on her face as she pranced over to where Kazuhiko stood holding the rabbit.
“Yeah.” He gave her a conflicted look, then in one, swift motion, he pulled a kunai out and dispatched the rabbit, which twitched out of life in his hands. As the animal’s ears drooped, Natsuko realized that suddenly birds didn’t seem like such a bad option.
“Right, next one,” he said after he gave the limp fur a few more shakes for good measure.
“Y-yeah,” Natsuko said, averting her eyes to look across the desertscape, then glancing back out of guilt. “Kazu-kun, I, um… I can try killing the next rabbit,” she said, trailing off.
Kazuhiko fixed her with another look, looking equal parts tired and kind, his eyes reminding Natsuko of her older brother. “It’s alright. It’s easier for me to grab the rabbit right after I throw a kunai anyway.”
He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, holding her gaze for a second before breaking it and looking to Koharu. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
Since finding rabbits and their burrow locations took time, the team didn’t get back to their hideout until nearly noon. A close call with spotting a team in the distance, which was remedied by a hearty gust courtesy of Natsuko herself, had encouraged them to shrink their hunting radius, and at the end they managed three rabbits and two burrowing things that looked to be a cross between a rat and a squirrel. It was a generous bounty for one meal, but the team had figured it’d be better to have some supply stores. If anything, Kazu could zap the meat into something jerky-like that was nigh unchewable but still better than scorpions or an empty stomach.
Their shelter was in the west central region of the desert and consisted of a few clay ruins. Though there were a few huts with walls and roofs intact, there were still too many cracks and crevices to comfortably sustain a fire at night, so the team had to improvise. What they came up with was a strange amalgamation of techniques designed to borrow from collapsed houses to build up the one they chose. Koharu’s water techniques served as the basis of the strategy, helping to melt down the dried clay into workable shape, and Kazuhiko’s lightning techniques could heat the wet clay enough that it held its shape, after which the sun could do its thing. With the wet clay mixture, the group was able to patch cracks in the house, topping the structure off with a chimney up top. They’d done this all before setting out to hunt rabbits since Kazuhiko and Koharu were in agreement that this test was as much about survival as it was about combat, but Natsuko was just happy that Koharu was able to help her wash the mud off her hands after they were done.
While hunting, the team had picked up what dried shrubbery and branches they came across, but eThe rest of the evening was spent gathering fuel for a fire, which ended up consisting mostly of dried shrubbery since trees were few and far between.
Then, after the splitting, skinning, and skewering, the meat was finally sizzling beside the fire in their patched-up shelter, the three of them gathered around it, staring at the fire. It was the second meal they’d have this exam, but it felt like the first real meal in a while. The smell of fire-seared meat made Natsuko’s stomach growl, and she swallowed the saliva that had gathered, clearing her throat.
“So, what should we do for the rest of the day?” She glanced between her teammates with an inquisitive look. Scouring the desert for easy targets didn’t sound appealing, especially given the inescapable heat right outside the door. In the desert, daylight was hotter than fire in the long run, though the cooking fire was surprisingly bearable in the shade.
“I think the Kono genin have accepted that evening and night are the best times to move around during. It’s cold at night, but it’s still closer to home than this heat,” Kazuhiko said, indicating the door with a toss of a thumb. “As for the Suna nin, they might not have the same thoughts, but they’ll learn quickly. It’s only efficient to move around in the desert if others are moving too. Sniffing people out in the sand is an easy way to waste time and leave your back open.”
“Right,” Natsuko said, eyes on the crispy, golden-brown leg of rabbit closest to her. It’d been so helpless when Kazuhiko held it, but now Natsuko felt less than zero sympathy for the animal. All she could think about was how good it smelled, how gloriously savory it’d be, how—
“I think they’re about done,” Kazuhiko said, his voice betraying a note of amusement. The small smile he flashed at Koharu confirmed to Natsuko that he was indeed smiling at her, but she didn’t care for that right now.
“Thank you for the meal!” she said, grinning as she plucked up the stick closest to her, blowing furiously on the meat before getting impatient and attempting a bite, then recoiling with a whine.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kazuhiko shot Koharu another amused smile, but this time Natsuko caught his eye and fixed him with a glare. “Not funny.”
“Right,” he said, nodding and blowing on a his own piece of meat, but Natsuko got the distinct impression that he was being sarcastic, which was so un-Kazuhiko-ly Kazuhiko-like that she had to give it to him.
“Koharu, tell him I don’t like cheeky guys,” she said with a huff before finally digging in and, well, the wait was worth it.
@Sunflower
