A Fortuitous Meeting

Senshi stopped moving, bunkering down so that he was hidden. He was about a hundred and fifty meters from where the mini lake was, so that if he wanted to he could move in that direction. For now he was waiting to see what his pursuers did. The five minutes was up but just barely so. They were unlikely to have traveled nearly as far as he did. Senshi’s ears perked slightly as he heard a loud crashing sound. It seemed that someone had triggered one of the traps already. That was rather fast, judging by the sounds they were over three hundred meters far to the west and south of him. That didn’t let him know where the other team was however, since Senshi doubted they were working together.
 
-----With Komon---------
Komon and Komori would see one of Senshi’s clones standing on a branch of a tree, if they bothered to look up that is. As they had been walking Komon had somehow managed to trip a wire. Flying towards them from their right sides were thirty kunai, from directly behind them thirty shuriken were all coming at them. All of the weapons were blunted so instead of piercing they would merely cause bruises if they hit. The weapons were all spaced out so as to be four meters in height and seven meters in width. If one of the two choose to jump they would likely trigger a second trap that would send several blunted logs flying at them from the left side. The only truly safe way to escape the trap was to run forwards fast enough to avoid them.
 

Speed of Kunai/Shuriken - 80

WC: 274
TWC: 4082

Komon finished his body flicker and instantly heard a slight twinge as he landed, under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have thought much of it nor reacted as extremely as he had, but he knew senshi had set traps the gennin had told him about them after all, and he’d be damned if he got hit by one right off the bat, his brother landed less than a second after him and stopped mere feet in front of him. “Perfect” he thought as his hand was already moving towards the ground in the shape of the rat seal. As he did so he let it turn into a palm at the last moment and poured his chakra into the ground.

The chakra would then rip the earth from the surface and up into the air forming a protective dome around the two young twins. Encased in their protective shield of earth the pattern and clanking of kunai could be heard. Komon would then mutter “No more surprises” before activating his kekkei genkai and releasing the jutsu the area seemed clear for now but his guard was raised just in case, he was rather shocked to see the amount of kunai laying on the ground. “Senshi really didn’t hold back with these traps did he?” He’d ask his brother while continuing scan the area for people, he knew everyone had just learned to suppress their chakra so looking for that was useless, he saw no one however and decided to continue with the plan he had given his brother.

Creating the clone seal by placing his pointing and index finger together in the shape of a plus two clouds of smoke appeared behind him and an equal amount of carbon copies of himself emerged from them as it dispersed. “Alright Komori Let’s go!” They’d say in unison as they went in separate directions.

The first clone would head left towards a river, and run on the surface of it using the surface running technique.

Komon himself would run in the thick trees to the side of the river using them as cover.

And the last clone would head past the river and to the next section of the forest looking deeper into the wooded area.

(all clones have byakugan active)

WC: 2406

"Komon certainly seems like the stronger of the two, both physically and in terms of chakra. There isn't even much of a comparison from what I gathered. Still, we don't really know what Hozukis can do. Or at least I don't. I didn't get a chance to see him show off his bloodline, nor do I recall him explaining it. It'd be best to consider them both capable threats, but I would still be a bit more wary of Komon," Reizo responded to Max's question as he body flickered into the woods with Max and his puppets on his back. As soon as he reached his maximum range for his body flicker, Reizo suppressed his chakra and he assumed Max would be doing so as well. Reizo would be focusing on keeping track of the chakra signatures that he was tracking - those of Komori and Komon - using his newly developed chakra sensory. They were suppressed for now, but he imagined they were still heading in the same direction. He proceeded at his fastest possible speed, now his max thanks to starting with body flicker (100), uninhibited by the child and puppets on his back; his strength was more than enough to carry them with ease, even the behemoth that was Stein.

Although he couldn't see the twins as they were a bit too far ahead, Reizo slowed down when he sensed a surge in chakra from a jutsu. Perhaps they had encountered a trap? Or maybe Max and his positions were already compromised? Reizo wasn't too sure, but he slowed to a halt and took cover behind a tree about 30 meters out from the twins. He could make out a dome of rock and what appeared to be dozens of kunai and shuriken sprinkled along the ground. Looking up just a bit above the hunk of rock, which he assumed must've been a jutsu from one of the two twins as a means to block the trap they had sprung, Reizo saw what looked like Senshi on a tree branch. Reizo was a bit puzzled as to why Senshi would be out in the open, but he soon reached the conclusion that it must've been a clone when he saw Komon and Komori emerge from the dome and head in separate directions. Then they did it again... and yet again. Was he seeing things? They were obviously clones, or a genjutsu, but what use would clones have? They were merely illusions and didn't retain any memory of their locations. Was it supposed to be a distraction for Reizo and Max to throw them off? Reizo didn't know that it was possible to have tangible shadow clones to divide the search effort.

Reizo turned his head to look at Max, who was seated on his back. "Are you making any sense of this? I think that Senshi up there must be a clone. My guess is that Komon's Byakugan allowed him to discern that, and so they ignored it. But what about those other 4 clones of the twins? Which do we follow, if any? They might just do the work for us in finding Senshi, we only need to keep our eyes and ears open. I suspect we'll be able to hear a skirmish should one break out. Earth style isn't the quietest or most subtle of element," Reizo said, pausing for a brief moment as rain began to drizzle. "Huh... that's strange. It was sunny only a moment ago. Do you think this is another jutsu of their's? If it is... that's earth and water. Both we should have no problems with as Lightning users," Reizo concluded.

He wanted Max to make the suggested course of action. Reizo was already acting as the body, he wanted to include Max as the brains behind the operation. Nonetheless, Reizo would advance to the site where the trap had been triggered to investigate the Earth dome and the blunted weapons used. There had to be at least 50 tools scattered about, but no sign of Senshi aside from the expressionless clone still looming above them. "It seems like some of the clones ran off to the river and lake, and others went deeper into the forest. I don't see any signs of Senshi here aside from the trap, or any indication as to which direction he was headed... do you? And what should we do now?" Reizo would ask Max, lowering him to the ground so that he could look and walk around for clues if he wanted. "The only thing I can glean is that it seems, based on the way these kunai are pointed and where the shuriken came from, based on the dome, Senshi was trying to get them to jump, perhaps to notice the clone. I bet there's another trap up there too. Unfortunately, all we know is that Senshi had these traps set up before, so it's not like he set it up while he was fleeing, so the directions of the traps don't tell us much beyond that. I don't think he had planned to set up an obstacle course for us, but rather himself, so these traps probably don't have any clues as to his location unless he just left one for us on his way out," Reizo sighed. All this logic and investigative work was boring and confusing him. It seemed like no matter how he thought about it, there was nothing to be gained from sitting around here looking for clues.

----------------------------------------------
921 + 2420 = 3341 words total

Max would look around as Reizo carried him (and all of his puppets) on his back. It didn’t feel like there was much to glean from their surroundings, but he still would attempt. Noticing the surge of chakra, Max would look in that direction. Reizo seemed to notice it as well, which was good. It meant he was learning to effectively utilize Chakra Sensory in a “more real” scenario.
 
The dome looked to have blocked a bunch of kunai, and a motionless Senshi stared blankly into the forest. Likely a clone by the looks of it. It hadn’t moved at all despite the commotion beneath it. If it were Senshi, he would likely have started to escape during the chaos of the triggered trap.
 
Emerging from the dome had been several clones of the twins, a total of 4 it seemed. Upon Reizo’s questions, Max would try to answer with what little he knew, but Napa would speak up and add in his thoughts.
 
“They had strong chakra signatures, didn’t seem to carry and puppets or weapons. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of options. The one known as… Komon I think? I dunno, the one with the funny eyes. He said he heavily relies on Ninjutsu. So we know that that is most likely his specialty. I don’t recall the other one stating what he had specialized in. Maybe he had and I was lost in my thoughts, but he’s still a mystery.” Napa would scratch his head for but a moment, clearly thinking.
 
Just then, a heavy rain seemed to start up, coming almost out of nowhere. “Yep, and the other one said something about Hydrofication. That just sounds all sorts of watery. This rain appearing out of nowhere is more than likely a Water Style Ninjutsu. A high ranking one too, as Max hasn’t seen that in his Jutsu Encylopedia. That means that it would require someone to specialize in the field of Ninjutsu to pull that off, meaning that they are most likely both Ninjutsu specialists. I’ve seen a technique that ninjutsu specialists can pull off that makes actual clones, capable of combat and everything. It was in an encounter with that Yuki kid hanging around our shack.”
 
Max just nods while listening to Napa figure out just what those two were capable of. “What he said.” Max would add in at the end, agreeing with his intelligent puppet pal.
 
“Of course, maybe just the one was a ninjutsu specialist with water affinity, and the other was putting out regular clones to try and confuse us, but considering the fact that there were several surges of chakra from their direction and it distinctly felt like two separate people, I don’t think it would be too far off to assume that all of those clones are “real”. Plus, if we expect the worst and it turns out to not be the case, we don’t really lose much.” Napa would look around, hoping to gather any more info he could.
 
“Those that are heading towards the source of water, they will likely have more than enough water to utilize any techniques in their repertoire they so choose. If you do in fact think that any of them were decoys, the real ones would likely go that way in order to maximize their effectiveness in a skirmish if we decided to engage them.” Max would add in before walking off towards the scattered kunai.

Max would then pick up a few of the blunted kunai, thinking he had stumbled upon some free stuff at least until the exercise was over and he returned them to Senshi. He would note that they looked odd, and so he would test the sharpness on a nearby tree.
 
Dulled.
 
These weren’t meant to inflict any serious wounds. Good thing he found these. Returning to where his comrades were at, he would hand the blunt kunai to Napa. “Here, if we have to fight anyone I want you to use these. That way we don’t do any real damage.”
 
Napa scoffs, “Real damage and the threat of real danger builds character. You should know this. By using these, you are hindering their development. They don’t have to worry about being hurt, and so can choose actions that would otherwise prove unfavorable.” Napa had a point in this, but at the same time Max had a counterpoint.
 
“They don’t know whether or not you are using blunted kunai, so it shouldn’t have much impact on their actions.” Max would reply, insisting Napa take them.
 
“Well, I think that if we truly believe that they had produced fakes, then we should head towards the body of water. They wouldn’t send fakes into an advantageous position, would they?” Max doesn’t really know the twins that well, so he can only assume that they would do what he thought would prove to be the best course of action.
 

“I say that we head towards the water. They might have all the water they need, but you brought up a valid point. We utilize Lightning chakra. Water shouldn’t prove too much of a problem.” He would say, motioning that he was ready to hop back onto the back of Reizo. 

WC:860

Senshi began moving away from the body of the water, he could hear the rustling in the bushes. It was quiet but he had put significant training into stealth, plus he didn’t want to take any chances. Even if these were false alarms or even just animals moving through the brush it didn’t make sense for Senshi to stay in position much longer. At least one of his traps had been tripped and he didn’t want to make this too easy on his fellow Genin. Being unpredictable was best, and drawing them towards the water had been his plan from the start. There was a large enough clearing there for him to trigger plenty of traps.
 
Moving through the woods his attention completely focused on his surroundings he moved ducking into a bush. Several seconds later he was surprised to see both Komon and Komori clones, though not that he knew they were clones. Raising his arm up he grabbed the training blade on his back and prepared to attack the two. They were still several feet away but if he waited just long enough they would be in the range of his attacks. So long as they continued on the same path they were going on. Once they were close enough he gripped the blades handle tighter and attacked.
 
The Great Cleave technique didn’t require a true use of chakra, thus he wouldn’t be giving his position away to anyone using Chakra Sensory. He didn’t want to draw Reizo and Max here just yet. Then again if anyone was listening closely they were going to hear the results of this attack anyways. The blade came off his back at an impossibly high speed and with a ridiculous amount of strength behind it. A slight smirk was on Senshi’s face as he attacked his two comrades from stealth. Neither had given any hint that they knew he was there. Should the attack hit the two clones, Senshi would register brief surprise before taking off at a dead run towards the lake area forming the single hand seal required and using the body flicker to move even faster so that he could arrive there and draw Max and Reizo to the area as well. He wanted them to sense him.
 
If the technique did not destroy both clones, he would prepare himself to fight them, not taking off running. Regardless if the technique hit, his blade would smash into a tree with a loud smashing sound the tree would be cleaved in half at the base and fall making a large racket alerting anything in the area. IF the technique had hit and he did run then once he reached the clearing with the lake he would immediately drop into his stealthiest mode moving around the clearing to set himself up to trigger not only one trap but also to use a technique of his own on his comrades. He was curious to see how they would take to being ambushed like this.
 
 
If the real Max and Reizo continued on their current path, there would be a tiny wire strung almost invisibly across the forest floor. IF Reizo wasn’t careful he would feel it crash against the top of his sandals snapping. If Max wasn’t careful with Napa then Napa himself would snap it on accident. If snapped two blunt logs, two meters wide would come racing towards Senshi’s two teammates. They were aimed to smoosh someone between them, so if Reizo and Max didn’t move fast enough they would be smashed between the two logs. Regardless if Reizo and Max got out of the way in time as soon as the ends of the logs touched something they would set off a pressure tag that released a loud popping sound and a metric ton of glitter every where.Glitter that would make stealth incredibly hard because it would glint of the sun easily.
 
On the path of Komon and Komori’s second set of clones was another trap, this one far more deadly than any other trap Senshi had set. Primarily meant to keep someone on the correct path towards the lake. Once set off Komon and Komori’s second set of clones would have a slew of weapons coming from the front of them, their right, and their left leaving only moving backwards to escape or up. If they jumped up they might clear the height of the weapons without damage, if they went backwards they would find that a second trap had been triggered on delay and a slew of weapons was now coming at them from all four angles. The only safe way was up.

The real Komon and Komori would have a relatively safe path, they would actually come into contact to see the second Senshi clone crouching near a bush. They would need to pay attention however because the second senshi clone, as soon as he saw them would move. The small amount of chakra he gave off would set off over twenty tags of glitter in the area. If Komon or Komori used a chakra technique the glitter tags would be set off threatening to cover them in glitter. The glitter would make a huge arrow pointing towards the lake, as if indicating that the boys should head that way. A harmless technique, but one that would show them that if Senshi had been using explosive tags it could have been deadly.


((OOC: Want to destroy at least the clones Senshi encouters, Great Cleave would attack with a strength and speed of 200 so that way we can have a show down by the lake. The glitter bombs are more for CD so that way you know we can progress they don't really mean anything. Let me know if I need to edit anything I tried to keep it as open ended as possible)) 

WC: 906
TWC: 4988

Komon shuttered.

It was all one really could do when the memory of dying popped into your head while one was still alive after all. Apparently one of his clones had ran into a bit of trouble, and gotten slashed in half by what Komon had to note was a pretty powerful attack, it didn’t seem like senshi had been holding back at all. “God I hope he knew that was a clone” Komon would say before turning to his brother, who had obviously just gotten the memory of his fallen clone as well, the two clones had been traveling together after all.

And a mere second later yet another memory of death came to him. It was such a strange sensation especially to have it happen twice so fast, this time his body had been pierced by several kunai, and he had disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Which left just him, and his brother, Senshi hadn’t been kidding about the amount of traps it seemed. As he finished his thought he saw what appeared to be senshi however.

And the clone felt the need to set off what komon thought was a paper bomb at first, however to his surprise he was not met with fiery death but rather covered in glitter, As the sun shined off him, making him obvious to the average man Komon had decided enough was enough, the whole trap thing had started to annoy him, and it didn’t seem like he was making any ground in the stealth department, instead he decided he was going to go for a bit bolder approach.

Crackling could be heard emanating from his body as lightning began to expel itself from his pores, and surround him. His muscles would grow in response to the stimulation and increase both his speed and strength, with his byakugan still active he’d take note of the the giant glitter arrow in the sky pointing towards the lake, he knew it was most likely a trap but it was also the direction the senshi clone had ran off too, and he was growing tired of chasing people.

“Komori Let’s go!” he’d say while activating the body flicker technique to bolt towards the lake.
(205 speed, 100 base + 75 speed from body flicker + 30 speed from lightning javelin)

390ish ap left (guesstimation)
WC: 2761

“What the hell, Senshi!” Komori expressed aloud despite him not being in their general vicinity, so he did not know whether or not Senshi would even be able to hear his complaint. “That would have killed us if those hadn’t been shadow clones,” Komori said to his brother referring to Senshi using his oversized sword to decimate their doppelgangers. Komori was then also hit with the memory of his second clone dying. It seemed as when faced with kunai, he had jumped back and gotten impaled from every which angle. That was a rather brutal way to die. Once Komon had activated the blue aura that Komori could associate with lightning javelin, the strapping young genin did the same as he recalled the day he had spent with his brother learning the technique. He would then witness Komon activating the ram seal and body flickering to the lake, which would cause Komori to do the same at a mere 172 speed, as he was not as fast as his brother. Yet. Upon reaching the lake, Komori would summon another shadow clone for combat purposes as he would practice using a he had once learned about but had not quite learned once the others showed up at the lake. The clone would then use the water balloon technique, causing 15 bubbles to rise from the ground beneath him and swirl about his person at a speed of 35. He was aware of the rather slow speed in comparison to his comrades, but these would merely provide a means of short range support to the original Komori upon performing the technique he had in store.

WC: 2629