Chunnin Examination Part 2: Tsuna and Ban's Trial

The time had come for the second round of the chuunin exams to begin. The first part of the exam being a test of their intelligence, wisdom and morality. For the second part, it would be a test of their skill, power and tactics, or at least how he was grading his particular test. No trickery, no elaborate course set up to test them, just a good old fashion scuffle between him and the two gene contestants that were vying for the rank of Chuunin. With a smug grin, Jigen Uzumaki entered the training field conducting his portion of the test. The field they would be using today would be a fifty square meter, indoor battlefield that simulates a rocky woodland area. The end of the arena were slate walls acting as hard barriers to prevent too much damage from escaping the room at a durability of one-hundred and twenty-five so they may go all out if they wish. The area was littered with rocks of varying shapes and sizes ranging from being as small as to fit into the palm of your hand or as big as two meter wall tall and wide boulders. Nothing too big or small. The participants who was under his care would already be have been briefed about the their trial and should know what to expect already.

The trees also varied in size ranging from six meters tall to fourteen meters tall, all of them being three meters thick. Lastly, there was a large river, relatively eight meters wide and one meter deep. The river was located directly in the middle of the indoor training arena, with the flow of the water going from the east to the west. Jigen Uzumaki had entered the arena first before the participants in order to make sure the two of them had spotted him. As for Jigen himself, he was quite the bear of, more like a gorilla, of a man. He was very muscular from head to toe, quite hairy and had long, very unkempt hair. Wearing nothing but a white tank-top, some black shorts and black ninja tabi as his casual attire. His equipment of choice was equipped with two war clubs, two weapon pouches with his consumable items. Lastly, he had a pair of silver bells that he kept attached to around each of his ears as if they were earrings. Folding his arms, he grinned quite smugly as he waited for his oppon-, test participants, to appear. With that, he'd continue to wait with such anticipation at the very center of the battlefield with two rocks that were roughly the size of a meter sitting side by side one another.

W.C: 448

Jigen Uzumaki:

The second round had commenced and Ban was paired with Tsuna, a genin from Hoshi. They previously had an interaction at the gates when Yuuma was teasing the boy about being a "ladies man" in front of Murata and her. Not a great image to start with. But it was something Ban was willing to put behind her during this exam. She would just need to get past this next round, that was her only goal right now. 

Jigen, Tsuna, and Ban would all meet on the indoor battlefield which simulated an outdoor setting, with a variety of sized trees, rocks, and streams of water. It was a pretty ideal battleground. Jigen, their battle proctor and opponent was extremely large and well built. It filled Ban with excitement just looking at his melon-sized biceps. "Truly a man worthy of an event like this," the Hozuki commented out loud. Their goal for this round was to get the bells that were being worn like earrings. 

Jigen would be met 20 meters before Tsuna and Ban, giving them space before the match would start. Ban and Tsuna were only a meter apart for the start, allowing them to conspire. Between Ban-Tsuna and Jigen was a large 2-meter high boulder that was exactly 10 meters between Jigen and Ban-Tsuna and to (Ban-Tsuna's) left 5 meters, making it around 11 meters when making a straight line to the boulder. Other than that, it was a clear path between Ban-Tsuna and Jigen for about 10 meters on either side. 

"Alright, here is the plan," Ban looked at Tsuna, noticing his arms to be pretty flimsy compared to both Ban's and Jirgen's. "His build suggests that he's extremely powerful physically. I don't know what you can do but I know out of the two of us, I'm the strongest. I'll make sure to keep him on edge and keep him moving. Your job will be to grab both of his bell-earrings while doing your best to avoid his attacks and mine. Got it?" Ban asked before gripping her blade, the Wave Slicer's, sheath with her left hand. In her right sleeve, Ban had a Kunai and in her left sleeve, she held two hidden shurikens for future use. Ban was prepared for this round to start once Tsuna was. 

WC:383

Indigo eyes centralized around the behemoth that was standing between them and their advancement in the Chuunin Exams, Uzumaki Jigen. Perhaps behemoth was not the correct word, no.... beast? Mammoth? Something about those labels did not seem to fit. Leviathan! That’s the word that came to mind for the Hatake. Noticing the monstrous build of the man, Tsuna was immediately flushed with annoyance. “Ugh... This guy looks way too strong. I’m not feeling too fond of this matchup.” He began, glancing over to Ban, his partner in this drill. Who also looked pretty intimidating if he was being openly honest. Not to mention that there was also a sense of embarrassment that washes over him when he looks at this woman - Yuuma had much to do with this, calling him a “Ladies man” in the presence of her and Murata. Tsuna took note of her disgust with the comment. A giant sweat droplet formed in an animated fashion on the back of his head, his eyes scribbled out and his form seemed to take a chibi-like appearance with a dark cloud hovering over him. He felt so defeated from that thought. The taking note of her glancing over him, he took that as she was still remembering that incident. “Yup... She totally hates me... Why meeeee?” He thought, blaming himself for his comrade’s twisted sense of humor. Deciding it may be for the best to not stare, or run the risk of her misinterpreting that for a opportunity for him to try his hand at her, Tsuna turned his gaze over to the proctor. Raising his hand, aiming to get his attention with a smile. “Hahaha, hey, um. I’m guessing asking for another proctor would result in an immediate fail and your eternal disappointment, huh?” He inquired, but after seeing the expression on the face of his proctor he knew that there was no chance in hell. 

“Eeeeeeeeegghghhhh!!!!! He’s going to kill me!!!!” He cried in his mind, while holding a nervous expression on his frame. Lazily shooing the prior question away with his raised hand while shaking his head. “Never mind, forget I even said anything - forget I even exist.” He ended, feeling his nerves getting the best of him at this point. It was then that he heard the voice of the woman to his right - Tsuna peaking over in her direction, keeping the monster in his peripheral eye view. It would appear that she had a plan. This somehow returned the boy from his sad and embarrassing fit. She had his ear. As she paused, looking him over again he noticed that she was clearly judging him. He didn’t mind it, after all he could understand why. He was mostly curious as to the plan that she had, wondering if it was as good as the seven that he already formulated upon arriving in the arena along side her? She made a keen observation when it came to what Jigen’s build suggested, Tsuna also realized that. However, her words that followed sort of made the boy pause, replaying what he just heard. “Yes, I’ve noticed that much as well. He’s dreadfully intimidating on the eyes. But, er- what makes your think that I’m the weakest of the two of us? I have muscles ...somewhere?” He looked about his attire as he aimed to find them - dressed in a grey trench coat with black fur around the collar and the cuffs of the sleeves. He wore black gloves with metal plating on the back of the hand with the Hoshi symbol engraved in them. Black shinobi boots and pants under and a fish net shirt. His weapon pouch inside at his lower back with a series of wires and compartments at his disposal. On his back was his blade, Sloth’s Bane, strapped and sheath in the scabbard. 

He continued to listen to her. She offered to keep him on his toes while Tsuna was tasked with retrieving the bells. He nods, it was certainly a...fools proof plan on paper, but... he turned his attention over to the man and took in the factor of his great size and possible speed. “Easier said than done...” He sighed. “This is going to be so annoying. But, I’ll do my best. Hahaha, you’re much more refreshing than Yuuma. He left the last big guy to me to fight. I ended up with a memento because of it.” Pointing to his freshly healed scar that reaches from his left eyebrow to his crown. He would then noticed Ban taking her sword into her hand. His eyes narrowed, his focus keen and honed as he observed how she held it, how she moved it and how she breathed with it. “I see, so you’re a fellow student of the swordsman path. I guess you are physically stronger than me, even if it’s not by much.” He mouth was speaking words without mental permission. He knew that she was all for brute force from the way she held her blade - that and his presumption from the way she was speaking to him about being stronger, she favored force over precision. Perhaps she had a keen eye to task Tsuna with snatching the bells. He smiles. “Alright, forget what I said earlier, I’ll support you to the best of my capabilities. On one condition. When I draw my blade, be sure to take that as an opportunity. ” He undid the strapping of his blade with his right hand, taking the scabbard from his back into his left hand in a reverse grip, wrapping the straps along the scabbard as he narrowed his eyes on his proctor. He didn’t want to share any of his plans...not yet, he wished to see how her’s faired first. The two had be cautions and make every move count, Jigen didn’t seem like the sort to play with his food. 

[WC: 987]

It seems to Jigen, the participants had finally arrived as he could stop two figures in the distance that were roughly three feet apart from each other. This made Jigen smirk a bit as it was to him it meant it was go time. As he reminded himself before, the two should have already been filled in on what kind of test the second round would have been so there was no need for him to exchange words. This means it was time for them to battle on sight regardless of if they had time to plan or not. As it so happens, two figures happened to appear in front of him at roughly twenty meters away and he took that as the bell ringing to fight. As soon as the two of them were in his view at twenty meters, Jigen began to lower his center of gravity briefly before charging towards the two when it looks like they were conversating about something. He had hoped they weren't thinking they could appear in front of him and freely start to converse with him or each other and he would do them the courtesy of standing there, waiting. Running towards them, Jigen began to yell a guttural, gurgling yell as if his tongue was having a seizure in his mouth.

As he be began his charge towards them, Jigen would weave the hand signs of Bird, Monkey, Serpent and Rat, placing his palm onto his bare chest, placing a seal on himself. Despite his large frame and mass, Jigen was quite quick on his feet although, he wasn't exactly the stealthiest shinobi when he was engaging in combat. He was more of the barbarian bandit that only studied the art of jutsu in order to better understand how it works and to properly defend himself from others who would do so. When he was two meters away from the both of them, the eight foot, four gorilla of a man outstretched both his left and his right arms out, angled at the necks of both Ban and Tsunayoshi in an attempt to collide with them, while making his way through them. If they couldn't avoid or defend themselves from this, he'd be quite disappointed in the quality of the genin all of the villages were producing. Still, a job as a job and he didn't indeed to go easy on them, even if he was already holding himself back a ton already. 

W:C: 412

AP Used:

Tsuna came across as a very anxious shinobi and also a native one. As soon as he entered the field, he did one damnable action that could affect the battle- he showed fear. "You can't show fear to the enemy, pretty boy. They'll eat it up and spit it right in your face." Ban glared at the behemoth as she said this, her stern gaze could slice through a mist like a blade. Ever since she was an academy student, she knew this all too well. Jigen was just like the people she would see in the blood games when she was a kid, she wasn't expecting this man to take it easy on the two noobs. Tsuna expressed some concern for her plan, but toughed up and agreed- he would act as a support for Ban. 

The match had begun once Jigen started charging at the duo in a blood-curdling battle cry.  Ban showed no fear in her expression; remaining confident in her stance. "Remember, show no fear." Jigen was moving towards them at alarmingly fast speed, but it still was far enough away for the two of them to react. His path was clear; straight for them. This was perfect. "I'm going to meet him head-on. Be ready."She would place her odachi on her back where the slot for her blade was - next to her katana. Then she would weave 5 hand seals- Dog > Dog > Horse > Ram > Dragon. Then she would just stand there, letting Jigen run into her with his right arm. Once within 2 meters, Ban held up her right arm- her hand level with the earring. Once he ran into her, he wouldn't meet flesh and bone, rather he'd run his arm right through a figure of water. His arm would decapitate and take of Ban's right arm. But in doing that, Ban would attempt to grab the earring-bell on the right side with her now disembodied right hand. 

Should this be successful, Ban would then have her head and arm return to her with the bell in hand (normal movement speed). Not sure what he'd do afterward, Ban would face the beast after taking out her katana. "You lose, beast." Ban would announce confidently.
WC: 370
TWC: 753

Ap stuff \:

The words of his comrade, Ban reached him with a stern and somewhat wise tinge at their aftertaste. Tsuna was listening intently as she said what she had to - was it to fortify his resolve for this battle, or to keep him well enough on his toes to prevent him from getting in her way and screwing her over? It was hard to gauge at this moment. Mostly due to the deafening battle cry from their proctor whom was charging at them with alarming speed. Tsuna took a hesitant step back by one foot. Ban’s words found him again, fear needed to be set aside. Tsuna glanced over to her with a sound nod - noting as she placed her nodachi upon her back. His right brow raised a bit as he noticed that she was forming seals - then stood there. “Huh? What is she doing? She’s just going to stand here? What should I do? He’s getting closer...” He thought, looking as he seen the monster of a man nearly on them. 

He then remembered what she said to him about “show no fear.” She said. He took a breath and gleamed his eyes over towards the proctor. He would allow her to do what she was planning without interfering. Tsuna darts back 10 meters from where Ban was standing. He would find himself at a reasonable distance from her and the point of which the collision was to occur. Holding his left hand and stealth blade up at chest level. His eyes keen on the movements of Ban. She was raising her right hand? But why? Was she aiming to halt him in his tracks? Judging by his rush, that was surely not going to work. So wha- it became clear to him. He noticed within a fraction of his thinking what her aim was, even if it wasn’t fully clear to him, he trusted her instinct enough to provide his support as best he could. With his right hand to his side, he shifted his body to angle his left as a point and his right hand hidden by his body. Swiftly he utilized his dexterity with his right to weave a set of seals. Seals that will be determined upon the next move he has to make. 

Should Ban fail in her attempt to see her plan through, Tsuna would do his part to cover her, even step in if he had to. All he could do is wait and watch as his proctor closed the distance with her. Should he clash with her then they would both bare witness to her unique jutsu. Should that not stop him and he continues his rush towards Tsuna he would respond as appropriately as he could. 

[WC: 460]
[Total WC: 1,446]

Charging forward towards the two participants, it seems one of them was dumbfounded as he watched his partner form hand signs. This also made Jigen watch her perform them as well, not faltering in his charge. Should anything go wrong, he'd have three different kinds of defensive maneuvers to respond with so he was fairly confident in his current attack. The peculiar thing about this action however was the female decided to stand still after finishing her hand signs. As he got within two meters of her, the female outstretched her right arm in the direction of his head aimed at the bell he fastened around his ear. Did she really think she could take a hit from him and remain conscious to take a bell. Her confidence must come from whatever technique she may or may not use. The other participant seemed to have retreated away from his previous position, up to roughly ten meters away after she had completed her hand signs. This was fine with Jigen as now all he had to do was shift his upper body a bit. As the female genin participant raised her right arm towards Jigen, he decided to air on the side of caution, leaning both his upper body and his head to his right.

This would bring his head and the bell just out of range from the participant's outstretched right arm while she was standing still, emphasizing his own incoming arm more as it collided into her neck as he intended it too. What happened next came as a surprise to the Jounin as what his arm hit wasn't flesh but water. Cleaving through the Genin, he was almost convinced he had killed her but she had just turned into water and was attempting to reform themselves. That's a neat trick, he thought to himself, passing through her. With his left arm, he pulled out a Kunai with a paper bomb attached to it, infusing his chakra into the tag before throwing the kunai at the spot where the water that was attempting to reform itself into the Hozuki before turning his attention towards the other Genin. He was also preparing for something back there but he wasn't sure exactly what. Currently, he had stopped two meters past the Hozuki as he timed when to detonate the paper bomb.

W.C: 390

Ban's plan of grabbing the earring didn't work quite as she hoped, but it still gave Ban an advantage- she was behind the brute. Jigen would then toss a kunai with an explosive attached to it before Ban could grab her katana. She wasn't sure where he had gotten the kunai and explosive but she knew she had to dodge. Ban dodged by side dashing (100 speed) to the left 1 meter of the kunai's trajectory with it exploding after reaching two meters. Ban would stay out of the blast range by moving another meter. This brought her 3 meters away from the brute and 1 meter from the furthest point of the blast radius. 

As Ban was avoiding the blast radius, she weaved three hand seals- Tiger>Ox>Rabbit- for the elemental version of rupture. Then quickly drew out her katana- using the Quickdraw techinque she had learned- and made a horizontal slash towards the brute like a batter striking at a baseball- aiming for a home run. "We will grab those bells, even if they come off your corpse," Ban taunted as the 7 rupture slices start to grow in size and length- a total of 8 meters in length, each slice being spaced 3 feet apart. 

Should Rupture hit, Jigen would be struck on his right leg's hamstring, right lower shoulder blade, and his neck -right where his ears were leveled-, the last slices would go above his head. The slices were angled as well to avoid Tsuna in its trajectory. 

Ban didn't really care if this man would live or die from the attack. The blood games, which she grew up watching, constantly had contestants kill each other. It was a system that Ban felt was flawless- may the strong thrive and prosper for a better future. Her goal was still to get the attention of the brute in order to let Tsuna sweep in for the win. 

WC: 320
TWC: 1073

Ap stuff :

Just as the female finished reforming herself from the water technique, Jigen simply detonated the explosive tag earlier from underneath her as she finished becoming whole again. Unfortunately, the nimble female had avoided it by dashing sideways. He couldn't understand why the Hozuki chose to stand still initially. Even with such a powerful technique, there was such an exploitable weakness but she was only a genin after all. He'd hope she could survive his next action or he couldn't see her making it too far in the shinobi world. Forget that, he wouldn't be able to see her make it past this exam if habits like this keep up. As the Hozuki made her initial dash, Jigen had performed the next actions simultaneously, performing a powerful stomp with his right leg by lifting his foot off of the ground a couple of inches and slamming it back on the floor as hard as he could, causing a ripple of force to travel through the ground up to thirteen diameters, or six meters in radius with him as the center point, and spitting a single senbon from his mouth directly at Tsunayoshi's chest in response to this abrupt sleight of hand technique.

Jigen was also familiar with this technique as he had also planned to use it sooner or later, though the lad wasn't experienced enough with weaponry in order to place attachments onto his items as well. The kid must not have realized nothing was attached to the Kunai as he threw it between Ban and himself, causing nothing to happen since Jigen didn't need to actively avoid it. Jigen thought, playtime was over and it was time for him to get serious, drawing one of his baseball shaped clubs from his waist with his right hand. If the Hozuki had been launched into the air, Jigen would leap towards her, leveling himself with her and swinging his club vertically, aimed at the female's torso. 

W.C: 351

AP Used: