Chuunin Exams: Time to Prepare[Open]

[Diatenshi]

Masaru paused as he read the note delivered to his home. His supervisor had recommended him for the Chuunin exams. Masaru knew hit was not his lack of strength, but his temper and poor behavior that had for the longest time held him back from promoting to the rank of chuunin. In fact he'd been a genin for a whole decade now, talk about slow rate of advancement. He was well aware he was stronger than most genin hence his position as an official member of Mamo whilst only being a genin. However, it wouldnt hurt to increase his training regimen to prepare for the exams.

'Oh ho so the little lad is finally going to blossom?' Iburo sneared within Masaru's mind. For the past seven years the Father of Rebirth, Iburo had been his constant companion, nagging at him from within his mind for the longest time. He rarely had anything nice to say his words usually cruel and cutting. Masaru had however earned it's acknowledgement during the great shinobi war, putting his abilities to good use.

Masaru simply shook his head as he opened his front door. 'You know... If you weren't so bitter I might be able to call you a friend. You've certainly saved my ass enough times out in the field, and despite how much pain you've put me through I'm genuinely glad we met you old goat.'

Masaru took off towards the training grounds wearing significantly less clothing than normal. He had on nothing but a pair of shorts and vest. His hair usually down was tied up in preparation of an arduous training. When he arrived he scoped out the training grounds wondering who else had been suggested to advance and if any of them had come to train as well.

---

Stat training endurance 298/500 (Chuunin exam discount)

[HotelBravo]

Enter Nakano: Link

As Masaru made his arrival to the training ground, Nakano was there doing some stretches on the ground. It was another hot day in the land of Fire, it certainly was living up to its namesake. While she sat on the ground she spread her legs and stretched her hamstrings and the she rolled onto her back to stretch her back. She moved to her side and stretched out her torso before finishing by stretching her hips. She had barely even begun and already she was starting t o sweat. She got to her feet and saw Masaru approaching the training ground as well. Ha, he certainly had the right idea. She grabbed her turtle neck shirt and pulled it off revealing a dark colored sports bra. Now that was much better. She tossed her shirt to the side.

Nakano was a woman with a curvy figure, she had an impressive bosom that seemed to strain and struggle against her top. She had silky dark hair in a bob style and a smile that resembled a fox that just caught the chickens. ”Just in time. I was looking for someone to try out some new tricks on.” Nakano stretched her arms and leaned forward with and shifted her weight to give him a good eyeful. ”and if you’re a good boy I might even give you a reward. What do you say? Up for a little spar?” As if to emphasize Nakano took a battle pose as she waited for the boy’s reaction.

259 / 750 stat training

[Diatenshi]

As Masaru scanned the training grounds he noticed a young woman finishing up her stretches. As she took off her jacket his eyes glanced her over to see if she would make a good sparring partner. 'Oh see something you like Masaru? I say she is rather beautiful for one of your kind.' Iburo would laugh heartily, his words poking fun at Masaru's lack of experience with women. Masaru's inner monologue would simply groan in response as he analyzed her muscle tone. She was definitely... fit.

The woman's words drew Masaru out of his thoughts... At least they did before she bent forward and threw a not so innocent innuendo at him. Masaru sighed not quite sure how to respond. 'C'mon kid, my host will not be a pansy. Give her a challenge as a response.'

"Name is Senju Masaru. As for giving me a reward? That would depend on whether or not you can keep up with me."

'Atta boy Masa, atta boy. Now if you wish to mate with her, show her how strong you are.' Iburo would chuckle and goad Masaru, trying to get him to make a full of himself. Masaru however, was well accustomed to Iburo's antics and new his words were not spoken out of kindness. He pushed aside the distracting thoughts and decided to start off easy on her, probing her strengths.

He'd charge forward at half his maximum speed, his eyes analyzing her muscle movements for potential counter strikes. As he neared her he suddenly dropped into a spin and swiped his lance, using half his strength, at her feet in an attempt to knock her feet out from under her. He wondered if she'd give him a decent challenge or if her mind was predominantly occupied with thoughts of the opposite sex.

He'd follow up with a backflip to put space between them once again. Dropping his weight upon landing he'd take up a defensive stance so as to allow her a chance to show off her offensive ability. Her usefulness to him would be determined after hed seen both her offense and defensive potential. "Please. Show me something interesting. If not you'll be no more use to me than a training dummy."

---

stat training endurance 669/500 Chuunin Exams applicant

[HotelBravo]

”What is this a race? Ah. You must be one of those /hot blooded/ types. ” Nakano laughed at his statement. He started a straight forward attack, the most straight forward of attacks. Nakano had to grant that he was much faster than she was, but on the other hand his attack was too simple and easy to read. She pulled out a kunai from her thigh holster and tossed the kunai into the ground, blunting the blow of the swipe, to such a degree that she stepped on it to pin it in place. ”Nuh uh, You’ll have to buy me dinner first /boy/. Maybe some protection too.” While she did this her other hand dug into her hip pouch and pulled out an explosive tag which she slapped onto its surface and a smoke bomb which she held between her fingers. Senju Masaru then did a back flip, and Nakano lifted her foot to allow the lance to escape with him - it was already burning threatening to explode in a few more seconds. Dealing with the tag would occupy him enough for her next gambit. The first thing about Nakano’s fighting style is that she didn’t prefer to fight up close and personal or fair in any sense of the word. She liked to fight dirty, and she preferred when her prey was the one suffering from injuries, not herself. Yes, it gave her a sadistic sense of pleasure.

”Lets make this fight a little more to my liking. You don't mind do you?” She threw the smoke bomb into the ground causing an immediate purple haze of smoke to cover her escape. She moved behind some trees and formed a chain of handseals to activate her jutsu: *[Sensory Style • Beyond Senses]. This technique would allow her to track the lad via his chakra, which she would remain just out of sight. The smoke wouldn’t obscure for more than a moment, but now that she was hidden behind a tree, she would have plenty of opportunity to take her time and play with her food, so to speak. She placed an explosive tag with a trip wire trigger next to where she was before repositioning. She waited until his attention was away from the direction she was hiding before throwing a shuriken at him and quickly hiding again in the cool shade of the training ground grove of trees. Given her angle and trajectory he would likely pass by the trap she had set, and if not well - she could detonate it herself by breaking the trip wire.

She had wanted to just do a simple spar where she tried out some newer techniques, but yet it was almost out of spite now she wanted to put this haughty boy in his place. Almost, because ultimately Nakano felt so few emotions. It was more like, she wanted to feel spite so she had a justification for what she was doing right now.

752 /750 event +1 stat speed

[Kabu]

As she spent more time with Rin, hearing stories of her caretaker's own time as a shinobi Kureha's goals had become more clear. For the longest time she had coasted along, feeling no real motivation to move forward in her career. She had been entered into the Academy without her knowledge and she had simply been doing as she was told. That had all begun to change the day that she had met Aya and her feelings had only improved further since then.

Now Chuunin Exams were fast approaching and while she had been growing stronger there was still a lot of work to be done. With that in mind she arrived at the training grounds, a bag containing a number of scrolls slung over her shoulder. Her primary goal was to increase her arsenal of jutsu, knowing full well that her skillset was very much lacking. There were a good number of jutsu that she was pretty excited to get to learning, chief among them being the Ibakuro's secret Webbing techniques.

She was about to get started when she noticed a spar off in the distance, the girl smiling wryly at the sight. It seemed there were others preparing for the Exams as well. It made her feel a bit better to know she wasn't the only one not feeling at all prepared.

She knew that she needed to get her training but she couldn't deny feeling some curiosity about the other two Genin there. So she sat against a nearby tree for a moment, thinking over what techniques she wanted to learn fast as she watched the two go at it for a bit.

[Diatenshi]

Masaru nodded quietly to himself as she threw the smoke bomb. Taking a tactical advantage against a stronger enemy was certainly the smart move. Shinobi basics 101. He prepared to watch for her figure dashing out of the smoke as he heard the sound of burning paper. 'Fuck.' The tag exploded above his head and while he hadn't lost hold of his weapon or been knocked back from the low level explosion his vest and face had certainly been singed from the heat. Immediately, Iburo's influence on his anatomy could be seen as his scorched skin began to glow a dull red indicative of his regenerative powers kicking in.

'Hahaha the young lass got you good. I like this one Masaru.' Masaru would groan internally at Iburo's barbs and blinked as he waited for his vision to return to normal, the flash of the tag making things blurry for a moment. Unfortunately the Iburo's gift didn't counter flash effects. He could feel the heat on his cheek slowly dissipating and the tissue seemed grow dimmer.(669+185=844/1000 Endurance Trained:1)

"Well you've got a good head on your shoulders for tactical thinking, but you've already exposed your weakness by retreating so quick. Direct confrontation isn't your strong suit is it?" He called out to the trees behind where the smoke screen was. From her recent actions he assumes she booby trapped the approach.

Masaru was at a disadvantage if he played her game, being a more defensive fighter. He was used to enemies assaulting head on. Whilst he could overcome her tricks with sheer strength, that wouldn't really help him train. He simply squatted for a moment contemplating his options. She was definitely good at using standard shinobi tactics. Well if the forward assault was rigged that left four options trip the trap, out run the trap, go over the trap... Or go under it.

Masaru wasn't quite sure he could directly jump into the trees from where he was. He could like charge through faster than the trap could spring but he was handicapping himself on purpose. There'd be no point if he went all out as she'd be less useful than a training dummy. So underground it was. Masaru would bust out a quick series of jutsu. The first would cause a ball of dirt to erupt in front of him obscuring others view of him. The second would form a shallow hole beneath him [9 speed] letting him drop down a foot and lower his profile. He'd then channel doton chakra around each of his palms.

It was a technique he'd heard of but never had an opportunity to learn. He tentatively touched the soil at first nothing happened but after prolonged exposure the soil began to soften. It may not be the exact same, but it would serve its purpose. Masaru intensified the chakra and began digging through the soil displacing it easily with the help of the soil loosening chakra around his hands. He focused on deepening the whole packing the soil into the walls around him. Once the hole was deep enough to house his body he paused.

He began digging in the general direction of the tree(speed 12). At first he was digging blind but not too long after he encountered his road map. Roots. He began following the root system back to the base of the tree. He began digging tunnels scurrying through the ground destabilizing the surface above. Was time for him to be setting the traps.

---

Stat trained Endurance x1: 844/1000(Chuunin exam discount )
Jutsu trained D-Rank: 406/400(stat discount 1500-1100=400)

Jutsu UsedShow

*Doton • Dirt Cloud
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a 1 meter diameter ball of loose dirt in front of them, launching it off up to 10 meters away at [Control] strength and speed. Upon impact the ball of loose dirt breaks apart forming a vision-impairing cloud of dirt with a 5 meter radius.

*Doton • Trip Fault
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals, the user will cause a 1/2 meter pot hole to appear at [Control] speed somewhere within 5 meters.

Jutsu TrainedShow

Doton • Burrowing Mole
D-Rank Nintaijutsu Stance
After channeling doton chakra into the users palms, the user is able to soften soil at a touch allowing them to burrow and travel through the soil at a speed equal to [Strength] to a maximum of [Speed]. Does not work on solid stone. This state may be maintained a number of post equal to the user's control.

[HotelBravo]

Nakano had been too occupied with her own traps that until now she had hardly checked on what Masaru had been up to. A mistake in hindsight. ”You have no idea. Everything I was taught was rather indecent. Not that I mind, but this battle field is a far cry from the one I was trained on. I could bring you back to my hotel room if you’re interested in seeing.” She answered his jibes. She peaked around the tree to try and get an eye on him. Where Masaru had been was now just a cloud of dirt. She still had her sensory jutsu up, but as she stood with her feet planted on the ground for reference - her jutsu would alert her that he was relatively below where she was standing, and given that she was standing on the ground, this meant that he was underground. He was moving around, but she couldn’t tell what he was doing as her jutsu did not give her much more in terms of specifics. She didn’t have any jutsu that she could use to attack him inside of the ground. The explosive trap was going to be useless unless she could get him to surface. She wasn’t sure if he had any means to detect her, but for the time being it seemed that a stealthy wait and see approach was in order.

She used the Tree Climibng technique to leave the dirt and climb into the branches of the great trees that littered the training field. She found for herself a decent hiding place in the branches and waited. Whatever was going to happen, it seemed that Masaru would have the next move.

His insults earlier about being a training dummy didn’t really bother her, but from her brief exchange with him she could tell that she was lucky he hadn’t gone full out. Even with her trick, it seemed that it hadn’t actually managed to stall him in the least. If anything it seemed to only cause him a minor inconvenience. All this just told her that she needed even better jutsu. Something big and flashy that could move the ground and force him to the surface would be nice. So far she only had her shinobi tools to rely on. Maybe she should have started with a genjutsu after all.

No, at this point Genjutsu was all she had. His Earth Element was the better match up against her Water Element, and it was also at an advantage over her weaponry. Her only choice in this case would be to try and catch him in a genjutsu and then use that momentary distractionj to strike. She wasn’t particularly well practiced in the genjutsu arts but there was no time like the present to practice right? While she scouted the area and searched for where Masaru would reappear she ran down a list of potential techniques she could try out. Considering she didn’t have much foundation for Genjutsu it would need to be something simple.

None of the basics were any good really. It all really went back to the fact that she was hoping that it would create a split second opening. Maybe it was a mistake asking for a spar with someone so much stronger? Well its not like she had really wanted to spar, she had just wanted to practice genjutsu on him but it all turned out so much more complicated than she had considered. No, but this was actually a good thing wasn’t it? Now she would get to apply the skills that she wanted to in a live fire situation.

Ah… maybe she could get that other girl to join in on the spar? If she could alleviate some of the pressure from the hot blooded shounen she might be able to show her worth in other ways. Well, for now it was time to watch and wait. Where could he have gone? What was taking so long? It felt like an eternity just searching and waiting like this - she needed to make sure that she kept an eye on him with her jutsu, but unfortunately it had the flaw of being accurate only within 10 meters. Whenever he strayed outside of the range and was s till hiding under ground there was no way for her to figure out his current location. She only could hope that he couldn’t locate her as well given her hiding in the tree.

+1 Speed 750 / 750 (event word count reduction)

[Kabu]

Kureha watched the two go at it for a bit but she needed to get her own training done and so she opened up her bag, pulling out a scroll and a notebook with several bookmarks. The scroll was for jutsu but as for notebook… as she couldn’t be there to help out directly Rin had taken the time to write down a few tips for mastering the clan’s Webbing jutsu and for better using Ninjutsu in general. Honestly she was happy that her caretaker was so happy to help. While she was good at Genjutsu she had always struggled with Ninjutsu for whatever reason and so was willing to take any help that she could get. It was strange, they both relied on chakra manipulation so why did one come much more easily to her than the other?

In any case before she actually took the help though she had to at least try it out by herself. With that in mind she opened up the scroll she had and began reading through, starting with the preamble concerning the entire style.

It seemed that Webbing used many of the same principles as Suiton, the two even having similar effects on the things they make contact with. The problem however was that she knew nothing about Suiton. Luckily that was where Rin’s help came in, Kureha opening the notebook and opening towards one of the bookmarked page, a page concerning the usage of elemental chakra.

After a quick skim of the appropriate section she closed the book, having come to some understanding of the process. She just had to imaging her chakra flowing like water as she gathered it and then she had to change its form before release. Honestly she had some trouble picturing the process but oh well, she would likely understand fully after putting into practice.

With that in mind she put her things off to the side and stood, taking a deep breath. She already knew too which jutsu she wanted to start with, a simple technique that simply involved shooting a web out towards a target. That shouldn’t be too difficult to start with, it was only a D rank technique and wasn’t all too involved.

She began forming a series of hand seals and gathering chakra into her mouth, imagining a spider’s webbing flowing like water. Once she felt the buildup of chakra finished she spat it out… only to achieve nothing at all. She attempted it again, holding her concentration even as she spat, this time achieving some results as her spit came out a bit more viscous and overall sticky.

Feeling absolutely giddy that she was actually getting somewhere she performed the seals one more time, gathering chakra into her mouth and spitting out into the distance, her eyes sparkling as she saw it come out in the form of a spider’s webbing. She couldn’t believe it, she had actually done it.

Jutsu Trained 490/480Show

~ Web Shot
D-Rank Ninjutsu
The Ibakuro will channel chakra into their mouth before spitting out a small line of white web, about one inch thick, with a speed equal to their [control]. This web shoots up to a base range of 10 meters away from the Ibakuro, sticking to the first solid thing it comes into contact with with strength equal to the Ibakuro's [control]. The Ibakuro can then swing the target around by the webbing provided they are strong enough to lift it. After 3 posts the web will decay and fall apart.

[Diatenshi]

Masaru had no idea where the girl above was. At the moment it didn't seem to matter. She didn't seem to know where he was, or rather she'd yet to figure out a method to attack him. It was foolish to assume she wouldn't see the hole left behind where he had entered the earth. No more likely she knew he was underground but had yet to come up with a tactic to counter it.

Though Masaru held an advantage he was similarly in a bind as he had no means of locating her. 'Should've used that silly little tracking leaf when you had the chance. Bht no you decided to probe her strength and now all you have to show for it is getting blasted in the face. Some great ninja you're supposed to be.'

Masaru grit his teeth. He knew Iburo was correct. He should've acted like it was a life or death scenario from the start. Sure his probing strategy gave her a false impression of his abilities but it had left him with zero paths forward. And as fun as it was digging his way through the soil, in reality it was nothing but hiding. He sighed softly in his head as he continued to dig tunnels under the surface. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he engaged his muscles to dig and pack the the soil into a proper tunnel.

He continued making his way through the earth when it struck him. If he dug behind the out grove of trees he'd be able to approach from behind. If he was lucky he'd spot her searching for him before he himself had been found. Only problem was he'd dug so many winding tunnels as traps he'd lost his sense of direction. With no other ideas coming to mind Masaru decided to gamble he dig out in a straight line from where he was.

After digging for a solid 30 meters he popped his head up out of the dirt only to find himself face to foot with an unfamiliar shoe. He blinked as he looked up from his tunnel at the young girl above him as she spat what appeared to be web from her mouth. 'Oh joy spiders. I hate spiders...' He thought as he hoped it was just a jutsu and that the young woman above him wasnt some weird spider mutant.

"'Scuse me miss. I seem to have gotten myself turned around. You wouldnt happen to have seen a lady with dark hair who has a penchant for explosive flair?" Information acquisition! Sure may not necessarily be fair but it was kinder than just going full force and pinning his opponent. Besides collecting intel on targets was a basic shinobi principle and so long as everything worked out alright, the ends justified the means.

---

Stat trained Endurance x2 1316/1500 (500 each Chuunin exam discount.)

[HotelBravo]

Nakano was able to detect chakra up to a radius of 35 meters. Although it wasn’t able to pinpoint a specific chakra, she was able to determine the chakra under the ground was the hot-blooded fellow that she had briefly exchanged blows with but a short moment ago. Well, it could have been the girl she saw earlier as well but she didn’t think she would have any reason to be digging tunnels all over the place under the ground. There was a spike in chakra in the general direction that the girl had been in, according to Nakano’s situation awareness - it was likely that she was practicing a jutsu. As she was trying to keep track of the two chakra sources, she found that they were now converging with one another. Nakano leaped from tree to tree and tried to use the branches, foliage, and the larger limbs of the great trees of Konoha as coverage. The great trees of Konoha were a natural wonder and an asset that all Konoha Shinobi had become deeply familiar with fighting around. There were some at nearly each training field, and despite the intensity of Shinobi training - the trees still stood their ground. To a degree, the trees were more impressive than the shinobi. It helped that there was the Senju clan here in Konoha with their affinity for the trees - Nakano expected that the family was responsible for replacing the trees after particularly violent exchanges.

She spied on the pair as they exchanged words. Her fighting style may have been somewhat boring, but it was the only way she could fight. Her reaction speed had barely been enough earlier to the lance-wielding shounen head-on. He obviously was faster and much stronger, she had merely been lucky the first time that her stunt had managed to do anything at all. Nakano noted the sticky webbing that had been sprayed out by the girl. It covered an area of trees ten meters from where Masaru and Kureha were now situated and was rather close to where Nakano was hiding in the trees. She, being a metaphorical spider herself decided that she might try to fight around the webbing to bring things into balance in this spar. If Masaru could be gummed up by the web, she might be able to fight him on much more equal terms. Actually, she didn’t want equal terms.

While Masaru and Koreha engaged in conversation with each other, Nakano went to work making rather rudimentary traps with her remaining wire and explosive tags. The Tags were primed to explode once the wires were cut or triggered. She wanted to place the traps on either side of the web that Kureha had set. Her current position was 10 meters away on the right-hand side of the mess of webs. She was trying her best to remain stealthy as she wrapped the wire on a branch up where Konoha shinobi tended to move through when traveling through trees. She knew that even if his feet didn’t trigger this one, she could trigger it using a shuriken. That much was just basics for a kunoichi. Now she had just one more to place, and it would be on the left side of the Web mess that Kureha had made. She took the last bit of her wire and ducked behind the trees, intending to try to move into her next position without being seen. Given that she was now within 10 meters of them and was attempting this, it would be much harder than earlier when they were all further away. She needed some more time if she wanted to get her plan set up just right, but would she be able to buy this time with Masaru and Kureha being distracted?

So far this spar has been a whole lot of nothing. She apologized mentally for being a boring person, but this was her ninja way. Moving in stealth, placing traps, and weaving illusions all in an intricate web. She didn’t have the skill for the illusions yet, but the time was coming when she would. She needed to improve her handling of Chakra before she’d be able to do something as chakra intensive as what she was scheming of. For now, it would have to simply satisfy with the traps that she had set up and the one that she was trying to set up now. Many things could give her away, but she was in the forest with dark clothes so the hope was that she blended into the shadows at least.

[764/750 - chuunin exam discount +1 endurance]