Misao's Chuunin Exams

Misao entered the rather spacious, comfortable room. It was nice that they had a good facility here for the exams - it was rather large compared to the other village's, due to the increased need for strong ninja. Stretching and sitting down at her table, she glanced around the room. There only seemed to be a few other people here - they were all chatting and being friendly.

Misao's own temporary team had met beforehand, so they could get to know each other and the like. There was Atsuko, who used mostly lightning release, and was rather quiet. She seemed nice, though. There was also Masaru, who was all confident and leader-like. She didn't know what sort of jutsu he used, though.

After several minutes of waiting, the room gradually started to fill up. All sorts of sunagakure ninjas were attending, the village really was a big one. Misao's teammates were spread out across the room, rather far away. She wasn't particularly fussed, there was plenty of time to talk to them at other times of course. Eventually, the room was nearly full and the proctor showed up. She had spiky, odd green hair, and a long dark blue trenchcoat. She started rambling on about the rules to the test - it was rather apparent she was struggling to care about it. Misao didn't pay much attention, the rules seemed pretty standard to her.

After a good few minutes of ranting, the proctor leaned back idly against the blackboard, yawning. When nobody else moved, she motioned to start, as if it was obvious. Misao glanced down her test paper slowly. She was able to answer a fair amount of the questions straight off, but the others were much more difficult. She considered spending time figuring them out, she thought she should be able to do it given the rest of the time they had. They went on about cheating so much, though, and she was feeling in kind of a bad mood. Becoming a chuunin wasn't too important to her, it could always wait, and she kind of wanted to spite the proctor. Besides, it'd be a fun challenge, trying to cheat the system. Looking around, she noticed a good few of the ninja around were answering the questions easily. Finding one in a good position nearby her, she focused intently on their hand, then sharply flicked her hand forward, latching her chakra threads onto his hand. Awkwardly adjusting her hand whilst holding the threads on, she let his hand move hers, filling in the rest of her sheet gradually.

Smiling happily and checking the answers - questions were so easy to solve if you knew what the answers were - Misao set her sheet of paper back down and leaned her chair back. Glancing in the direction of her teammates, she checked to make sure how they were doing. There was no point letting herself relax if they needed help, after all. Atsuko seemed to be concentrating intently on the ninja in front of her, gritting her teeth slightly. She was, in fact, trying to attune to the electrical signals of their nervous system, to no avail. Misao looked over to Masaru, who was relaxing, having finished by himself. Smiling slightly at the sight, she flicked her chakra threads as far as she could whilst still being discrete, then slowly crawled them over to Atsuko. There wasn't all that much time, only about 20 minutes, so she had to be quick, even though it was hard to control at this distance. It became obvious pretty quickly why they were seated so far apart...

Managing to slide them up onto Atsuko's table, Misao attempted to control her hands, but the distance was too great, and her chakra was too thin. Frowning and drawing out more of her chakra, she strengthened the threads and wrapped them tightly around the pencil in her teammate's hand. Thankfully, she didn't resist as Misao shakily filled out the test for her; It would probably be horrendous handwriting, but still better than no handwriting at all.

The proctor motioned to stop the test, and anxiety could be felt across the room. "You all seem to have shown excellent prowess at information gathering and all that.. normally, I'd give you some sorta psychological test, of course, but frankly, the next test has that covered. No point straining myself, now. He's been dying to have this many genin trying out, I'm sure~" Nervous muttering was heard throughout the room as the tests were collected. Why would more people be better.. or worse? How bad would the test be? "Oh, and by the way, the next test starts in 4 days. You'll need to get all the training you can done in that time, y'know."

Exam rewards:
1 AP
500 Ryo
790 TP

Half a week later, all the potential chuunin were gathered at the outskirts of the village. Misao was allowed to bring Gin this time, naturally, and had him held in her arms. She was also wearing a broad, conical hat, to keep the sun off. Atsuko had a wide-brimmed hat, and Masaru went without. By the time they arrived, the rest of the ninja were already there, they had decided to start early, when the sun was still behind the mountains. The proctor, a fairly average looking man, with dark blue hair, had just been sitting and meditating for the past half-hour.

When the rest of the genin had amassed, he quickly leapt off the small cliff he was sitting on, landing nonchalantly in front of them. "Right, let's get started, ladies and gentlemen. Your mission for this stage of the exams, if you choose to accept it, is to traverse this specially designed course, consisting of various terrains, and get to the center. It is going to be highly difficult, at least a B-Rank. Not only are there incredibly dangerous creatures here, but the other teams will be trying to kill you themselves. Or, if they're unkind, not. We are looking to train you for hardships, and as such you will not be given any assistance, no matter your situation. This is the last chance for you to back out." There were a lot of nervous looks, and a fair few of the genin opted to leave. Over a third, at least. The proctor frowned at the sight, though whether he was displeased that so many or so few had left was unclear. "If, at any time, you want to leave, all you have to do is walk back out. I'm not going to stop you or anything. If this were a real mission, you wouldn't have that opportunity, so keep that in mind. As I was saying, once you get to the center, you'll need to have 2 of these medallions per person to enter." The proctor held up four copper-red coins, attached to chains. "You'll each be given one to start with, and you'll have to take the others by force. Of course, not all 3 of you have to make it. The goal is just to fulfill the mission, nothing more. As it would be for a real mission." The proctor gestured to some forms to fill out, as well as a veritable pile of the medallions. "One each only. I'll know if you take more."

The remaining ninjas filled out the forms and collected their medallions, and team by team set off into the exam area. Misao's team went in rather early, and they decided it best to rush ahead and try to gain ground, rather than sit back and lay traps. Leaping as fast as they could through the forest, it wasn't long before the awkward assortment of terrains started clashing, rivers through a desert, expanses of sand in a matrix of trees, and other such irregularities. Most of the day was spent traversing and resting, and it ended at a lake. They were given 4 days to reach the center, which had been classified as "just enough" by the proctor. As the sun rose on the second day, the team awoke to find no particular disturbance, though as they were packing, a massive footstep was heard. From the sand next to the forest-river emerged a massive snake, eyes glowing green. Atsuko leapt backwards to a defensive position, and Masaru drew a staff from a seal on his hand. Misao hurriedly grabbed Gin as Atsuko started firing off bolts of lightning, the snake charging towards her fiercely. She leapt up onto the snake's head swiftly, Masaru punching upwards into its jaw. Misao backed away slightly, attempting to cut into the snake's hide to no avail. The snake spewed green fire towards Masaru, who rolled to the side out of the way, and Atsuko drove a lightning sword-thing into the snake's head sharply, and it dissipated into thin air. "Genjutsu. Either it's part of a test, and we probably passed, or there's someone skilled and unpleasant around here." "You're being so serious, Atsuko, this isn't like you.." Atsuko ignored the comment, dusting herself off and adjusting her hat and looking around the forest cautiously. There didn't seem to be any immediate threats, but the group left warily, making sure there wasn't a follow-up attack coming. There wasn't, however. Eventually, the group came across a second snake, but it was already dead. Considering it left a corpse, it was likely that it wasn't a genjutsu - further proven by the bloodied hand clutching a medallion. Prizing it from the hand uncaringly, Atsuko wiped it off on her shirt. "So, now 2 of us can make it.. Misao, I have a feeling you're going to be a very important ninja someday. Then again, I could just be saying that to seem more dramatic, couldn't I?" Atsuko tossed the medallion to her. "Why would we have to decide? Can't we just, like.. find more medallions?" "Heheheh, there's no need to get more medals than needed, isn't there?" As she finished talking, a twittering electrical blade burst from Masaru's chest, a smirk crossing her face. Misao started backpedalling as Atsuko turned her hand to grab the medal from Masaru's neck. "Farewell.. I wish you the best of luck becoming a chuunin, now, ahah~" Gin's punch from behind was easily dodged, Atsuko paying close attention to Misao's hand movements. Leaping upwards and kicking off a tree branch, the girl was gone too fast for Misao to make a second attack..

Misao picked up Masaru and laid him down on the ground, shutting his eyes wordlessly. She had only known him for a week, but it was still shocking to see him just die like that.. it really emphasized the dangers a shinobi faces. Taking his supplies for herself and embedding his staff upright in the ground as a makeshift tombstone, she set off slowly but steadily. The next day, Misao walked up to the tower. There didn't appear to be any ninja around, so she placed her two medals into the door, and she was teleported inside the towering building. Atsuko was nowhere to be seen in the hall of genin that had arrived so far, but she didn't seem the type to let herself die so easily. Informing the proctor of Masaru's death, he told her that he would make sure he was found and buried properly. Nodding and taking a seat in the corner, Misao distractedly adjusted Gin's weaponry and body. (1101 words)

Misao wasn't really upset over the death, it was sad but she didn't really know him that well, but it was frightening to see how easy it was to die in the ninja world. She wondered how his family would deal with the news, the chuunin exams never seemed that dangerous from an outside view. It makes you think about whether you really want to be a shinobi after all.

The proctors started rambling on and explaining stuff, something about having two selections of candidates due to the needed extra ninjas and stuff, so the other half of people would be doing their chuunin exams elsewhere and stuff. They'd have another three days to prepare for the main event, which would be a tournament. Everybody already knew how the chuunin exams worked, they were a big event in Sunagakure, and every other village. Misao didn't really have a plan for them yet, though when her thoughts drifted towards the thought, she realized that she should be very, very scared for her well-being. Several seconds later, she managed to get that feeling down.

Exam Rewards:
1+2=3 AP
500+750=1250 Ryo
790+1282=2072 TP

The 20 or so participants were waiting in the under section of the Colosseum-like structure. Most of them were excited and raring to go, already going about mind-games with their opponents and trying to discern their strategy and jutsu. Misao was just sitting out of the way, trying to pick up information by watching alone. Sure, it would probably be better if they both knew about each others fighting, but she wasn't up to talking today. The proctor from the first exams was also overseeing this part, and was idly leaning on the wall. The finals were set to begin in just 10 minutes, the combatants not yet told who they would be fighting. With 5 minutes to go, the participants were all sent off to individual rooms, so that they couldn't overhear the fights.

Misao sighed. It had been a good while since the exams had begun, and it still wasn't her turn. Aside from a loud explosion, and a horrific scream, there hadn't been much entertainment. Neither of those were particularly confidence-inspiring. After what seemed like hours, she was called out, and nonchalantly walked into the arena. Her opponent was a tall-ish, dark-red haired girl, who appeared unarmed. Misao held gin in her arms like a large doll, and the other girl sighed lazily. The proctor swiped his hand down, and both fighters leapt backwards. The girl had procured a kunai, and was staring intently at Misao. Misao took advantage of her defensive style and attached her chakra threads carefully to Gin, stepping further back and holding him in the air. Gritting her teeth and rushing forward, the girl threw the kunai, implanting it deep into Gin's skull. Wincing slightly at the force, Misao spun gin, flicking out the kodachi in a long, roundhouse kick-esque motion. Ducking underneath and punching upwards, the girl sent Gin flying into the air, disconnecting a few of the chakra threads. Sweeping her arms down in a wide motion, Gin hit the girl sharply in the back of the shoulder, dropping her to a somersault. The girl span around and hit Gin in the torso with an open palm before kicking sharply, snapping two of his arms off.

Looking nervously at the fight, Misao adjusted her threads deftly, hitting the girl in the jaw before she flipped backwards and started running towards Misao. Widening her eyes slightly and running out of the way, she hurriedly sent Gin after her opponent. Given some time to recover, her enemy seemed to have procured a sharp sword, which blocked Gin's own with a clang. Panting slightly and awkwardly fencing with the girl, they seemed to be evenly matched - while the girl had greater technique, Misao had her outmatched in speed. Focusing sharper and fighting more wildly, her enemy was pushed onto the defensive as Misao bit into her hand. It hurt a lot, and the girl was able to gain some ground in the fencing duel, but Misao kept fighting. Pulling Gin upwards in an attempt to gain a height advantage, the other ninja rolled underneath, arcing to the side slightly to avoid a follow-up swipe, then dashed forwards. Taking a deep breath, Misao slammed her hand down into the ground. A huge, faced gate emerged from the earth, the girl flipped onto her back from the motion.

Rubbing her temple a bit before fixing her threads, Misao moved so she could see past the gate, but only just. The girl seemed weakened from the fall, but was still in fighting state. She was charging at Gin, trying to dismantle him while Misao couldn't see, but she managed to avoid the overhead sword. Looking back and hurling a kunai at Misao, the girl screamed and just barely dodged it, drawing a red line on her arm. Shutting one eye and taking a deep breath, Misao had Gin throw a punch at the girl, but she blocked it and grabbed the arm, slamming Gin sharply down onto the ground. Naturally unfazed by the pain, Gin grabbed her ankle and twisted, dropping her to the floor. Growling and burying her sword deeply in the puppet, the girl pressed her other down on the tail, holding it in place tightly. She was focusing hard on the puppet, but was completely thrown off when one of Gin's fallen arms leapt up and gripped on her neck tightly. The girl tried to remove it, and succeeded, snapping a fair few of the fingers, but was too slow to react to the sword pointed straight at her neck. Holding up her hands to indicate yielding, the girl sighed and smiled. "Good match. You fought well." "Thanks, so did you. I hope you're still chosen, you're very nice." They shook hands and departed, awaiting the next match.

First fight: 793 words

It wasn't as long of a wait between start and the first fight, but it was still rather long. The proctor had used jutsu to fix Gin nicely, barely looking damaged in the first place. There were white lines where the wood was rejoined, but they looked like a natural part to the design. Misao's next opponent was a bandaged figure, only their clothes and an eye were visible. The eye was pink, and the clothes were eccentric-looking coats. As the proctor indicated for the match to begin, Misao's opponent sent a volley of shruiken flying at her, and she wasted no time animating Gin and blocking them. The figure was rushing at her, a long pair of metal talons attached to his hands. Swiping both of them inwards in an X-fashion, Gin blocked both of them, the blades sinking into the wood. Holding him with them, the figures bandages self-animated, coiling themselves around the puppet. Panicking slightly, Misao slashed out the sword, cutting her opponent's chest. Howling in pain and letting go of Gin, they spewed fire, igniting the puppet.

Screaming at the sight, Misao swiftly sent Gin forward, punching the figure in the face hard. They fell to the ground, then sheathed their claws and cracked their knuckles. Unsheathing them and growling, they then threw another kunai attached to a wire, wrapping it around Misao's waist. Sending a Dragon Flame jutsu, Misao had Gin cut the wire hurriedly, patting out the fire that reached her shakily and panting. "Aah.. n-never really dealt with pain, to be honest.. I-I'm certainly not a fan.." "Heh.. if you're not good with pain, you'll probably be less than useless in a fight.. give up, stay back and be some little genin who deals with chores."

Awkwardly shambling forward, the figure grabbed Gin by the tail, leeching chakra from Misao's threads. Quickly detaching them, the figure broke the tail off and tossed the burning toy aside. Gritting her teeth and stepping backwards nervously, Misao reattached her threads awkwardly, but before she could the figure backhanded her across the face. dropping to the ground lightly, the figure took off one claw and threw it down, the blades sinking into Misao's leg. Squealing loudly in pain, Misao flailed lightly, her vision woozy with tears. The figure picked her up with its now free hand, holding the claw to her neck. Panting woozily and shutting her eyes, the figure snarled. "Yield, now, before I do something you don't want to.."

Misao whimpered, weakly trying to talk, but the figure was holding her neck just barely enough for her to breath. Taking a heavy, but shallow breath, Misao jerked her hands sharply. The chakra threads she had attached to the figure pulled, forcing them to drop her and fall to the ground. Coughing and wiping her eyes, Misao stepped back hurriedly. The figure was surprised by the sudden motion, else they probably could have resisted, which was lucky. Hurriedly shouting to yield, Misao stumbled off the platform and onto the soft, blanket-like padding around it, fainting.
Second fight: 505 words

Exam Rewards:
3+2=5 AP
1250+1500=2750 Ryo
2072+793+505=3370 TP