Sakana's Path to Chuunin pt 3

Just before dawn the restless gennin had experienced being awoken by the sounds of wars and medical ninja rushing to do their best to save lives. Throughout the night the sounds around their tent consisted of explosions, screaming and what he could only imagine to be the sound of death. Sakana and his team member Komon were sent to the village hidden in the rain on a mission to aid the kumo shinobi in any way possible. By the sounds that had kept him awake all night, there was a fierce battle going on, Ame was not going to give village that they had built up from ruins so easily, and kumo definitely was not going to retreat. As he dragged himself out of his makeshift bunk bed he saw Komon still resting. Not wanting to wake him, Sakana quietly got dressed and went to leave the tent. Realizing it would probably make Komon worry to find the Meijin’s bed empty, Sakana had decided to leave a not so that his chuunin team leader would have an idea of where he went.  
 
The letter said, “Sorry for leaving, I can not sleep with all the war noises, I should be back soon but if I am not do not panic because I just went to help out the kumo ninja” – Sakana. He headed out of the tent on his way to see how he could be of service to the war. When he stepped outside the tent he was horrified by the site of a medical ninja dragging a kumo ninja into the medical tent, the wounded warrior was missing an arm and must have had it ripped off in battle. The Meijin was not well versed in medical ninjutsu and the basic training he had would not help but he figured that he should go to the medical tent to see if they needed supplies or anything of the sort.
 
Sakana ducked his head into the medical tent, it was much larger than the solider tents in the village but that made sense due to how many injured people were housed there. The tent reeked of blood, “so many people have died in this tent”, was all the young gennin could think of.  Sakana approached one of the kumo medical ninja, “Hello I am Sakana Meijin, I had just arrived to the campsite last night and was wondering if I could aid you in any way.” The women shook her head, “Sorry kid, unless they were specifically trained in the medical arts we do not allow gennin to perform medical procedures as a health risk, I would send you to go get supplies but a team of chuunin had just headed out, come back later and I am sure we will have a need for you, until then go ask around.”
 
Really a health risk, people are dying and I can help but they wont let me because it is a health risk? The Meijin was shocked that they had turned away his help, he had expected to come to ame and immediately be put to work not being able to sleep in or hang around. This was needed to end and quick, Sakana needed to get out on the battle ground and aid in the fight. It may have looked more childish than he had wanted it to but the gennin had marched up to a village jounin standing at the front of the makeshift gate. “I am Sakana Meijin, there are people dying here because we do not have enough ninja on the battle field, send me out there, I can hold my own in a fight and more importantly I can support my comrades in their fights.” The jounin just kind of smirked at his statement, “What is your rank?” He replied to Sakana.
 
“I am a gennin, sir.” The gennin answered right back. Then something happened that angered Sakana so much, the jounin said, “Sorry we do not allow gennins on the battlefield if we can avoid it, we would not want you getting yourself killed now, and its one thing if you get yourself hurt but its another if one of our chuunin or jounin die trying to save your sorry ass, now go along and collect some more firewood, it is probably the most important job I can give you as of right now.”
 
Did Sakana hear the man correctly? The most important job that they had for him was getting firewood? Getting fire wood was more important than fighting on the battlefield or supporting his wounded comrades? It was all because he was a gennin. Sakana stormed off into the forest going to collect firewood.
 
The Meijin did not know what he expected from the boarders of the hidden rain village, all he had heard was that the village used to be an industrial center before it was destroyed. But the surrounding areas were quite the opposite of being industrialized. All around him was swamps and marshes, it would not be as easy as he thought to find dry firewood in these conditions.
 
Although he was in the middle of a war zone the humidity of the swamp made Sakana feel at ease. The feel of a cold breeze on his skin calmed his nerves. Even though the wars often destroyed lands and places surrounding them, this place seemed to be untouched, like it had its own little protective bubble too set it aside from the war zone.
 
AS Sakana walked deeper and deeper into the marshes he could not help but thing of his trivial task that was given to him. Sakana Meijin was a shinobi of the hidden cloud and should be treated as one, being treated as a child killed him, in his heart he knew the jounin at the rain boarders were only trying to protect him and their own comrades, but the gennin felt a responsibly to the village, he was sent to the rain to aid in the expansion of the kumo empire. Retrieving firewood from a marsh was hardly the task given to a respect shinobi, he needed to prove himself in battle but how would he be able to do that if he was always held back from the battle field. Sakana had only ever gotten into one real fight as a shinobi and that was when he helped Komon and Senshi capture some temple robber, although those men were hardly a challenge, it was a way that Komon had seen what Sakana could do and he has only improved since then.
 
The boy had concluded that the main issue of him not being trusted to fight in the war was a direct cause of his rank. He was only a gennin, a skilled gennin but still only a gennin. Sakana was on the path to becoming a chuunin but that was stopped due to him leaving for the war. He had completed two of the preliminary exams and only had one left to go. The first exam being when he was tasked with stealing a scroll, Sakana had been injured in the process of that and lost valuable training time. The second exam was actually extremely useful, the mission was to display chakra control using some jutsu. The gennin had chosen to learn two  new techniques, one of them being Sakura first step, which allowed his katana to be bladed on all sides, that reminded him that it probably was a bad idea he was alone in the woods without his gear but he was far enough away from the battle field that he was sure he would not be attacked in the process. But the second technique he had learned was a really cool one. Sakana had learned the rasengan technique, this technique was very strong because it combined all his chakra into a physical ball and using a lot of force would do some serious damage. All these techniques that he learned would be rendered as useless though if he was never able to use them as anything other than a party trick to impress people. Even the stupid bird would be really useful during the war, if permitted Sakana could have drawn two birds that would transport supplies and injured shinobi to either aid the soldiers on the battlefield or send the wounded to the medical tents.  But he could not do any of that if he was collecting fire wood.
 
The only logical solution to his problem of being a gennin was to become a chuunin. It may seem like an extremist idea to try and become a chuunin during the war and obviously some of the rules of the trails would have to be changed but he believed that he would be able to become a chuunin in the next coming days. Since there was no official testing center for him to go through he would have to find Komon and ask him to be his proctor, he was not sure if that was allowed or if Komon would have time but it was the only thing he could think of because he was not going back to those jounin.
 
Now that he had  a plan he still needed to get back to the task at hand, firewood. He needed to find so much firewood that it would leave the jounin dumfounded. But all the fire wood had been ruined by the swamp making most of the wood unusable. After some time of wondering around the swamp Sakana came into this seemed to be secluded area in the forest. There was now solid land instead of the marsh he had been walking on. It was a small area but it was all that he had needed. Sakana spent the next half and hour gathering lots of firewood so that no one would have to waste their time wandering in the forest getting firewood and could use their time more wisely. As per Sakana’s earlier idea with the birds it had seemed a viable solution here. Sakana took out his shinobi drawing device and drew the two birds. The Meijin took some time to load the birds up, climbing on the less packed one, he headed back to the kumo outpost.
 
It has surprised him how far away he must have gotten away from the village, he was really in the middle of no where but he had done some exploring which was his original intention in the first place. Sakana could barely phantom how much of the swamp was still not explored and how if kumo won this war he could make and expedition there and explore all the marshes throughout the rain.  
 
Arriving back to the kumo outpost Sakana positioned the birds to land just outside the border so that the jounin from earlier could see him. When he landed the jounin recognized his face and let him in. With a smirk on Sakana’s face he dispelled the birds in front of the jounin letting the piles of firewood fall in front of them. “I think I did a pretty good job getting your firewood.” The gennin left without listening to their response as he had another goal he was about to try to achieve.
 
The sun still had not fully risen so the Meijin had figured that Komon may still be asleep, he headed back to the tent figuring that would be the best place to find Komon. As he approached the tent, he was greeted by the site of Komon standing outside the tent talking to another Kumo nin, after he had finished speaking Sakana walked up to Komon. “Komon listen, I want to be able to aid kumo in more ways than just gathering firewood, as of right now since I am a gennin I am unable to help the village in a large aspect, that is why I am asking you to proctor my third chuunin preliminary, I am not sure if that is allowed but if it is you can inform me on the details of what I have to do.” Sakana would wait for his team member Komon’s response.
 
WC:2028

They say that when you wish upon a star, it makes no difference who you are. Perhaps today the young Genin would get their wish to do more then simply gather firewood. A man would appear in the distance, three blades at each of his sides, each of his hands resting on the topmost of his blades, as they always did. Looking over the outpost, Kazuo was pretty fucking sure that this hadn't been here the last time he'd come to Amegakure. Granted, he'd skipped town quite quickly, this still looked like a genuine war effort to him. What sort of petty war were these Shinobi getting up to?

Outside the outpost, Kazuo stood, about 10 meters away, quite concerned if he had not been noticed yet. To rectify this, or just to announce his presence, he would speak.
"...The hell are you guys doing here?" He'd ask, rather bluntly. He'd grown quite tired of formalities in his dealings with ninja, and was rather annoyed with their presence, but wasn't openly hostile.

Sakana seemed to have gotten an early start to the day which was all well and good, Komon himself was not an early riser. When he awoke the gennin he was solely responsible had apparently gone out to run errands for the war effort. Finding himself alone in the tent, he’d prepare for the day walking over to the nightstand where he had stored his armor. Opening the drawer would reveal two items. First he would pull out the assimilation necklace, a useful trinket he had come across and bought he’d slip the thing around his neck before he’d pull out the suit of armor Baransu  from the same drawer. The cloak and mask formed a formidable defense, and had been given to him by the makukage himself.

Now fully cloaked from head to toe he’d grab his weapons pouches and Shinigami as well, putting the blue and black steel katana into the sheath that rested at the waist of baransu. Now seeing the world through a mask he’d depart from his tent before stopping another chuunin he didn’t recognize and asking if he had seen sakana before immediately realizing that the man had no clue who sakana was.

Slightly frustrated he’d signal the man to leave, realizing that the hyuuga had simply wasted what he was sure was the man’s own valuable time. He would then however turn towards the gates to see the very man he was looking for enter the outpost unharmed. “Oh thank god” He’d think, afterall the last thing he needed was a dead gennin on his hands this early into the war.

Greeting the boy they’d talk about the idea of Komon proctoring his third prelim exam, and the idea intrigued the hyuuga. He recalled his own exam with youka himself, and the injuries that had come as a result of it, figuring that he would be a much more merciful fighter while still gouging the genin's strength. He was about to tell the boy he’d do it and write a letter recommending he be allowed to move to the next exam before he noticed something odd out of the corner of his eye.

A nervous gennin on the tower wall seemed to be pointing out and downwards at the tower wall while trying to get the attention of the jounin next to him. It seemed he was worried about something and Komon decided he better check it out. “Wait here” He’d say to sakana as he began to walk through the gate the meijin boy had just come through. Turning to the left he’d see a man with a ridiculous amount of swords on his hip. Clearly some sort of shinobi who specialized in weaponry, and while Komon was a decent swordsman, he made a mental note not to get within the man’s range, stopping some 20 meters away from him, he’d find himself hearing the man’s words. “What the hell are you guys doing here”

The black haired hyuuga would tilt his still mask wearing face before saying. “I think thats a more appropriate question for me, considering the circumstances” The man had shown no hostility yet, so he’d simply try to turn the man around. “This is a kumogakure outpost, I don’t know if you were unaware, but it’s probably a good idea to take another route wherever you were going” He’d say stopping to listen to the man's response but having his hand on the assimilate necklace in case the man made any sudden movements.

The man wouldn't be able to tell but underneath his mask his byakugan would flicker into motion gouging his chakra, and was startled to see that it shined in a manner equal to Komori's. This man was a high level shinobi, with a decent amount of training behind him.

Jutsu Used:
Byakugan -ap (can link if asked but feel like literally everyone knows what it does so its kinda unnecessary)
596/597
WC: 611

It had worked! His plan to do the chuunin preliminary at the hidden rain was going to be fulfilled. He had been talking about the details with Komon, details such as the location which would he inside an earth room made by Komon go simulate the real conditions and the time which would be immediately after Komon would ask the Kumo ninja in charge of chuunin exams if it would be okay.

 Sakana was set to head out with Komon when he noticed something was wrong. Komon was acting strangely. He seemed distant and like his mind was not in the conversation. The chuunin told Sakana to wait there and that he needed to check something out. 

After waiting a bit for Komon, Sakana ultimately decided that his time would be better spent helping out the war effort. For the rest of the day Sakana would go around to each tent and see what jobs needed to be done and doing his best to do his part in the war. While he would not be fighting anytime soon he accepted the fact that in his own way he was helping  the cloud village.

--Exit-- 
No requests 
WC: 2221

Kazuo’s face split into a grin as the masked figure appeared. Sheesh, with that cloak and that mask, he looked like a wannabe ANBU. The man walked out of the camp, seemingly taking an unnecessarily long route, since Kazuo was only 10 meters from the camp itself, but hey, he wasn’t gonna deny him the entrance. When he spoke, he asserted that the question Kazuo had just asked was more appropriate for he himself to answer, considering the circumstances. Kazuo knew not the circumstances he spoke of, but it was a rather rude way to introduce himself, if we’re being honest.

”No, I really don’t think so, considering you’re a foreign power camping in another village’s land. And besides, I asked you first.” he almost shouted, beginning to walk towards the other person, as it was rather hard to talk from this far away. He wouldn’t move horribly fast, let’s just say like two speed. He’d close the distance until they were a more reasonable 10 meters or so away, unless stopped or something.

”I’m not going anywhere in particular. I’m naught but a travelling swordsman, wondering why I’ve encountered this eyesore upon the horizon.” He said, nodding towards the camp. ”I don’t know if you’re trying to be a dick here, but you’re sounding pretty condescending to me. Do you wanna, like, do that over? First impressions are important, you know.”

Now, if the man kept copping the attitude, Kazuo’s right hand would cross to his left side, gripping the saya of his blade with his left, his right hand resting on the grip.
”Shall we?” He’d ask, grinning.

As the man began to step forward Komon instantly registered it and reacted accordingly, the hand that had been resting on the necklace would touch the wooden surface, and his skin that was hidden would begin to morph into a bark covered texture. This would all happen as the man took his first two steps, the one’s komon would allow the strange man to take placing him at around 18 meters. As the man walked he’d snap back at Komon speaking rather confidently for someone who was right outside of a highly populated Kumogakure war outpost.

At 16 meters Komon didn’t really see the point in continuing with the conversation as the man seemed intent on fighting. Slightly annoyed with the overly hostile man he’d simply tilt his head at the idea of redoing his speech. Instead of humoring the man he’d reach into his weapons pouch and sling his hand forward throwing a kunai towards the man leg, not an intended kill shot, but certainly one that would hurt if it managed to land. The kunai would travel at full speed (145) and have a sharpness of 90, With the man’s chakra level’s he certainly expected him to dodge it however and his hand moved to shinigami to compensate for the intended reaction, not drawing it as of yet, but instead getting into a position where he could more suitably use the dancing blade risk technique if the man continued to approach.

“That was your warning shot” He’d say regardless of whether it hit or not. “Turn back now or there will be more to come”


(ooc: quick recap
- I threw the kunai at about 15 meters: 145 speed 90 sharpness, heading towards left leg
- Activated assimilate all creation: wood variant + 70 chakra and Health, {you wont see it cuz its under cloak}
- I’ma say kunai is on a trajectory to hit you at around 13 meters away if you let it
)

Jutsu Used:
Byakugan, -1 AP
Assimilate Wood Variant -50 AP for activation

AP Remaining: 545

Now 18 meters away from Komon, he noticed the man grasping a necklace or something, and his lack of any sort of response clued Kazuo in that a fight was indeed about to break out. Preparing himself, he watched his opponent carefully, his Meigan active. As he reached 16 meters, the man finally made his move, his retrieve and throw a kunai. Kazuo's blade would begin to vibrate for hardly a fraction of a second, for his next action would send the blade out of the sheathe, faster then Komon would be able to reach for his kunai, due to Kazuo's slightly superior speed, paired with his hand already being on his weapon.


In a fluid motion, his blade would fly out of the sheathe (Speed 160), and Kazuo would slash the air horizontally, sending a wave of incredibly sharp Fuuton at his opponent, a 5 meter long wave with his opponent level with the center, (2.5 meters to either side of Komon) and wide enough to block the kunai, should he continue with his attempt to throw a kunai at Kazuo. The wave was quite fast, and incredibly sharp. (150 Sharpness, 60 Power/Speed) As this happened, Kazuo’s other hand would immediately reach for another blade, drawing it quickly.


Now drawing a blade, Kazuo, who hadn’t stopped walking, and was now roughly 13 meters from his opponent, would cause his weapons to vibrate, emitting an eerie, soothing song from his weapon. Should his opponent hear the song made by his blade, Komon would find his reflexes numbed considerably. (-85 RT, 75 Genjutsu power) Both blades out and ready to attack, Kazuo would continue to advance towards his opponent, about 10 meters away now


500/600 AP


-10 AP Mirage
-20 Northern Star
-30 Rupture
-40 Nightingale

Komon would watch as the man seemed to react flawlesslyt to his throw, just as he had expected with someone possessing that much chakra. The man’s response was to send a wave of wind in his direction, obviously not expecting it to be gentle gust Komon would in response flick his hands into the formation of the rat symbol before slamming it to the ground all the while observing the man about to reach for his blade again. Anyone he had ever been stuck around with Komon knew that Youka had given him quite a lesson in attempting close range combat with an opponent before knowing what they could do, so Komon quickly made to make a mental note to deal with the closing distance between the two. Komon’s seals would effectively cause a sphere of earth to rise about halfway out of the ground. This sphere would have a health at 115.

The earth would cover him from the blunt of the attack and conceal him from the mysterious combatants view for a split second, and acting on his mental note from earlier he body flickered into the tree line a mere 30 meters away. If this happened uninterrupted the missing ninja in front of him would merely be casting a genjutsu on a rock, as Komon would have already escaped with a body flicker faster than the swordsman could react to at 280 speed into the nearby tree line.

If he made it to this section uninterrupted he’d lift his sleeve to reveal the shinobi painter set and draw a bird with two quick strokes of the attachment on his finger tip, causing a bird standing 12 feet tall and a wingspan of 20 feet to blast through the forestry, Traveling at 120 speed, and carrying 120 power with its momentum and having a health of 120 as well, it would fly only 3 feet from the ground and its wings would kick up a heavy amount of dirt and dust across the battlefield these two shinobi fought on, all while heading directly for ninjas chest.

Komon himself would await the ninjas response to this attack while watching from the tree’s standing on a branch.

(ooc: quick recap
Bedrock Coffin to block your wind gust (requires 180 sharpness to break your sharpness was 150)
Body flickered 30 meters away 280 speed (effectively avoiding your genjutsu if it happens)
Giant ass sai bird inbound at 120 speed 120 power and 120 health)

Jutsu used:
-1 AP for byakugan
-25 AP for Assimilate Wood Variant
- 10 AP for Body Flicker
- 45 AP for Super Beast Imitating Drawing Hawk
-40 AP for Bedrock Coffin

WC: 1245
AP REMAINING: 424

Slowed by the genjutsu, Komon would find his movements and his reaction speed debuffed to 80 speed whilst he went about making his hand seals, Kazuo would continue his advance, noting as the wall rose and watching the sides, knowing his opponent was likely to run out either side. When he felt Komon’s chakra signature vanish, he knew he was right. The chakra signature reappeared roughly 30 meters to his Kazuo’s left, entering the tree line. His right blade still vibrating with Fuuton, and his left aiding the other in its eerie song, Kazuo readied both of his blades at his right side, as if he were about to strike an opponent, and then, he vanished.

Using the Dance of the Twin Lotus, Kazuo activated his Shunshin no Jutsu to close the gap between the two of them, moving at 210 speed towards Komon, who would at this point be slowing to a halt from his own body flicker (As the technique does not allow you to stop on a dime) We’ll say Kazuo arrived in range, about a meter away and slightly to the left of Komon (From Kazuo’s perspective, that is), just as Komon had turned back to face his opponent, and was beginning to paint his jutsu. Now only a meter away, with blades at his side, Kazuo would appear in Komon’s vision, a terrifying visage to be sure.

The song would once again fill the boy’s ears, and his reaction speed would likely be dampened back down to 80 as Kazuo lashed out with both blades, his left blade, which was raised the highest, aimed at the boy’s skull, and his right at the boy’s center of mass. As he did this, his blades would glow an eerie blue, and, if his blade’s song had been successful, Komon likely wouldn’t even be able to see what happened next. It would appear as if Kazuo had not moved his arms at all, and then the next moment, they had changed position, having cut clean through Komon. This was the art of the flashblade. (210 speed, 155 power, 201/171 (Bottom blade, then top blade) sharpness for these two motions.)

If his hits were successful, Kazuo would continue running, slowing himself to a stop after a few meters, reacting accordingly depending on if he successfully hit his opponent or not.

370/600

-10 Mirage
-20 Northern Star Upkeep
-10 Body Flicker
-10 Nightingale Upkeep
-50 Flashblade
-30 Flashblade

As Komon escaped the onslaught of his attacks with the body flicker technique, he assumed that he would have a moment to recollect before he realized the error in his strategy. While the man may not have seen him move, it was reasonable to assume that he could still sense his chakra. And that assumption was confirmed less than a few seconds later as Kazou appeared in front of him.

The young Hyuuga’s eyes would widen in clearly visible fear as a blur of motion he couldn’t even hope to track passed by him. What happened next would be purely up to the missing ninja who was responsible for that very attack.

WC: 1357