Reizo Path to Chuunin Pt. 1

Mission:

Reizo had an early morning appointment he needed to get to. It would be his first opportunity to look for a promotion to Chuunin. It felt like he hadn't been a Genin for very long, and truth be told he hadn't. Still, Reizo wanted to seize any and every opportunity he had to improve and have a chance at becoming a Chuunin. Reizo would be one of the first Genin of the day to try to pass the first part of the trials. His appointment was at 8:00 am, and he wanted to get there early to be certain he wouldn't miss this chance. There weren't many people at the signup desk, and Reizo wasn't even sure if he was in the right place. I suppose everyone has a later time, weird how empty it is, I would've figured all the Genin would be looking to get here as early as possible. Still, this is definitely the right place, Reizo would think as he stood in front of the somewhat rundown building in the inner portion of the village. It was only 7:30 am, but the large metal double doors were open, so Reizo freely entered. Inside, a woman was at her desk, handling some paperwork. She was guarded by two male Jounin who were still and emotionless as Reizo approached her. "Excuse me, I know it's a bit early, but I was scheduled for my mission at 8, am I in the right place?" Reizo would ask the lady at the desk. The lady was very cold and disregarded Reizo altogether, continuing on with her work. The Jounin continued to stare into space, also not reacting to their environment at all. It all felt very peculiar to Reizo, but he was early so he figured he'd loaf around for a bit in the building until it was his time.

Reizo waited for 15 minutes, and yet still no one had entered or exited the building, it was becoming weird and Reizo was starting to question himself and the letter he had received. This is 100% the place, Reizo thought, looking down at the address printed on the letter. "Hey, it's almost 8, think I could get a start on the mission by chance? You guys don't seem all that busy, and I'd like to get started if at all possible," Reizo would say as he approached the desk again. Still no one moved or even batted an eye at Reizo. It was like he was invisible. Reizo was starting to get angry at being ignored, and he leaned over the counter to try to get in the line of sight of the lady. Only then did Reizo notice that she wasn't even writing anything at all. All the papers had the same sentence repeated over and over again, which Reizo read aloud, "Mind the gap." What gap? As fast as Reizo had read the sentence, a seal lit up on the wall and a pit fall opened underneath Reizo and swallowed the Jounin and lady as well. In a puff of smoke they became logs- someone had transformed them to deceive Reizo. Reizo was falling nearly head first, his hand still gripping the desk. At the bottom of this 40 foot drop were arranged dozens of 8 foot stalagmites, similar to the pikes that surrounded the village, ready to impale everything. Reizo quickly hoisted himself onto the desk and pushed off it, jumping to the craggy rock walls, focusing his chakra so that he could stick to the surface without slipping [199/200 AP; Tree Climbing]. Reizo watched as the desk and logs hit the stalagmites and splintered. The loose papers drifted and floated down past Reizo. Reizo followed them with his eyes and noticed that instead of falling down to the bottom of the pit, about half of them began to fly sideways into the wall, underneath where Reizo was, only 6 feet below him. These papers hit the wall and seemingly just disappeared into the wall.

Is that... a hidden entryway? The opening must've caused a difference in air pressure to pull those papers in, Reizo thought as he proceeded to walk down the wall, carefully testing each step. A few steps in, Reizo's foot fell through the surface, as though nothing were there. Perhaps it was a genjutsu? It didn't matter to Reizo, but he was now curious. Clearly the mission had already started, so he decided to drop in through the wall. Reizo landed on his feet inside a fairly wide but short tunnel. The papers littered the ground, but these papers were different than the ones he had initially seen. Reizo concluded that they must've been concealed in the stack. All of these papers instead detailed the exact requirements of the mission that initially were withheld from the Genin. It was an infiltration mission where he had to obtain a scroll from within a maze, and it would be defended by a group of guards, although it didn't specify how many. Although the pitfall had been dark and cold with walls of bleak gray rock, this tunnel and the maze that began at the end of the tunnel were glowing orange from the torches that were fixed along the walls. Aside from those torches, which were spaced about every 15 feet or so, the walls were bare.

Reizo didn't want to waste any time with trying to figure out the maze, so he started right away. He didn't have any sensory or visual capabilities, so Reizo felt that the best way to go about it would be trial and error, at least at first. Reizo also figured he would need to keep track of where he had already gone to avoid being lost. He decided he would start in order, and picked the leftmost corridor first. Reizo didn't know how large the maze was, although he predicted that the maze would be far too large to go through simply with trial and error. Still, he hoped that the maze would at least have some type of pattern to figure out. Reizo drew a kunai from his pouch and closed his eyes, and swung the kunai at eye level, striking and etching a mark into the corner of the wall where the corridor started to signify he had already tried this route, just in case he would get lost. He had closed his eyes so that he would do the height by feel and thus make each marking at the same height every time.

Reizo jogged through the corridor, and reached another branch of three corridors before long. He marked the leftmost one and continued on his way. After the third time however, he hit a dead end- a solid wall. Reizo acknowledged this and moved back to the third choice he had to make. He then picked the second one, the hall in the center, but also encountered a wall. Same with the rightmost. That made things pretty easy. In only 10 minutes he had eliminated all possibilities for left-left. Reizo backtracked to his second choice and began to try each, and he continued this process, eliminating each choice as he went and continued further into the maze. About 2 hours in however, Reizo discovered every passageway was blocked. No matter the route he chose, at the third choice he encountered a wall. Reizo thought it best to head back to the beginning. He made sure everything had been marked appropriately, and he noticed they all had been. How could this be? Reizo thought, confused. If it were supposed to be a maze, how could he continue on if there was no way to progress. Reizo then thought back to the beginning when he had fallen into the pitfall initially. He had entered the maze through a false wall, was it possible that one or even several of the walls he had run into were actually false walls, just like the first one? This even brought up the possibility that there were paths in between halls, but Reizo hoped that wasn't the case.

Reizo walked back to the tunnel he had started in, and noticed that he could see the stalagmites at the bottom of the pitfall from within the tunnel. The false wall was only a one way trick! Whether it was genjutsu or a clever trick, it didn't matter, Reizo needed to figure out how to navigate the maze. Reizo went back down all the left corridors once more and reached the wall. He pushed against it, but noticed it was a solid wall, just as before. Still, even if it were a wall, there might've been a way to get through it anyway. Even though it might not have been the stealthiest approach, Reizo hadn't yet even confronted or heard a guard anywhere, so he figured he could try this out at least once. Reizo gathered his strength (50) in his right hand and delivered a full strength punch to the wall in order to shatter the rock. To Reizo's surprise, the wall was only a couple of inches thick, and the rock crumbled from the punch, falling down several dozen feet to another stalagmite filled pit below. This pit was vast; it was many times larger than the first pitfall, and it seemed to expand throughout the entire maze. His punch had made a lot of noise, but Reizo had yet to hear anyone coming yet. He assumed that this meant that the guards were much closer to the scroll and nowhere near where he was now.  Reizo peaked outside and noticed that each corridor he had tried was extended the exact amount of distance the one he was in now, except for one 4 over. That one seemed to extend to the rock beyond and continued the maze. Straight ahead of Reizo was a huge slab of rock that presumably held the rest of the maze, fixated to the walls of this huge abyss much like the part of the maze Reizo was in. Reizo decided to head over to the corridor that would be where this extension was.

The Genin quickly made his way over, having to backtrack a step in order to find the appropriate set of corridors. Standing in front of the wall, he thought to test it. He wanted to remain cautious however, he didn't know what could be on the other side of the wall. Reizo knew that although he was fast among his peers, he wouldn't be able to react to a trap set on the other side. Weighing his options, the boy knew he would have to ask for help on this. Reizo bit his thumb to draw blood and weaved the needed hand signs,  Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram, and thrust his palm on the ground. The summoning seal appeared on the ground and a cloud of smoke erupted, revealing a familiar otter (169/200 AP; B-rank Summon). Futachimaru appeared in the formal "attention" stance. Reizo put him at ease and briefly explained the exam and the current situation. "Futachimaru, I know this isn't something that's easy to ask because it's possibly putting your own life at risk, but I suspect there may be a trap on the other side of this wall that I won't be able to react fast enough to, do you think you could accompany me?" Reizo asked. Futachimaru nodded and responded, "And here I thought you were going to have me go alone. I am your sworn protector, I will do my duty as you've directed me." He was very formal and definitive in his tone, and it was something Reizo had noticed across many people, and he had never liked it. "You don't need to treat me as your master, just treat me as your equal. You're stronger than me and we both know it. You wouldn't be showing me any disrespect, one display where I bested you isn't enough to simply make me your superior, no matter what your code tells you. It's fine to be relaxed around me," Reizo explained, Futachimaru nodding along. Reizo handed a kunai to Futachimaru and the two would then push themselves through the wall without hesitation.

Reizo and Futachimaru phased through the wall as though it didn't exist, and immediately half a dozen kunai were flying through the air at them at chest height, all in a horizontal line (Speed 50). Futachimaru acted swiftly and in one clean arc deflected the four kunai that would've hit them (Speed 80), letting the two outer most kunai fly through and clash with the wall at the end of the corridor. Reizo thanked Futachimaru, and he just nodded and grunted in acknowledgment, the four kunai clanging on the ground beside them.

The two continued in tandem, Futachimaru slowing his pace to accomodate the significantly slower Genin, down the corridor. The path diverged like a T at the end, two separate pathways headed in completely opposite directions, perpendicular to the one they had just exited. They were stuck at a crossroads. Sure, they could split and figure out the maze possibly somewhat faster, but the two had no real way of communicating with each other to determine if they had picked the right way. Instead, they decided to travel together and pick a route. Reizo felt that left was the best route, as he was accustomed to always starting with the leftmost corridor, but Futachimaru insisted they go right. The two settled it the only reasonable way- a coin toss. Any time a decision couldn't be reached immediately, Reizo always defaulted to a coin toss. He had a few spare ryo in his pocket, although he was still quite broke and had no allowance, and quickly salvaged one. After flipping it, Reizo called 'heads' in the air, with the resulting face being the same. Futachimaru made a face of indignation, but resigned to the decision of the gods, and immediately withdrew his initial silent protest.

The two chose the path on the left, reaching a dead end almost immediately. One turn after they started, there was a solid wall that could not be phased. Futachimaru shot Reizo a shit eating grin and the two traced back their route and headed down the right path. This path winded considerably longer with no real choices, just a long path, as though it were designed to tire the participants. Of course this one reached a dead end solid wall just as the first path had- something Reizo dreaded and knew in his gut might be the case. He turned to gloat, but saw Futachimaru already looked resigned. When stuck at a dead end, there was only one thing Reizo knew he should do- he wanted to break the wall, but more importantly he wanted to test out a new ninjutsu he had been working on. It would break the wall apart much more completely than a punch would, and it would help establish a wider view of the situation. Reizo deftly weaved the needed handsigns: Boar → Ram → Snake → Horse → Dragon, and focused his chakra into his hands. A web of lightning chakra was emitted from both palms, quickly crackling along the wall as he placed his palms against it. "Raiton: Jibashi!" (149/200 AP; Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) Reizo would harshly whisper. The concrete and stone crumbled all at once, practically eliminating the wall in a thunderous bang, the wall collapsing and the residue dropping to the stalagmite filled pits below.

Peering out, Reizo noticed that the path had actually been slightly downhill. The two examinees were now below the bulk of the maze, and they could see the layout of the whole maze from below. Reizo took an extensive mental note of the exact route he would need to take, but Futachimaru had other plans. "We're wasting our time, we can just attack the maze from the outside and get back on the right path," he would grumble, leaping out the opening and onto a nearby protrusion from the wall. Reizo felt like an idiot- he could've done this from the start as well. He followed Futachimaru as he leaped from the protrusion to an apparent main branch of the maze. The maze itself was too vast and even went into the walls themselves to be able to navigate it all from the outside. Plus, the scroll was within the maze- it was possible it was not at the very end and so they would have to scout out the maze constantly.

Soon after the two had landed on the main branch of the maze, Reizo would press his ear against the cold surface. The maze had gone from rugged rock, concrete, and sandstone to being almost entirely brick, but with a thick growth of moss and vines. Reizo noted that the maze itself had likely been completed many decades ago, but the difference in construction materials might be an indicator that they were getting closer to the scroll. Reizo closed his eyes and focused to try to hear any signs of guards or other possible traps. It was silent, just like everything in the mission up to that point had been. Reizo gave a go ahead signal with his right hand, and Futachimaru smashed his fist through the roof of the corridor. The two were of the same strength, so whichever of the two of them did the smashing, it didn't really matter. They both wanted to participate in the fun parts, so Reizo let Futachimaru have this one. The sound echoed throughout the underground chamber as brick crumbled and fell to the side. Reizo hadn't realized how loud such a blow was from within the maze, but from the outside it felt like it was even shaking the very foundation of the cave. Reizo and Futachimaru grew anxious when their ears perked up. For the first time, the sound of another voice cut through the cacophony. "He's definitely over here, I'm going to check it out. You two keep running your routes," the female voice would say. The sound of radio static confirmed that she was communicating with other sentries, and it was likely that the other two guards would heed her advice in sticking to their routes. This told Reizo several things. Firstly, it alerted him that there were three guards in total. This eased Reizo's fears that the mission might be nearly impossible should they all surround the scroll- there would be some pathway to get it one way or another. Secondly, it told Reizo that all three guards had their own posts and patrol routes. These routes likely had no overlap with one another, in order to maximize area coverage, as only one needed to see Reizo to fail him. Thirdly, Reizo concluded that they all knew how to navigate the maze, as it was implied that when the female guard had ordered them to stick to their routes that they would be able to assist her if needed. Finally, Reizo concluded that he must be getting closer to the scroll, as he had finally encountered a guard. Unfortunately, he also knew he wouldn't be able to just smash rock and brick until he ran into the chamber that housed the scroll, as the risk was greater that he would get caught by one of the guards.

Reizo instinctively clasped his left hand over his mouth, but realized the two definitely had to dip- there was a gigantic hole in the ceiling where they were. Reizo and Futachimaru scrambled to find a place to wait out the guard, but the two would definitely need to remain close by to keep an eye out should she leave. Reizo communicated to Futachimaru that he should stay closer, while Reizo swung around to the bottom of the corridor beneath the floor where the two had made their hole. He did this all silently, using hand signals and finger pointing to direct Futachimaru so that he would be nearly hovering over the hole and could look directly into it whenever necessary. Meanwhile, Reizo ran around the outside of the corridor and positioned himself underneath the corridor. It would be quite the core workout, but Reizo crunched himself so that his ear could be placed against the tunnel whilst upside down, readjusting and contorting his body and legs as necessary. As soon as he had done that, he heard approaching footsteps coming from further down the corridor, toward where Reizo and Futachimaru had been heading. At least the two had been heading in the right direction all along. Reizo intended to signal to Futachimaru, but he noted that Futachimaru was already hanging from another stalactite not far from his original position. He had already seen the elongated shadows from the poor lighting situation of the tunnels, and the low angle of light emitted from the torches and had sprung from his sentry point.

Reizo almost fell off his perch when a voice loud and clear rang through the outside chamber, no more than 10 feet above where he was. It came from just outside the hole. "It seems he's permeated the maze and is attacking it from the outside, we may have to position to watch the outside as well. I didn't think it'd be necessary as it seemed to compromise the integrity of the mission, but I suppose it's at least commendable for thinking... outside the box," the woman would say. "He seems to have already scrambled for now, I'm planning on resuming my route, but I still think one of us should stick to the outside just in case." She paused for a moment, the radio static informing Reizo that someone on the other end had just filled her in on some new details in their patrols. "Understood, Jaisuke and I will maintain our inner routes. Make sure you don't stay out too long or he may sneak the scroll out from right under us. It's not like neither the scroll nor you are moving much as it is, so it should be fine," she said somewhat cynically.

Reizo knew this was an opportunity that could not be missed. He was thankful that Futachimaru hadn't been noticed, but realized that was because Futachimaru had dropped down to the same height as Reizo, and he was hanging onto a rock with one hand to lower himself further out of sight. Reizo gave a hand signal to Futachimaru telling them to rendezvous as soon as possible atop the maze. He wanted to lay out his plan as quickly as possible. Reizo listened for the guard's footsteps to ensure she was back inside the maze, and then he swung himself back up to the top of the tunnel, where Futachimaru had just leapt as well. "The guards know the maze well, it'd be best to tail her. However, we have to keep out of sight and out of earshot at all costs, understood?" Futachimaru vigorously nodded and the two checked the ground before dropping into the maze once more.

They would quickly and quietly run to where Reizo had listened to the guard's footsteps dissipate. After a quick left turn, the two immediately faced an intersection. Recognizing that the footsteps had suddenly appeared very close to where Reizo had hid, he assumed that the correct option was to follow the turn. The two swiftly sprinted down the corridor, but were met with an explosive trap halfway down that completely blew the corridor into two pieces. Futachimaru had tackled Reizo back out of harms way, but the gap was very wide and the explosion was sure to attract attention. Reizo wouldn't be able to make the gap on his own, but time was of the essence. Futachimaru knelt beside the Genin, and immediately Reizo recognized what he was intended to do. Reizo stepped up onto Futachimaru's shoulder, and like a catapult, Futachimaru hoisted Reizo through the air, the Genin jumping in the same instance. He crossed the gap with ease, rolling to a stop near the end of the corridor. Futachimaru used a long running start, starting at the other end of the corridor, and made a full leap. He would fall a little short, but Reizo quickly got to his feet and managed to extend his arm in time to catch Futachimaru before he would fall to certain doom. Well, almost certain, Reizo justified. Since he was a summon, Futachimaru would just undo the summon should he fall into trouble, but it was clear that he had faith in Reizo to catch him or else he wouldn't have even attempted the jump.

The Genin pulled Futachimaru to safety, but the woman's voice cut through the air again. "He was following me, I'm heading back. Genzo, get on the outside, now! Make sure he has no way of eluding us this time." Reizo shot a panicked look at Futachimaru as the woman's sprinting footsteps grew closer. Knowing it couldn't be helped, he gave Reizo a saddened but encouraged expression before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Reizo had saved him, but he was gone anyway. At least it had built some form of trust between the two. Reizo quickly weaved the handsigns for the Transformation technique, looking at the closest thing to him - a torch. Reizo fell to the ground as he became an unlit torch - really just a stick - trying his hardest to maintain his composure as the woman approached. She was inches away from Reizo. He held his breath and shut his eyes, hoping, praying, she wouldn't catch on. She was clearly upset, as she scowled, realizing she had been too late once again. "Tch, I missed him again. And I was just here too. I think I should just wait this time, he's certain to come back. Any thing on your end, Genzo?" she would say into her intercom. "Negative, he's not on the outside either. He must've headed down some other path after he triggered the trap. He's not dead, right, Yuki?" a voice over the radio would say, presumably Genzo's. The woman, who was apparently named Yuki, would peer over the edge of the hole blown in the corridor to the pit below. "Nope. Maybe this kid will just get lost in the maze. Wherever he is, he's totally lost now. Genzo, stay outside. I fully expect him to try to peak outside again to find his way. It seems to be his preferred method of scouting," the female, who appeared to be a Jounin or at the very least the commander of the three judging from her bossing around, would conclude.

Reizo was very uncertain how to feel. Yuki was still standing only a foot from where he was transformed. He wasn't sure how long he could hold the transformation, but knew he would be found out if he stayed much longer. He couldn't undo the transformation because that would be admitting defeat right then. Reizo really needed to take advantage of this opportunity however. With Genzo on the outside, that would mean that the scroll was unguarded- the other guard, Jaisuke, had his own route it seemed, while Genzo was intended to stay put on top of the scroll. Still, Reizo couldn't do anything so long as Yuki was near him. "God this is infuriating. Why did I even have to get stuck down here anyway, I shouldn't be supervising this type of exam. I'm not even a sensory type," Yuki would say. Reizo opened his eyes for the first time and noted that Yuki was pretty good looking, at least from the back. She wore the standard Kumogakure outfit - the white vest and black undershirt and pants. She wore a fishnet undershirt. Her hair was a slightly darker shade of indigo. She turned around to look at Reizo, but of course she only saw a stick. In a fit of anger, she picked up Reizo, causing Reizo to internally scream in panic, but he didn't want to break his chances of being a chuunin yet, and threw him across the gap to the other side. The impact hurt, but Reizo metaphorically bit his lip to fight back the pain. After not even staying put for 2 minutes, she informed the rest of her team that she was leaving out of boredom, but that Genzo should keep on the outside, before stomping off down the corridor where she had came. The instant she disappeared around the corner, Reizo undid his transformation, gasping for air and breaking out into a cold sweat. Had she not thrown him that hard, he could've been at the bottom of that pit. The realization stuck with Reizo, but he had to overcome it and take advantage of the great opportunity she had afforded him.

Ordinarily, Reizo knew he couldn't make the jump. It was definitely too wide. However, Reizo realized he had tools with him that could help. Tying some wire to a shuriken, Reizo wrapped the wire around his hand at least a dozen times. He didn't have enough wire to make the whole way, but Reizo just needed to be confident enough in his abilities to overcome the gap in front of him. Messing this up would mean certain death, but Reizo had practiced shuriken techniques with Senshi for long enough that he was absolutely positive he could and would make this work. Reizo backed himself up to the end of the corridor, forming a Ram handsign and making a silent prayer, he would initiate the Body Flicker Technique (139/200 AP; Body Flicker Technique, 67 speed) and he made the jump full speed. He knew that even with the additional speed, he still wasn't going to be able to jump as far as Futachimaru who was still faster even with the boost, but a little over halfway over the gap, Reizo threw his shuriken with all his might, not only embedding it into the brick wall, but also wedging it between a torch holster, just as planned, in order to give him more security as he put his weight against it. Reizo swung underneath the corridor using the shuriken and wires like a jungle vine, out of sight from any guards looking from above as Genzo might've been, and planted his feet against the bottom of the opposite side of the corridor. His plan was a resounding success. Reizo ran over and hoisted himself over the edge, having made it to the other side.

He yanked his shuriken out from its snug placement with some effort, making sure not to lose any equipment during this mission, and immediately pursued Yuki, putting his tools away as he ran. No matter what, he had to follow her. Reizo slowed down as he rounded the corner, and managed to glimpse her shadow as she walked down one of the intersecting halls. She had seemed to calm down as she paced down the corridor. Reizo peaked the corner to see her slowly making her way, communicating with her teammates as she was about to reach the end. "I'm about to meet at the rally point with Jaisuke. We're going to check on the scroll and head back into the inner formation. Our priority is just to defend the scroll. Genzo, you stay posted outside and make sure he doesn't try to come at it from a weird angle," she ordered. Reizo couldn't help but smile. He was so close to the scroll now. Clearly they had given up on their previous patrols after having found Reizo getting closer and were now getting into a tighter formation. It actually perplexed Reizo that he hadn't run into Jaisuke. If he was patrolling, why wasn't he patrolling the path to the scroll? Clearly, there must've been multiple paths to get to the scroll. Likely, there were only two. Jaisuke was in charge of patrolling one route while Yuki patrolled the other. Genzo was always stationed at the site of the scroll in the event some external path was taken, and it would be near impossible to take the scroll with one of them positioned exactly on top of it. Yuki turned the corner, and Reizo noticed another shadow interacting with her. That must be Jaisuke. Am I really only 2 turns away from the scroll? Reizo thought with excitement. Still, this would be the hardest part.

Somehow, Reizo would have to sneak through the line of sight of two guards directly in front or on top of the scroll without exiting the maze itself or he'd risk getting cornered and caught. It wasn't something he could do silently, and Genzo was waiting on the outside anyway. Reizo was perplexed, he had come so close, but yet he really had no way of closing it out? This wasn't something he could just wait out either, since the squad seemed totally committed to hanging out around the scroll. He would need to create some type of distraction. He couldn't do it himself though, it would be too risky. He resummoned Futachimaru. It wasn't necessarily the best plan, but it was the only one he could come up with. Biting his thumb, Reizo reopened his previous cut on his thumb and weaved the hand signs once more to summon him (109/200 AP; B-rank Summon). In a cloud of smoke, Futachimaru appeared once again. Reizo relayed his progress and his plan to Futachimaru, who understood exactly what was being asked of him. "I'm on it. You can count on me," the otter would say, disappearing down one of the offshoots of the hallway, different from the one that the two higher up shinobi were stationed at. Reizo gave him a thumbs up, and Futachimaru disappeared around a corner, and moments later punched the wall at the dead end with all his might. Reizo transformed into a brick, hugging the wall while doing so to hope he wouldn't be noticed. "GENZO!" the woman's voice came out loud and clear as it echoed through the corridors. The sound of multiple footsteps came racing around the corner, and both Yuki and Jaisuke made their appearance, turning to run toward where Futachimaru had wrecked havoc. Ganzo alerted the two of the disturbance, and as the two turned the corner Reizo immediately transformed back to his boy self. He sprinted around down the hallway where the two shinobi had come from. He had to reach the scroll before Ganzo did, no matter what. It was a race to the finish.

"GAH! It was a distraction! Why'd you follow me Jaisuke? Who's by the scroll?! Genzo, get down there now! We were way too eager over this, we shouldn't have underestimated him so much," her rage could be heard from all the way down the hall. Genzo had already sprung into motion before Yuki had even made it evident that it was a fake out. He knew his role to play once he had alerted them of the disturbance and had already been circling around the outside of the maze to drop in by the scroll. Reizo turned the final corner, the scroll now in plain sight atop a small flight of stairs, resting on a brick stand carved just for it. Genzo had already dropped into the maze, but was still a few turns out. He was sprinting, but although he was faster it wouldn't matter as Reizo was too close already. Reizo bounded up the stairs and dove face first at the scroll, snatching it from the pedestal.

The whole world seemed to whirl as Reizo and the sentries were whisked out of the maze and back to the warehouse where the mission had started. Reizo stood, proudly holding the scroll in his arms, grinning from ear to ear. Although she had appeared pissed initially, Yuki's demeanor suddenly shifted into one of absolute delight as she congratulated Reizo on his success. "Good job, Reizo! You're the third one to make it today, and not a moment too soon I might add. There isn't a lot of time left to complete this part today, so congratulations. You're on your way to becoming a Chuunin. I should warn you that even though you completed this mission, there are still harder challenges yet to come. The next mission won't be too hard, but it will test your abilities nonetheless. The real difficulties will come with the exams in the future. Good luck, we look forward to seeing and working with you soon!" she gleefully said. It was completely different from her exam persona. Jaisuke and Genzo gave thumbs up and smiled happily and told Reizo to get a good night's rest, and sent him on his way.

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6124/6000 words

Rewards:
-5x kunai (Global Mission Reward)
-1x Explosive Tag (Global Mission Reward)
-3k ryo (Mission Reward)
-Permission to move onto Part 2 (Mission Reward)
-10 stat points
-7 AP

Jutsu Learned:
Raiton: Jibashi (Electomagnetic Murder)