TFFA Ninja Blitz: New Flame of Konoha-Story Thread

[Scratx]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 10:16am, post 2, XP 2


Koneko was clearly dismayed. That was the only way her reaction to learning just what their Genin test was could be classified.

She looked at her brand new teammates, each in turn... Leon, the tall pigtailed boy... Akira, the masked taijutsu specialist, if his claws were anything to go by... and Zeph, the pale, bokken-user...

Finally, the Jounin sensei, who was right then ordering the team to follow him...

"Why?", she said.

The Jounin looked back at Koneko, with a penetrating look and not a little killer intent. "Why, what?"

Unused to dealing with killer intent, she stuttered her query out. "Why... do we have this... test when the other... academy students... just had to do Bunshin?"

His reply was chilling. "Why do you think?"

"It's because of me, isn't it?... half the village hates me... and now we're being given a crazy test so I'll fail!", Koneko cried out. Tears forming in her eyes, she could only tremble at the Jounin as he smirked and increased the killer intent directed at her... and looked at her teammates.


(your turn!)

 

[Legendary Legacy]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, Day 1, 10:18 am
Post 2, EXP 2
---------


Something definitely wasn't right about all of this. Leon had run into Akamichi Choji while on the way to the academy and he had told him that the test at their school had been simply to perform a Bunshin. So why the Hell were they being made to go through all of this?

He scratched his cheek in deep thought. Do the teachers just have more confidence in us than the kids at the other academy? Is there one of us that they really don't want passing this test? Is it ME?

No, that was stupid. What would they have again me? But on the other hand...

"It's because of me, isn't it?... half the village hates me... and now we're being given a crazy test so I'll fail!", Koneko cried out, catching Leon's attention. Seeing as she was on the verge of tears and that their assigned jounin's only reply was an all-too-obvious sneer, Leon had to believe that he'd found his answer. After all, he knew that there were kids in his class that were 'different' in some way, and that the majority of villagers despised them for it. Who'd have thought they'd go to such lengths to keep them from becoming shinobi.

Well, he didn't know how he'd do it, but he was going to make sure that they all passed, just to spite the old fools.

"Come on!" the older man demanded. "I don't have all day to waste with you brats."

A snarl escaped Akira's throat, and Leon shared a look of contempt with Zeph while Koneko wiped at her eyes before the group begrudgingly followed after their 'leader'.

The group walked in silence for a few minutes before arriving at a split path.

"Which way?" Zeph spoke for everyone.

The jounin smirked. "Better choose wisely."

"Thanks for the advice, Yoda," Leon mumbled.

"Let's just pick one and go," Akira suggested.

"But...it could be dangerous if we don't know what we're getting into," Koneko said.

The others could almost hear the grin appearing on Akira's face. "I'm more dangerous than anything those stiff teachers could whip up. If you're scared just let me take the lead."

"But it might not actually be dangerous," Zeph spoke up. "What if one of the paths leads us in the wrong direction? The others could all end up getting to the end before us and we'll fail."

Akira crossed his arms with a low grunt. "Whatever, just pick one and let's get going. If we stand around here for too long we'll end up failing anyway."

Leon sat himself down on the floor, hoping to conserve his energy for as long as possible. There was a good chance he'd be needing it soon.

Maybe they were making too much of the situation. Maybe the two paths were just there to test their teamwork, or a way of driving a wedge between them early on by making them argue. Then again, if they really didn't want some of the kids to pass, maybe both paths were trapped in some way.

"Hey, Leon."

He looked up to see that everyone was staring at him. That made him panic.

Oh crap, they want me to decide. I don't wanna be the one to make these kinds of decisions. If I pick wrong it'll be all my fault! Which one do I pick? Left, right, left, right? I have a good feeling about right, but if I'm wrong-!

"We're thinking we should take the left path," Zeph explained, again snapping Leon from his thoughts. "That okay with you?"

Leon blinked in surprise. "Uh...I mean yeah! Left is great! Let's go that way!"

Nodding, Akira turned and began leading the way through the left path, followed by Zeph and Koneko, who in turn were followed by a relieved Leon, with a grinning jounin bringing up the rear.

 

[Mechatrill]

Entrance to The Great Catacombs, Underneath Konohagakure Village
10:15 AM
Day 1
Post/Exp: 2/2

"Well," Mech mulled to himself, "It seems that they're really stacking the odds against us this time. I suppose that's not too surprising; we're not exactly loved here in Konoha, although rigging the genin exams like this, it's the first time that they've been this obvious about it."

ôNow, listen. There is only 1 headband for every 2 examinee." That line caught Mech's attention: Was this a trick problem to divide the team itself and prevent different teams from cooperating, or was this just another point stacked against the examinees? Since this exam is already heavily stacked, it's most likely not a trick, but just to make sure...

ôBefore that, wait, you said thereÆs only 1 headband for every 2 examinee?! Which means only half the examinees will pass?!ö Mech asked right after Janus posed his own question about the early team assignments.

ôWe make the rules here, mister." Was the reply, both to Mech's question and Janus' apparently. However, the statement, plus the way the jounin had said it, meant that it's most likely another unfair obstacle rather than a trick question. Just as expected.

After the explanation on the exam was finished, Mech obediently followed the jounin leading his team to the starting point while silently musing over what he'd learned. "The instructors are definitely out to get us, and this test is designed to prevent us from passing. More worrying though, is the fact that they're tossing us into the catacombs without any sort of help, so that probably means that they're also hoping to prevent us from coming back from this test period. As soon as the jounin leaves then, we'll have to do some planing."

Taking a moment from his furious planing, Mech found his thought drift towards the pseudo-family members also taking this exam. "Zeni, Eterna, Sihde, you better make it out of this alive, because there is no way in hell I'm going to be the one to tell the kids that their big sister(s) aren't coming home."

 

[Scratx]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 10:21am, post 3, XP 3


As the group went down the left path, Koneko's mind raced...

This is so unfair, the regular Academy kids get to do a simple, freaking Bushin and I get to be down in this crappy deathtrap... and at best I only have a shot in two of passing. Crazy... they won't get away with this travesty. I'm not the bloody Kyuubi that struck Konoha... wait... Kyuubi...?

She stopped in her tracks suddenly, without warning, and so did the others.

"Is something wrong?", Leon asked.

"No...", Koneko replied, "I just realised... if I'm going to go through this hellhole, might as well use everything I got..."

And rub it in the Jounin's face that yes, I'm the foxgirl, and I AM going to pass this crazy test of theirs.

With a grin, she quickly formed the seals to mold the chakra, then finished with "Four Tails Activation."...

I'm going to show you... show you all...

Unlike Henge, there was no poof of smoke as she transformed... instead, she just seemed to flow into a fox-like girl... Soft, reddish fur covered most of her body, with four bushy tails with a black tip protruding from the base of her spine, coming out through her customized pants. She also had reddish fox-ears with black tips instead of her human ears... and the whole look screamed "Sexy Vixen".

As the transformation completed, scents and noises assaulted her senses. It was unfortunate she wasn't very much trained to handle either proficiently... she couldn't outdo an Inuzuka no matter how much she wanted... but she still knew enough to get an edge over anyone with normal, even acute human hearing.

She didn't bother looking at the Jounin to know he was displeased at her usage of her own bloodline. Let him stew in his own juices. There are only so many headbands, and I intend to have one by the end of the day.

"I just activated my bloodline", she explained, "to gain better hearing and smell... I'll do what I can to detect ambushes or traps ahead of time... If we have to fight, I'll try to support you."

Her ears twitched cutely, then, and she sniffed a few times, making a couple 'eww'-like sounds... clearly, the catacombs were not smelling like roses.

She really hoped that would help avoid trouble... after all, she didn't want to have to actually fight.

 

[parker]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 10:25am, post 3, XP 3

I see Kerrus go down, he's tired and low on stamina. We spent a lot of time fighting the Jounin and it's a miracle we're still alive. Stabby's mad that he didn't get first blood on the enemy but he can live with it. He keeps shooting glares at the bird that did get first blood.

I hand over an energy pill to get Kerrus on his feet and he's ready to go in a few minutes.

"Okay lets plan for what the hell we're going to do." He says and I nod.

"I say we send that bird of your's with a mesage to the Hokage, to see what the hell is going on with this fucked up test, we can send him up the same way he," I wave dismissingly at Twin Blade, "came in, he wasn't with the group when we got down here so he must know a way out." I say.

Stabby is crawling all over me growling and mumbling his usual stabs, or varaition of the word. His head perks up and he stares at Twin Blade.

"Stabby stab-stab?" The little creature is strange and for most people that would have been a simple question by a small creature. It was indeed a simple question small creature.

"Maybe, but only if I tell you to, and if shit goes down you get in there and fuck someone up, you understand?" My response placates him and he seems much happier than he was a few seconds ago.

 

[GhostElder]

The Great Catacombs, Underneath Konohagakure Village,
Day 1, 10:43 AM
Post 2, Post EXP 2

Kabe walked sedately at the rear of the group, heÆd been nervous when theyÆd been initially told of what their test was. Not of the test itself but of the catacombs or what was rumored to be down there. Large mean (probably rabid) dogs and giant insects, in a dark and enclosed space where avenues of escape were far fewer. It was like this test was tailor made with his own fears in mind.

HeÆd mostly calmed down since then the weight of his great grandfathers chakra blade reassuringly strapped to his back, he wasnÆt entirely sure about how theyÆd get to the center and back but heÆd been marking the left hand walls at every intersection and path that branched off with rudimentary arrows pointed in the direction they were going. The marks werenÆt even apparent or even visible without pressing down or a firm smack on where they were supposed to be and exposing where the rock have been softened to gravel.

Doton: Slurry was normally used as a minor trap so that a foe would lose their footing on terrain that wasn't as stable as they expected or to soften a place to sleep on the ground, the amount of chakra he was channeling into the jutsu was barely enough to crack the stone beneath the surface into gravel let alone the sandy muck that was normally created, though channeling it through only his index finger instead of his whole hand was making it harder.

The Jounin either hadnÆt noticed what he was doing or he didnÆt care, but Kabe had to assume he did, and that heÆd alter the signs or even destroy the sections of stone they were on. But the trick was that Kabe had only marked the left corner of intersections of the path theyÆd just come from, and a little further on if a path was joining theirs.

Even though the drain was minor it added up over the time they had been walking heÆd have for make up some reason to ask to stop and rest a little at somepoint if he wanted to stay ready for combat, well that and he wanted to check his equipment and make sure heÆd grabbed the storage scrolls instead of some of the others in his mad dash out the door when heÆd been told that the test had been moved up.

 

[Zenithos]

Hokage's office, Hokage Tower,
Day 1, 11:55 AM
Post 2, Post EXP 6

"...Oh no..." The Hokage sighed, pulling a palm up to his face, not liking what he saw in his handy Hokage crystal ball.

"Did the village council do it again, Hokage-sama?" Iruka-sensei asked, standing before him.

"Yes, they did." The Sandaime Hokage nodded, watching as the Jonins left their charges at their respective entrances. "...who are these Jonin, by the way? I don't remember ever seeing them..."

"They're from the ANBU elite RooT Division 7, I understand." Iruka-sensei said.

"Oh...that division." The Hokage nodded, not liking the sound of it. That was one division he had little knowledge of, and even smaller control of, despite being Hokage. A lot of things in the village, actually, were slowly slipping out his grasp with the village council taking more and more liberties lately.

This travesty of a Genin Exam for the TFF Academy was one of them.

"Most of their parents were heroes...I can't understand why..." Iruka-sensei murmured.

"It's human nature, Iruka." The Hokage said. "But through pressure strength is formed. These TFF Academy students will excel above and beyond the main academy students and someday they will earn for themselves the appreciation they deserve."

"...provided they get out alive." Iruka added. "Shouldn't we help them?"

"I will keep an eye on them." The Hokage said. "If anything goes wrong, I will give the ANBU units I've stationed around the outside of the catacombs the signal to move in. But at the moment, we shouldn't interfere, lest we give the council a reason to disqualify these children."

"Understood, Hokage-sama." Iruka nodded in understanding.

"This team..." The Hokage murmured, watching Zeni, Sidhe, Eterna, and Watcher's team traverse a number of fallen pillars before wading through knee-deep water as they made their way deeper into the catacombs. "The make-up is quite strange."

"According to my statistics, the individuals that make up the team are perhaps amongst the poorest performing students in the academy." Iruka-sensei said. "But I've had the pleasure of taking part in a joint training session with TFF Academy once and have worked with those four. Even if they are as weak as they say, they more than make up for it with their extraordinary teamwork."

"....teamwork, huh?" The Hokage suddenly chuckled goodnaturedly. "My, my, what times...that these four may get along so well with one another." He said, sighing.

OOC: Feel free to have the Hokage speak of yourselves as well.

 

[sidhereelmotion]

An Intersection, The Great Catacombs, Underneath Konohagure Village,
Day 1,
Time 12:00 Noon
Post EXP 4.5


A smokey torch cast its feeble light over the intersection of two broad tunnels. At the center of the intersection, a lone girl in a frilly pink dress looks franticly from tunnel to tunnel.

"Eterna-chan? Zeni-chan? Watcher?" Sidhe called, her voice dripping in despair, "Where are you?"

As Sidhe looked for her friends, she failed to notice the form slinking out of the darkness behind her. The great feral dog-beast, a throwback to the original Inuzuka wolf-dogs, crept closer. Madness blazed in its blood-red eyes, and spittle frothed around it's muzzle. It gathered itself up and with a mighty leap, pounced on the unsuspecting girl. But its teeth closed on a puff of bunny-flavored smoke.

The dog snarled, then stopped as a slight breeze blew through the catacombs. It sniffed the air, took a few few steps toward a wall, then gave out a low, rumbling growl. The wall shimmered and then revealed four academy students.

"Sidhe-chan, why did you have to pick such a time to drop the illusion?" asked Eterna.

Watcher poked Sidhe in the arm. She just stared wide-eyed at the dog. "I think we lost Sidhe. Eterna! Try to take the dog out at long range. We don't know what sort of diseases..."

While Eterna and Watcher, were talking, the dog, who was not a card-carrying member of an organization for evil ninjas, charged the team. Zeni, who had actually been paying attention, took a flying leap and sent the dog crashing into the wall with a shout of "Boot to the Head!"

The dog gave out a whine that might have meant "She booted me in the head!" and then collapsed. Sadly, none of them was an Inuzuka or spoke dog, so it wasn't a sure thing.

Sidhe finally blinked and in a soft voice said, "Zeni-chan, a kunoichi should be more elegant."

"Would you rather be eaten?" replied Zeni.

Sidhe's ears flopped about with the speed she shook her head 'no'.

Watcher thought for a moment and then spoke. "That being said, I think we should..." He was interrupted by a great chorus of howls as red eyes appeared in the darkness. "I think we should retreat for now! Eterna?"

"Fufufufufu. Let's see them track through this!"

Eterna tossed out a handful of smokebombs which quickly filled the intersection with the scent of hot, buttered popcorn, and the team ran through one of the entrances.

Edit: Fixed Watcher's name.

 

[Mechatrill]

Entrance to The Great Catacombs, Underneath Konohagakure Village
10:51 AM
Day 1
Post/Exp: 3/3

As soon as the jounin shunshined away in a swirl of illusionary leaves, Mech turned toward his teammate, ôSo, any of you think that this is just a bit unfair?ö

ôSo you noticed it too.ö ôCould they have tried to make it more obvious?ö ôThey obviously donÆt want us to pass,ö came the responses.

ôYeah,ö sighed Mech, ôalthough I think itÆs not just that they donÆt want us to pass. I doubt too many of those instructors would be too heartbroken if some of us donÆt make it back period.ö

ôSo theyÆre trying to kill us then,ö calmly stated Zi.

ôWell, I wouldnÆt quite go that far, itÆs most likely that theyÆre just hoping that weÆd get ourselves killed in here,ö Mech replied, ôalthough the presence of those jounin here is a bit worrying. Since when do jounin proctor academy exams?ö

ôSo we're on our own then-ö

ôWell, not quite,ö Mech interrupted Sousuke, ôthere are the other teams.ö

ôBut thereÆs only one headband for every two examinee,ö Kabe pointed out, ôthat means itÆs every team, every person even, for themselves.ö

ôMaybe, but this whole exam stinks far too much and far too obvious,ö Mech countered, ôthose other guys arenÆt idiots, well, not that much anyway, so theyÆll probably reach the same conclusion we did about the nature of the exam. If they realize that the instructors are also out to kill us with this, chances are that theyÆll be willing to take help when itÆs offered. As to the headbands, we can always fight over them after we reach the entrance again.ö

ôThat sounds okay, but weÆre probably not going to meet any of the other teams until we get near the center where all the headbands are,ö Kabe noted.

ôYeah, so we should do some planning before we go in,ö Mech agreed, ôI have a few suggestions, but no real plans. For now, lets just lay down every idea we have; weÆll figure out a plan from there.ö

ôYour ideas then?ö Zi asked.

ôAlright then. From what I remember reading, the catacombs used to be some sort of secrete base back in the wars, so there are probably a few remnants from that time. We can probably expect some decade old traps lying around, but conversely, chances are that there are a few supply depots that havenÆt been cleaned out yet. I donÆt know about you, but since the exam time was changed so suddenly, I didnÆt have the chance to bring any real supplies-ö

ôActually,ö interrupted Kabe, ôI grabbed a bunch of my storage scrolls when I left for the exam. It might not be much, but it should last us.ö

ôWell, thatÆs good then, we can take inventory and distribute supplies before we leave. Either way though, I suggest we all keep a sharp eye about, not only for traps, but also for any signs of hidden supplies. It can only help after all.ö Mech nodded, ôAnother thing is that we might want to move in a set formation to take advantage of each of our strengths and minimize our weaknesses, for example, I'm good with ninjutsu but I suck in taijutsu, so I'd be more useful behind the front lines.ö

ôSo then,ö brainstormed Sousuke, ôthat means those of us that are good with taijutsu take point and the rest of us follow then.ö

ôNot quite,ö Mech disagreed, ôsince this place is a huge maze, we canÆt really be sure that every attack will come from the front. I suggest that in addition to someone taking point, we also have someone bring up the rear.ö

ôThatÆs about all I got, IÆm afraid,ö finished Mech, ôany of you got anything to add?ö

 

[Cyberscythe195]

Entrance to The Great Catacombs, Underneath Konohagakure Village
10:55 AM
Day 1
Post/Exp: 3/3

"Do any of you have anything to add?"

Mecha turned his head to look at Kabe, Zi, and ...

"Sousuke?"

Mecha began to search the area, the others copying his actions before spotting a faint silhoughette moving deeper into the catacombs.

"What are you doing? We should plan this out!"

Sousuke kept on walking, not giving any indication that he heard the taller boy's exclamation.

"Shit, we should be working as a team. Follow him!" said Mecha before chasing running after him.

"... Should have left him alone. If he is truly ready to be a ninja, he doesn't require our help" Nevertheless, Zi ran after Mecha and Sousuke.

With a sigh, Kabe also gives chase. "This isn't going to end well."

After a few minutes of running, Mecha finally caught up to him.

"What the hell are you doing!"

"... does it matter whether we have a plan or not. Planning won't change how we fight or what we have to fight with. A plan is finite, inflexible. If we want to succeed, we must adapt to the situation."

... The other three, even the passive Zi sweatdropped at Sousuke's words.

"Eh, no offence, but this a test. Not a life or death situation ('yet' in the back of Mecha's mind). You sound like you lived in a forest fighting for your life for the last five years. Anyw...

BOOM!

"RUN!"

Kabe and Sousuke immediately jumped into a dead a run. Mecha and Zi turned their heads to see a rolling bolder."

"^%&$&" cursed Mecha as he and Zi began running as hard as they could.

The four ran for their lives through countless tunnels, making up turns as they went along.

"... to the right." Sousuke stated calmly despite their current predicament before making the turn.

The others, too busy to respond or rebuke the command just followed the much shorter boy into the passage way.

"Is it just or me is the passage getting smaller." asked Kabe who was closest to matching the brisk pace set by Sousuke.

"Shit, it's a dead end." yelled Mecha as he noticed the walls close in on the.

"... Now dive under." said Sousuke before diving under a strange wall.

The others had no choice but to follow him in the dive. All four found themselves in a pitch black crawl space.

"wait a second, I think a have a match in me." Kabe began to look through his pockets before being interrupted by Mecha.

"Don't do it, we don't know where we are and we can't afford to kill off our oxygen on what could a be an bubble."

A spark came to life before dying.

"... follow the sparks." The soft, calm, and childish voice of Sousuke permeated through the area.

"WTF! I had enough of this." yelled the visibly shaken Zi and his near encounter of death by boulder. "First you walk into the catacombs without us. Then you nearly get us all killed. And you lead into this f()^King place without any vision. I'm gonnA KiLL YoU!"

Zi was begin to shake with rage permeating in his body when he felt a hand force a strange tasting plant in his mouth. As he began chewing it, he felt the berserker rage beginning to subside.

"the sedatives used on people are extracted the herb you are chewing and its effects increased by chakra" Sousuke stated.

Then he began to move forward, creating a visible trail of sparks.

"I don't like this, but the guy seems to know what's he's doing". Kabe stated before following the trail.

"Guess we have no choice then. Can't believe I'm relying on someone who's half my size to navigate out of here." Mecha conccurred.

Zi could only offer his silent agreement, too shocked with Sousuke's actions and knowlege to do otherwise.

After what felt like a lifetime, the trail stopped.

"Hey, uh, Sousuke was it? What's going on?" Kabe was getting frustrated. He couldn't see and now his only light was gone.

".... you can now stand."

"Huh?" Mecha began to go on his feet when he noticed the ceiling over his head seemed to no longer be there. "he's right, we can stand."

The other two rose on their feet. However, neither of them decided to move, fearing their lack of vision. After a few second, a light blazed into existance and temporarily blinded them.

"Ahh! Its too bright." and variations of the phrase were yelled out as the three adjusted to the existance of light. The source of the light was torch of a torch made up of polished wood. Wrapped around it was a burning white shirt. Holding the torch was a half naked Sousuke.

"How did you managed to make that?" asked Kabe.

Sousuke simply gestured to his own lack of shirt, another stick that was part of the torch but was hacked off by a kunai, and small canal of liquid a few meters away.

Mecha went up to the canal and sniffed it. "its kerosene. make sure to stay away from fire jutsu unless you want to die." He then turned to Sousuke. "uh, I may have been critical of you ('especially while looking like that'. thought Mecha as he stared at the wiry framed, but built seven year old body. 'its easy to see why you can't take him seriously judging from how he looks'), but you really saved us there."

"Yeah." Kabe interjected. "You were able to navigate us through the darkness. That was really impressive."

"thanks for helping me also. I almost lost control there, even if the stimulus was your fault." added Zi. "how did you manage to navigate through there? It was pitch black."

Sousuke looked at the three, happy he gained their recognition as an equal.

FLASH!

A boy ran in the woods, unable to see. Behind him, a pack of wolves gave chase.

FLASH!

A boy struggling futily as he tried to create a fire in the dead of winter. He cried as his body struggled with the cold.

FLASH END

"It was nothing. You are my teammates."

'I won't make the same mistake as last time. I'll protect my new precious people.'
thought Sousuke as he watched his new companions at arms welcome him.

"Where are we anyway?" asked Mech

Kabe began to think about it for a moment. "For better or worse, I think we're getting close to the center."

"... someone's coming." stated Sousuke before henging chameleon style into the wall.

"How the hell does he do that?" muttered an annoyed Mech before henging into a wall crevice.

Kabe immediately henged into a mouse. "Shit!" cursed Zi before henging into a big rock.

The four watched the hall as the jounin from earlier entered their area. "Dammit, I was sure their bodies would be here. Did the boulder crush their bodies earlier than I predicted. Well... what did I expect from those peace loving leaf nins."

Suddenly, four females walked up to the jounin. "sensei, are they dead?" asked one of the girls. "It seems so. These leaf nins are weak."

'Can this be?' thought Sousuke. He stared at the girl's headband. 'Yaoigakure, what are they doing here. Wait, that girl called him her sensei. That means.' Sousuke was furious. There were Yaoi nin in their village. This test had been hijacked to kill the students of this lesser known academy and replace them with yaoi nins.

"Let's go, the rest of the teams have probably started their ambush already." the five of them left.

The four of them unhenged. Each of them were probably lost in their own thoughts.

"yaoigakure. I won't forgive you for what you have done and what you intend to do." He looked at his team, his friends, his new brothers in arms. "What are you waiting for, I won't let them do any more harm to this village and its people. We have warn the hokage immediately."

The others just nodded their heads. Silently, the four renewed their journey into the catacombs.

 

[Scratx]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 12:02am (pm? not sure what's the convention), post 4, xp 4/4


Koneko paused at the start of yet another corridor, sniffing. She'd caught strange scents earlier, but found nothing to account for them. She was also sure she'd smelled another team, but she couldn't tell from where it'd come, and had no luck finding them so far.

It definitely was scary for her to hear what sounded like a huge boulder echoing around... she couldn't tell from where it came and she and her team had stopped with baited breath until the sound had completely stopped. Had to have been another team triggering some sort of trap, likely...

Nothing we could've done, we're so lost down here..., she thought.

She looked then at Leon, who'd asked for a break to rest some thirty minutes before. How he expected to be a good ninja with such poor stamina was beyond her, but she was all too eager to stop, herself. After the transformation, her team had relied a lot more on her to warn of trouble, and she'd been feeling the pressure ever since.

It WAS nice to be relied upon, but she was scared spitless of making a mistake that would cost them all. Especially as she lacked training in her four tails form and, thus, didn't trust her own enhanced senses as much as they most likely thought. Not that she intended to tell them that... oh, no, anything to plug the boat long enough to keep it from sinking.

"I'm good to go, guys.", Leon said, standing up.

"Good. Zeph? Akira?", Koneko questioned. She wouldn't acknowledge the Jounin's presence, he'd been less than helpful and only managed to rile them up from time to time... damn, he had to be doing that much noise on purpose... there are only so many loose rocks and pebbles a Jounin can accidentally kick, after all.

Akira nodded, eyeing the Jounin. He'd been less than trusting of him and had taken up the rear, in case he decided to try a sneak attack. Koneko doubted any of them could actually stop him if he decided to attack, but it did ease her mind to have the arguably best taijutsu user on the team keeping an eye on him.

"You sure you don't want me on point, Koneko?", was Zeph's reply. They'd gone over that argument before, and he still hadn't given up.

"I'm nimble enough to react to sudden threats, and I can hear and smell better than any of you. I need to be on point to take the most advantage of that, and you know it. Stay close, but behind me, Zeph. Please."

Zeph wasn't pleased, clearly wanting to spare Koneko of the danger of going first. Charming... but ultimately futile, in her own estimation. Leon was supposed to follow behind Zeph, and Akira would bring up the rear.

Koneko then stepped into the next corridor, looking about at its bare walls and floor. Just as dusty as everywhere else. No tracks, either. She moved forward, her team following behind.

It wasn't fifty paces ahead that she heard a faint 'click' sound as she put a foot down and noticed...

"GET DOWN!"

...fifty kunai flying down the corridor right at them. Koneko launched herself right to the floor and her ears almost rung at the loud noises of kunai hitting the walls and floor.

"Everyone alright?", she heard Zeph say.

Leon and Akira quickly affirmed their own good state of health as Koneko looked behind them... and gasped. Their jounin instructor was riddled with kunai!

Then he poofed out of existence in a cloud of smoke.

Bunshin.

"... Our instructor was a clone? Where the hell is he?", Akira affirmed.

Now I know why I couldn't smell him. It wasn't a jutsu to conceal scent as I'd thought. The bastard was never there.

She stood, then, and watched as the others followed suit.

Unbeknownst to them, the Hokage had been watching the entire thing, and he wasn't happy.

 

[Xaosite]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 10:21, Day 1, Post/EXP: 2/3

Aleato looked at his new team mates, who looked back, then as a group they turned and gazed down the catacomb hallway.

"Well, crap." Mick said.

"Well, double crap." Xerxezz added.

"This is going to be real troublesome." Janus continued.

...

All three turned to Aleato, who was currently pulling a scroll and a pencil out from one of his inside coat pockets. After unfurling the scroll, he looked around, then proceeded to write something on it. Xerxezz, who was standing behind him, leaned over to see what he was working on.

"Are you drawing a map, on graph paper?"

"Yeah. Just in case we need one."

...

"Well, I guess I can't fault you for your caution."

After a moment, Aleato looked up, and nodded, satisfied. "Well, I've got the entrance mapped out, all nice and neat, so we can get going." He said.

"Whoa, there, buddy." Mick said. "Who says we're going anywhere?"

"I hate to admit it, but he has a point." Xerxezz answered. "This has gotta be some sort of joke, or a trap, or something. I mean, wasn't the test supposed to be just a simple bunshin?"

Janus nodded.

"Yeah, but that's exactly why we should get going!" Aleato said, grinning.

"...Come again?" Xerxezz said, confused.

"Well, this is the beginning of the story, where we find ourselves faced with challenges beyond what we should be capable of. But then, as we go through, we reveal that we are holders of great powers, moving on to succeed where we are meant to fail." Aleato spoke with that same wide, happy grin on his face.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"That has got to be some of the biggest bullshit I have ever heard." Xerxezz answered, though he was unable to hide the gleam in his eyes.

"You got that right." Mick agreed, looking eagerly down the hallway.

"That sounds so troublesome." Janus continued, though he was looking a bit restless.

"Of course it's a bunch of bullshit. That just adds to the fun when we do it anyways." Aleato finished, as the group started to make their way through the catacombs.

--------------

"Well, well. So another member of the Xaosite clan steps forward." The Hokage muttered to himself.

Iruka shook his head. "You know, it's a bit odd. Does't his clan consider him to be a prodigy of their bloodline? Why would he wind up in the TFF acadamy?"

"I asked one of their elders that very question. He said that their own family training was quite sufficient for the technical skills a ninja should learn." The Hokage paused, then glanced to the ceiling for a moment, sighing. "But, that kind of schooling sheltered him, and they felt it would be an excellent learning experience."

"I see. But then, why would someone wish to see him fail?" Iruka asked.

"In all likelihood, it is because while his family has always been a staunch supporter of the village, they have done so on their own terms. They are unpredictable and on occasion rude and insulting. They are, in a word, uncontrollable."

"I see."

"I would not be too concerned. They have a habit of pulling off the impossible." The Hokage said.

 

[Mick]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 10:31, Day 1, Post/EXP: 2

The team slowly advances down the hallway until they reach a junction. At this junction there were three different path's up ahead. There were also two different path's to the right and one final path on the left.

"Byakugan." Michael says calmly as he activates his bloodline limit. He motions for the other three to wait as he scans the different paths of the catacombs.

"Something...wrong?" Xerxezz asked.

"These hallways are trapped." Michael muttered quietly so that the Jounin back down the hallway watching them didn't hear.

"So? We can just pick the right one.." Xerxezz spoke up again.

"No you don't get it. I hate to explain but it looks like I have to." Janus muttered annoyed.

"Alright fi--" Xerxezz was about to say again.

"It's obvious from the start the jounin here want all of us to fail. So it also makes sense that there wouldn't BE a right path." Janus spoke up.

"He is correct. All of the paths happen to be trapped. The only question is...which happens to be the less lethal?" Aleato spoke up as he charted this info on his map.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out.." Michael calmly speaks up as he tries to choose which path to take.

"Why don't we just use blow them all away first?" Xerxezz suggests.

"You do that and you'll be paying for the repairs to this training ground for the rest of your lives! Whether you become ninja or not!" The jounin screams out at the four genin.

Looking over at him Michael was almost angry enough to glare.

(Hmph...bastard. Looks like a Hyuuga from the main branch..) Michael thought to himself.

"Figures they'd stick us with one of them.." Michael muttered annoyed as he continued scanning for the 'safest' path.

 

[locke69]

Formation: (Note: Zeni is front, a few feet away from Eterna, Sidhe is off to the side, and IÆm behind them all and practically directly behind Eterna)
-----Zeni
Eterna
--------------Sidhe
-Watcher

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 12:20 PM, Day 1, Post/EXP: 2/3

Running though this maze of intertwined corridors and dead ends, Watcher decided on one thing. æIf I ever have to see another genjutsu shaped like a ROUS, then IÆm learning Kai.Æ A silly decision, but one that works for the generalist in training as he ignored yet another fake ROUS.

Each path the group took, something tried to block them. Genjutsu of anything that might spark the fears of anyone, traps of that spat out kunai, seals that summoned a few more feral dogs, and etcetera. Whoever designed this dungeon, made it impossible for any sane person to navigate. Sadly, no one could claim that anyone from TFF Academy was mentally sane.

æWaità did I just insult myself with that thought? Yeah, I did. Too bad, itÆs the truth.Æ

As the group continued to run, Eterna suddenly stopped. As Watcher took noted of that, he couldnÆt stop his momentum in time or chance his direction. As Watcher ran into her, he was able to change his direction enough so that he hit the ground first, with Eterna on top of him.

As Zeni and Sidhe heard a thumping sound behind them, they stopped and turned around. Seeing Eterna on top of Watcher and their position, Zeni developed a facial twitch as Sidhe tried to figure out what just happened.

Watcher, trying to ignore EternaÆs weight, asked a loud, ôWhat caused you stop, Eterna?ö

Regaining her senses from being knocked over, and seeing that she was on top her friend, she quickly scampered from her prone position on top of Watcher and stood up. Coughing, as she got her bearings, Eterna answered. ôI just thought that I smelt popcorn from one of smoke bombs and thought that we running around in circles.ö

Sitting up, Watcher rubbed his head and said, ôSmoke gets stuck on clothing, weÆre bound to smell like popcorn until we get a change of clothes and a shower.ö Shaking his head and getting a detailed look around, Watcher continued, ôBut what you said could be the truth.ö

As Watcher was getting up, Zeni got an idea. ôWhat if we mark some of the paths that weÆve been at, starting here?ö

Brushing off some dust from the back of his jacket, Watcher asked, ôAnd how would we do that without wasting our supplies?ö

Zeni smiled and said, ôBoot to the Wall.ö Kicking the wall right next to her, she broke off some brick and mortar.

As Watcher and Sidhe sweat dropped at the display, Watcher replied, ôThat worksà but did you have to modify one of my clanÆs better taijutsu moves to kick and break a wall? Ti Kwan Leep is a defensive style primarily.ö

Smiling like a hawk closing in on her prey, Zeni countered with, ôWould you rather be lost? Or still be on the floor with my sister?ö

Blushing and shaking his head, Watcher kept his mouth shut.

 

[sidhereelmotion]

A Narrow Corridor, The Great Catacombs, Underneath Konohagure Village,
Day 1,
Time 12:30 PM
Post 2 EXP 5.5

In the darkness of the Great Catacombs, a wall stretched out on one side of a long narrow corridor. Across from it, another wall stretched out, much like the first. Both had stood in the silence since before even the Hokage had been born.

In the darkness of the Great Catacombs, a shrine maiden crouched, ready to unleash the foot of righteousness on the unjust wall. Her muscles tensed as she readed to leap forward to again rend the silence with the cry of "Boot to the Wall!" But she was interrupted, and the wall was spared.

"Zeni, we have a problem," said Watcher as he examined the other wall.

"But the booting," Zeni complained. The wall was just asking for it.

"Has already been done."

"But I've always been booting to the left of the door."

"Mmmhmm"

"And that's the right side."

"Exactly."

While Zeni and Watcher were having their enlightening discussion on the precise placement of bootings, Sidhe was making a discovery of her own. There was large, orange carrot floating in the air in front of her.

"Kai," Sidhe whispered, making the appropriate seal, but the carrot still floated there. Curious, Sidhe reached out a hand to touch it.

"Naughty, naughty Sidhe-chan," purred Eterna as she grabbed Sidhe's hand.

With the other hand Eterna pointed out a wire running from the carrot to the ceiling.

Eterna continued, "In this light, the wire is almost invisible. If you had pulled the carrot like this, something bad would have happened."

There was a 'clang' as thick steel bars slid into place over the doorway.

Zeni called out in a sing-song voice, "Eterna-chan, did you just set off the death trap?"

With a nervous laugh, Eterna replied, "Maybe?"

A sudden noise made them all look up. What had appeared at first glance to be a solid ceiling was in fact several large blocks of stone. The one above them had started to move.

"Eterna!" yelled Zeni as they all began to run.

*THUD* The first block crashed down just behind.

*THUD* The second block fell.

*THUD THUD THUD THUD* The blocks continued, chasing the team down the hall.

Sidhe reached the doorway first, dragging Eterna along behind her.

*THUD*

Watcher and Zeni crashed into them, shoving them across the threshhold.

*THUD* The last stone fell. They were safe.

And that was when the floor of the new room tilted up, and they fell into the darkness below.

 

[locke69]

The Great Catacombs, Level 2, Underneath Konohagure Village,
Day 1,
Time 12:34 PM
Post 3 EXP 4

Falling: a sensation that thrill seekers look for as a way to increase their adrenaline highs, also a good way to wake up in the morning by falling out of bed. Too bad Watcher wasnÆt a thrill seeker or seeking to wake up as he was already awake.

Still, the only bad thing that Watcher could tell was going to happen was the landing and the slight dog pile after that considering that everyone was close to one another. Similar thoughts were crossing the minds of the Shrine maidens.

At the end of the five second drop, the team landed ungraciously in a pile..

ôOwà could someone stop feeling up my arse?ö

ôI would if Sidhe-chan would stop squirming!ö

ôWould all of you get off ME!ö

ôI only have a leg on youà ouch! Sidhe, could you get up?ö

ôI will as soon as Eterna-chan stops moving around!ö

Grunting in annoyance, Watcher set himself into a position. ôIf you two donÆt move, IÆm going to do a push up to knock you two off.ö

ôYouÆre bluffingàö

ôDoes Watcher bluff?ö

ôYes, he doesà but I donÆt think heÆs bluffing now.ö

With that said, Sidhe and Eterna quickly got up allowing Watcher to roll a bit to get his leg off of Zeni.

As everyone got up and looked around, they noticed that the room was lit upà glowing moss? ôInteresting little set up here.ö Watcher commented.

The others simply turned to face him as he continued to look at the moss. After a couple of seconds, Watcher noticed the stares. ôYes?ö

Eterna, in a bored tone asked, ôAnd whatÆs so interesting about glowing moss?ö

Shrugging his shoulders, Watcher replied, ôBecause the only thing I know that is a plant and that lights up without a natural source of light is a mushroom that is eating decaying trees. This implies that the First Hokage had a hand in building this labyrinth.ö

Getting close to one of the glowing patches, Sidhe asked, ôEatable?ö

ôIf youÆre desperate for food, IÆm sure you could eat that stuff. But I have a small amount of rations on me.ö

Turning to face Watcher again, Sidhe asked, ôWhy do you have rations on you? We had no idea what kind of test this would be.ö

As the twins nodded their heads in agreement, Watcher shrugged and said, ôIÆm a strange person. Does me having a back supply of food even surprise you all?ö

After a couple of moments, the collected girls nodded their heads a few times. Watcher signed as he took out a small pack from inside his jacket. ôI have some food pills as well, but IÆd rather save those until we need the charka boost.ö As he opened the pack, Watcher took out and handed out some field ration bars and a box of strawberry Pocky.

Grabbing the Pocky, Eterna asked, ôSince when do you like this stuff?ö

ôSince I learned that Sasuke hates it for some reason. ItÆs good too, so I have a no reason not to like it.ö The others couldnÆt fault that logic and started eating.

 

[Kerrus]

Konohagakure Outskirts
1:50pm
Post 4/Exp 4



The small convoy arrived at the Konoha gates sometime after sunset. They were weary, wet, and bloodied, and had lost half their number to highway brigands and the occasional missing nin. But they had persevered and made it, finally.

Old man Tetsuo had a brother who lived in Konoha, and while they hadn't been particularly close, they weren't on such bad terms to turn away his kin on their hour of need. And what a need it was.

You see, Tetsuo and his family weren't Ninja. They weren't even samurai. They were civilians without any combat training, but who recognized certain truths about the world. And this made them valuable to their village, with Tetsuo taking up one of the most important roles in Shoujogakure. The mentoring father figure who comforted all those distraught young women as their intricate relationships either failed, or fell off the tracks. It was a job his father had held before him, and his grandfather befer his father. It was a sacred duty passed down the generations, ever since the founding of the village.

And it was no more. Since the abrupt change in government, things had gotten stricter and stricter. The girls had been forcibly discouraged from seeking aid to their problems, and Old Man Tetsuo grew increasingly worried. You see, while he wasn't a ninja, he had spent enough time around them to pick up on the theory. So you can understand that he was very distrought when his childhood crush, whom he maintained a great friendship with, abruptly broke off contact.

Tetsuo did everything in his power to find out what was wrong, but her locks had been changed, and there were bars on her windows. Eventually, he organized a mob of villagers who marched to her domicile and smashed open the doors.

What they found there was nothing short of evil. There were several girls, ages ranging between eight and twenty. They were strapped to chairs and torture implements like never been seen, their eyes forced open at a sinful movie of the highest order.

It was not Tetsuo's first experience with the oft dark force known as Yaoi, and so he was possessed of a certain amount of immunity. Not so the other villagers, several of whom emptied the contents of their stomachs rather violently.

As they scrambled to free the girls, Tetsuo was drawn into a sideroom by the sound of a familiar voice. What he found there was an abomination. Though it rode in his dear friend's form, all that she was was gone. It sat on a plush bed surrounded by comics of a sinful sort, and several objects beyond naming. In her hands was another comic, a comic which Tetsuo actually recognized.

Back during his nineth grade at school, some of the boys had wagered a large quantity of money that he couldn't read a certain book without throwing up. He lost that bet, yet not for the reasons the rest of the boys did. That book and this one were the same you see, and Tetsuo as a fan of great literature was not one to judge based on activities within literature. However the dry heaves that lasted for nearly five minutes were precisely because of how foul that literature was.

Forget everything you've ever seen about writing a story. Forget grammar, character developement, and the weak force known as plausibility. Forget all that, and you're one step closer to oblivion. You see, those who fall under the collective term of 'Yaoi Fangirls' straddle oblivion. What they write is not pure evil in of itself, but a neutral force. But they twist it in dark ways, forcing it into unnatural configurations. Before the day is out they are possessed of something too terrible for words.


Except now Tetsuo was faced with that literary monstrosity again. His dear friend of many years held it close, and rocked back and forth. When he called her name, she did not respond, and when he looked into her eyes he saw nothing but madness within their depths.

She giggled. It started slowly, just a single laugh, but then it sped up. Her eyes widened, her pulse quickened, and she began rocking.

She turned the page, and giggled again. This time it was echoed by some of the other girls in the compound. The villagers looked around, not sure what to do. But then they heard it. The echoes of giggles making their way across town.

Moments later, the invasion sirens sounded, and one could spot former Shoujogakure nin moving in unnatural ways, each carrying with them a book of evil.

Tetsuo realized that there was no hope left for these girls. So he turned and fled. The villagers fled with him, grabbing what they could in short order, and fleeing from the village. Tetsuo and several of his close friends had lived near the stables, and managed to procure horses. And so they had managed to escape the coming evil. Even as scores of his countrymen were cut down by the grim forces of the Yaoikage, he and his close family managed to escape. They have been running for close to a week. Two of their horses dead from exhaustion, and the third wounded. Tetsuo had almost given in to despair when he had been sighted by a Konoha border patrol.

An indeterminate amount of time later, involving questioning and tests to ensure they were who they said they were, they were released. Tetsuo's brother, a man by the name of Kuon took them in. While his wife and daughter headed to sleep after a sleepless week, Tetsuo sat down and relayed the story to his brother.


And so it was that he missed something potentially devastating as it occured. His daughter, Mariko turned in her sleep, caught in some great dream. And then?

She giggled.

 

[Mick]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 12:50 Day 1, Post/EXP: 3

"We might as well stop looking for a path anyway. If all of em are deadly no damn point in stalling." Xerxezz muttered annoyed as he picked the center path and started walking.

"Damn it Xerx..." Michael muttered slightly annoyed before shrugging his shoulders.

"Wait but..you..and...the.." Janus said before shaking his head in frustration and walking forward with us.

Aleato just charted down one last thing in his map before following the others.

Walking down the hall nothing seemed to happen.

"This...is boring. I thought you said there were traps." Xerxezz complained bored.

"Maybe..their deactive...eh whatever." Michael says casually not seeming to care either way.

Just then Aleato placed his map on the wall and used the paper to write. It was then a block sunk into the wall and we heard the odd grating noise.

"What is that..." Janus was saying before Michael jumped and tackled him out of the way.

At Janus' angry look Michael pointed revealing several sets of spikes that shot up from the ground at random points all on the floor they were on.

With that the group carefully jumped over the spikes as they continued onward trying not to bump into the ceiling.

As the landed..Michael slipped slightly stepping on an odd panel...which caused darts to be shot out randomly from the walls!

The group raced forward trying to avoid being hit by the spikes...unfortunately that's when Janus slipped and his hand fell onto a lever that was sticking from the wall!

Behind the group the sound of something large could be seen rolling...it wasn't long before they saw their jounin racing towards them with the boulder hot on his heels!

The group made a mad dash as they tried to avoid the boulder that was trying to crush them!

It was then Xerxezz took a left turn at an upcoming junction and bolted! The rest of us followed and successfully managed to evade the boulder.

"Well that's over at least. This should be a piece of cake.." Xerxezz says. Luckily nothing happened.

That's when the group saw a pair of headbands resting on a pedestal down the hall in front of us.

That's when Xerxezz stepped forward to grab them "Pff see what did I say? Easy...hey wait a minute! These are fake!"

With that the floor collapsed underneath us, including the jounin sensei, and all of us plummeted down into the dark pit below.

Luckily for the would be genin..the jounin sensei broke their fall. They soon found themselves in a dustier, long abandoned...Mauseleom?.

Looking around they could see broken coffins in their spots of the wall. With the occasional body either on the floor, hanging out of the coffin, or simply no bodies at all and coffins with the bottoms rotted out.

"Damn it I wasn't supposed to die here too! Now were lost and I have no clue what to do now! Forgive me Hiashi-sama I failed the mission!" The jounin sensei begins panicking and whining about the situation.

"Knew these guys were up to no good.." Xerxezz muttered annoyed.

"This whole exam was a farce from the very beginning..." Janus confirmed to himself.

Aleato frantically tried to make corrections to his map to compensate for the hole but gives up upon realizing how deep the hole truly is.

"Heh so Hyuuga bastards played a part in this...story of my life. Ah well, nothin to do but just get through this one.." Michael speaks up calmly before heading towards the exit.

 

[JiigarGhen]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 12:52 Day 1, Post/EXP: 2

Sneaking up behind the panicking Jounin, Xerxezz hit him over the head with a large piece of wood he had found laying on the ground. The two by four connected with a loud, and surprisingly hollow sounding, *thunk*, and the man collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

"All right, now that that's taken care of, where should we go from here?"

"I say we loot this place!" interjected Aleato. "What?" he responded to the odd looks the others gave him. "It's not like the dead have any use for whatever weapons and treasure might be stored here!"

"*sigh*...so troublesome...if you want to do it then go ahead, but hold on one second first. Kage Mane no jutsu!" Janus' shadow animated itself and seized control of the unconscious jounin's body. "All right, tell me where you want him to go. We can use him to set off the traps, if there are any. But hurry up, even when he's unconscious, this guy is hard to control."

 

[Epsilon]

Catacombs, Day 1, 12:14 PM, Post/EXP: 2

"...... we're lost, aren't we?" muttered Zeph.

"We're not lost! My nose knows where we're going!" protested Koneko.

Leon then pointed out to a specific scratch mark made on one of the forest tree barks by Akira's claws. "I hate to tell you this but your nose doesn't know."

A nervous look appeared on the female's face. "How is that possible?! I could have sworn..."

Akira frowned. "I wouldn't put it past our test proctors to put in other obstacles to mess up our perception. If you're certain that your senses are still correct, then the most likely explanation is a genjutsu."

"Swell. So how do we break out of it? I doubt they'll make it easy for us to do that."

"I'm going to try something. Stand back." The others gave Akira plenty of room as he removed his claws and summoned purple flames just above his palms.

"BURN!!" He threw the fireballs in a random direction, causing the surrounding area to start getting a bit hotter.

"That's your brilliant plan?!" screeched Koneko.

"I said I was going to try something. I never said it wouldn't be crazy," replied Akira in a flat tone.

 

[Scratx]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 12:18, post 5+1, XP 6.5/6.5


"Damn it... blindly attacking the environment isn't going to break the genjutsu, you know.", Koneko said. "It's highly unlikely we'll hit him... or whoever put the genjutsu on us."

She frowned, then, running options through her head.

"Which means we have to find a way to break out of the genjutsu ourselves.", she finished.

"What do you have in mind, Koneko?", Akira asked, mind running in overdrive, analyzing the situation.

The foxgirl reached then for her kunai and took out four of them, three of which with explosive tags attached at the handles, eliciting curious looks from her teammates.

She remembered the lessons at the TFF Academy very well, and knew some ways how a Genjutsu could be dispelled. Unfortunately, she did not know Kai, nor did it look like anybody else did... or had thought of using it if they did, something that didn't occurr to Koneko to ask about. So she did the thing she was sure she could do that would break the genjutsu.

To the horror of her teammates, and despite both Akira and Zeph trying to stop her, they reacted too late to prevent her from slashing herself on the left forearm with the tag-less kunai.

"****, that hurts like a bitch!... Owww..."

The result, however, was immediate for her. She could now see a path she was sure hadn't been there before, and she could smell the jounin as well. He wasn't far off, likely observing them right then. In fact, she was sure he was...

"...THERE!"

Three kunai flew, then, imbedding themselves near where she believed the Jounin to be. The tags burst only a moment afterwards in a roaring explosion of dust and debris...

... and then the Genjutsu broke on everyone else.

 

[Kerrus]

Catacombs, 12:20, the Hour that Never Ends. Post 5 XP pending

It was quiet and damp. Not exactly a winning conversation, especially when you considered the group of pre-genin were tired, bleeding, and worn ragged.

The great cavern they found themselves in did little to take away from their annoyance. Giant insects, Doton spamming badgermoles, and what might have been an insane Volkswagon. Not that it mattered. The group had persevered, overcoming those challenges as they came, albiet somewhat reluctantly in the case of Parker.


You see, the young aspiring medinin had at first refused to accompany the group. Citing worries about the legality of the test, and expressing his personal opinion that they should wait until the Hokage showed up on-well, suffice to say it was a grand tale of a sort of hero worship that made Kerrus want to puke. Fortunately, the Catacombs were accomadating, and provided a swarm of some sort of metal bees. Given a choice between WALL OF SPIKES and following the group, Parker chose the option that would serve him best, at least in the short term. And so he had grudgingly followed the small team as they faced horrors not meant to be known by mortal man.

Back to the cavern, right? It was a great open space to be sure, although pools of sediment that smelled... well, we don't need to know that. Suffice to say it was big, damp, wet, and smelled of excement.

"Are you /sure/ this is the right way?" asked Blade once again. The kid had a habit of it, and had been twiddling with his petulant whine to get just the right annoyance factor.

"Deeper and deeper, round and round as they say. We can't go back, so forward's the only option. Though if my calculations are right, we're right underneath the merchant quarter, so if you want to blow the roof in, be my guest," snorted Kerrus. He checked his compass again, then frowned.

"Uh.... was was that?" asked a formerly silent Vex. The others turned, and Kerrus looked up from his mapwork. "There, do you feel it? Movement. Something large."

"You're just imagining things," Blade joked. "There's nothing here but us and the bats."

Kerrus started, blinked at Blade, then looked at the ceiling. The footsteps sounded again, and something /moved/


"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," he muttered. As he turned, he spotted Parker following his gaze.

"Kerrus? Why do you have to be so right all the time?" Parker asked, then pointed. "Animate Rock, striding across the ceiling. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it sees through heat. No eyes, so either it's reacting to our nearly gone chakra, or the warm life that permeates all your meatbag forms."

Kerrus couldn't help but chuckle.

"If it's heat its after, then why don't we oblidge?" asked Vex. Before the others could respond, he was in motion, sending a flurry of tagged kunai to the far left of the group, and running the other way. The exit, a small sliver of light was within a dozen strides, but one would have to risk going underneat that.... that thing to get there.

Kerrus said a fowl word, then bolted after him.

"Might want to shield your eyes folks," quipped Loki. Not a moment too soon, as the magnesium flare tags attached to the Kunai ignited. A great rumbling sounded as the rock beast ran across the ceiling of the cavern, smashing those hangy down rocks that everyone always misnames out of its path. Upon reaching the halfway point, it launched itself off the roof towards the flares, a great rocky maw distended in a parody of life.

And then the flares went out, and it turned, spotting the only remaining heat sources on the room.

"Uh.... RUUUUUNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!" Blade shouted making for the exit. And make it they did, not that it helped them. As they leapt out into the strangely circular and yet larger again cavern that Kerrus suspected was the center of the catacombs, the beast smashed it's way through after them.

"And here I thought we could avoid a fight. But noo.... 'Parker, heal my wounds' 'Parker, stop picking at that corpse.' Why did I listen to you guys when I could have spent the day at home with my cat?" he asked tersely. Stabby eyed the rock monster, looked at his knife, and frowned. It was one thing to stab meatbags, it was quite another to risk it against a rock.

"Just be glad," and here Kerrus dived under a boulder that the beast had thrown. "Be glad that it can't use Ninjutsu."

Doton: Nadare!


"Tell me I didn't hear what I thought I heard?" muttered Kerrus, turning to look at the monstrosity. It's gaping maw crashed together, and a series of rocky sounds transformed into a familair rumble.

Doton: Nadare-Ryuujin!


"OH FUCK! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Squawked Loki as he raced away from that voice. And the ground followed it, as well as the ceiling and everything else made of rock as it formed into a collossal dragon and avalanched forwards.

 

[Scratx]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 12:19, post 6+1, XP 7.5/7.5


"Hey, that wasn't there just now!", Leon exclaimed, upon seeing the new path.

Koneko replied, then... "I kn... what the...?"

... and interrupted herself as the jounin ran out of the blast area, yelling, as his trousers had caught fire from the explosion.

"He had it coming.", Zeph said. Probably something to do with the balance of all things, Koneko thought.

"Go. Leon, Zeph, Akira, take the new path. I'm leaving our jounin friend a present if he follows."

The female of the group then set herself to lay explosive tags in a square pattern by the new path's entrance as the rest of the team went past. Zeph waited just past the trap, however, concerned about Koneko and her self-inflicted injury, which was even then bleeding, matting her fur in angry red.

"I'm activating, stand back."

Koneko stood out of the square formed by the four tags, then, and formed a seal, molding the chakra necessary to set the trap. Anyone entering the area within the four tags would set them off, then, with devastating effects.

She didn't waste time, though, running past her teammates and motioning them to follow.

"We need to get some distance if we want to get away from the bastard. Damn, I'm not cutting myself again if I can help it."

She brushed off the concerns for her health, then, and led them at a very quick pace for a few minutes before pausing to apply a quick bandage to her arm.

Time passed as the group wandered, and they found themselves a way to the second floor.

It was dark. Damp. And smelly. Or so the males thought. Koneko thought it was absolutely disgusting.

"Eww... I think there's fresh poop in here somewhere..."

"Too much information.", Leon remarked.

Akira halted, though. "Fresh?"

"Yeah, fresh... smells like it.", Koneko replied... then tensed as the implications rammed into her mind at the same time Akira voiced them.

"Whatever 'pooped' in here may still be around."

"... No shit...", Zeph muttered. Koneko could hardly contain her giggles at that. But then she heard...

Was that a growl?, Koneko thought as her ears started scanning on instinct for the source of the sound. It looked like... Oh, crap. It's moving closer... it's big and has legs. Not a snake... too big for a rat, and people don't growl like that... and we can't see crap in this light.

"We got company."

Akira tensed, understanding Koneko immediately. Zeph and Leon, too, set themselves on defensive positions, though Zeph took one right by Koneko.

What a chivalrious attitude, Zeph..., she thought as she pulled a chemical light stick out of her weapon pouch. It was a compact, high clarity, low duration one, and one of two of that kind she carried that day. She had two more, long duration ones, but for what she had in mind, those wouldn't do. The creature, whatever it was, dwelled in the dark. It wouldn't be prepared for a sudden bright light. She bent the stick, and bright light immediately flared...

... revealing a huge, freaking reject of an Inuzuka dog flinching from the sudden light not twenty feet away.

Akira wasted no time and jumped into action, claws ready to slash and rend the dog's flesh. Zeph, likewise, went into the action with his bokken. Leon stayed back, wondering how he could help engage such a massive beast with his handicap.

Koneko briefly wondered how she could help, herself, until an idea ocurred to her.

It might just work, too.

"Hold this, Leon. Give us light.", she said, and handed Leon the flare before starting her plan.

The dog was attacking Akira, who was dodging the swipes while trying to land a telling blow on the huge dog. Zeph positioned himself to flank it, but the dog was surprisingly agile and resistant, the thick coat of fur resisting the glancing blows the bokken-user landed.

"Bushin no Jutsu!"

Several Koneko clones appeared, armed with kunai, before all of them took positions around the dog.

"Keep it busy for a few moments! I'm going to take care of something.", Koneko exclaimed before moving off a ways in the cavernous den of the creature, Leon looking a bit incredulously at her, before she was hardly more than a silhouette barely lit by the flare.

This should work...

... a minute later, she returned and signalled her clones forward.

"Akira, Zeph, disengage now! I'm taking over. Trust me."

Her clones entered the fray and half of them were popped right then with a sweep from the dog's paw. Zeph protested, and even Akira looked reluctant to follow Koneko's request, but that became moot as the dog growled and swiped at another clone before tensing.

Here he comes...

"Here, little doggie... come to mama... I'll make it all better soon...", Koneko taunted with a grin.

The massive dog didn't disappoint, leaping towards the fox girl over Akira's swipe. Koneko turned around and started running on all fours at high speed, tails high up in the air, and laughing in excitement... and perhaps a touch of insanity.

Damn, but I must really be crazy to be doing this.

"Koneko, what the hell are you doing?", Akira yelled, angrily.

Koneko didn't reply, dodging the dog's paws once... twice... thrice, then jumping to the side, over what appeared to be a white patch on the darker ground, and jumped again as the dog shifted its massive weight around, growling, maddened by the scent of blood coming from the smaller and much lighter four tailed girl.

A four tailed girl who was now looking right at the dog, ready to form a seal, with an evil grin.

"Come to foxy mama...", she cooed.

And the dog tensed... then jumped... and got blasted as the dozens of explosive tags were detonated with a quickly formed seal and a burst of chakra right underneath its vulnerable belly. Even Koneko herself was thrown back, lying stunned for a few moments after the fact.

"Ow... is it dead yet?", she said.

Akira moved in, along with Zeph and Leon, who went to check on Koneko while the other two ensured the dog was dead. Which, as it stood, was true.

She endured the following admonishing from her teammates for being reckless (I'm not reckless! I know exactly what I'm doing.) and resumed leading the team through the dungeons, all too aware of the dangers that laid in waiting for them... yet unable to do much about them other than hope she could find them before they found her.

 

[locke69]

The Great Catacombs, Level 2, Underneath Konohagure Village,
Day 1,
Time 12:20 PM
Post 4 EXP 5 (Not counting the omakes yet)
GM Control Post û Root Jounins assigned to the team of Kerrus, Vex, Twin Blade, and Parker

The assigned Root puppeteer Jounin had his puppet follow the tagged and thrown kunai, while his partner and spotter quickly used Shunshin no Jutsu to get into a position ahead of the fast moving puppet to utilize his most powerful siege jutsu, Doton: Nadare-Ryuujin. A few seconds had past and the tags denoted, the rock puppet took the blast of all of the exploding tags and the small kunai fragments, protecting the nearly prepared Root member. The puppeteer, using his skills with his damaged puppet, had the rocky puppet pick up a nearby broken stalactite and throw it at the team of pre-Genin.

While watching them run from the make-shift projectile, the spotter finished his jutsu and yelled, ôDoton: Nadare-Ryuujin!ö

As the earth dragon jutsu continuously got closer and closer to the running students, the floor of the ill maintained defense fort suddenly gave way in front of them. Not given much of a choice, the students jumped into the new hole in the fortÆs floor. Frowning, the spotter of the two Jounin eased off on his charka, until his unseen and distant dragon crashed into a wall creating a loud racket.

---

Time 12:24 PM

As the two Root Jounins and their puppet stood in front of the collapsed floor, the spotter spoke up. ôIf weÆre lucky, then that fall killed them. Danzo may not be happy, but killing even a small portion of that make shift clan will make our lives easier in future.ö

Frowning at his partnerÆs apathy at the current events, the puppeteer spoke up, ôI still say that we should try to actively recruit these kids. This test just provided that they have the wills to survive. Not to mention that the group that we just attacked had someone that we could force breed into creating another generation of Sharingan users, only loyal to Root.ö

Shrugging and ignoring his partnerÆs behavior, the spotter said, ôDanzo wants Sasuke for that purpose, just have the prick of a kid kill a Genjutsu illusion of Itachi and heÆll be completely and utter loyal to Danzo. After all, our group can fulfill both of his desires in a way. The kid in this groupà Vex was it? Anyway, he really didnÆt have anything that we could use to trick him into being completely loyal to us.ö

ôAnd what about the others? They all had the ability to become something great. Or just useful.ö

ôBah! You know as well as I do that anyone from TFFA Academy is branded for death, just to clean up the failures. Honestly, IÆm surprised that the Hokage would even allow TFFA Academy to still exist. It drains our coffers just training these failures. àHeh, still, it allows us in Root to keep some of our killing skills sharp yeà GUH!ö

With the spotter last words spoken, he sees an arm made of rock sticking out of his stomach, not comprehending what just happened, he died confused and in complete agony.

Twitching his fingers, the puppeteer had his puppet rip the body of his former partner off its arm. Smiling at the corpse, the puppeteer said, ôRemember your own legacy in you next life. You came from TFFA Academy yourself. And thanks for the reminder of that too, Danzo only want the graduates dead, not the students.ö

Kicking the corpse for no reason, the puppeteer walked to the edge of the collapsed floor and peered down. ôBut I wonder, why does Danzo always send those from TFFA here. Is there something at the bottom that he wants them to uncover? àMost likely. IÆll just have to chase these kids, if theyÆre still alive, to the bottom floor. One level to chase them down to, and once there and they find whatever it is that Danzo wants, IÆll kill them all for graduating and finding what Danzo wants.ö

 

[Scratx]

Catacombs, Konohagakure, 12:52, post 7+1, XP 8.5/8.5


The dirt had given way to stone two minutes before, as four-tailed fox girl Koneko led her three teammates across the halls beneath the Hokage Tower. She was tired, hungry, and unhappy with the way the whole genin exam (If it is even that...) was going.

It could be worse, I suppose...

Little did she know how much she jinxed herself, as the floor beneath them suddenly opened into a chute. She screamed in surprise as they slid down, falling in a pile inside a thick glass jar. The top of the jar quickly closed behind them, effectively trapping them inside.

"Oww, get off me!" "Careful where you put you knee." "Hey, hey, what the hell?" "you're crushing me..." "Sorry!" "Just get up, man." "Don't step on Koneko's tails!" "YEOW!" "Sorry, Koneko!" ...

It took a minute, but finally everyone was up. Koneko was hugging one of her tails with tears in her eyes and her left forearm was still bandaged from the earlier wound, but otherwise was fine. The others had some bruises and scrapes from the fall and the attempt to get up, but were also in good shape.

They could see out of the jar. A rather large room with tables and some packed up equipment around, it looked like it may once have been a research laboratory that fell in disuse. Now, however, it looked like it would be their prison.

"Akira, can you break this?", Leon said.

"It's thick, but I'll try.", he responded, and proceeded with trying to punch and, upon that failing, kicking the jar to break it. Sadly, it proved too resilient for either, and even weapons could hardly scratch it.

"Are... we trapped?", Koneko said, fearfully.

Laugher was the reply to her question, as the jounin stepped out from behind a piece of equipment that concealed his form earlier.

"You're bugs in the jar, little genin-wannabes. And you know what I like to do to bugs?", he asked rhethorically, with an evil grin.

"Umm... let them out to live another day?", she said, vainly hoping he'd let them out.

"Haha! No, you little fox bitch... I drown them. I drown them all."

Water then begins pouring down from the top of the jar, eliciting a shriek from a surprised Koneko and rattling the others, who begin attempting to break the jar in earnest.

This can't be it... this can't be it... nooooo...

Koneko began weeping in earnest, then, all too aware that she was helpless as the water level rose. Akira was actually making a little headway with his claws, but the scratches would never do enough damage at the rate he was going to weaken the glass enough to allow a break-out. Zeph and Leon weren't even worth mentioning, as far as damage went.

The water was at waist level when Akira told everybody to stand back as he summoned his purple flames in an attempt to melt through. Unfortunately, the foolhardiness of the plan soon came to light as the glass didn't melt, but instead started heating up, and with it the water.

"Stop it, Akira, you're going to boil us alive with that!", Zeph cautioned and, much to Akira's own annoyance, he found himself agreeing with him and managed to stop, blood calling for the jounin's blood non-withstanding. He resumed the punching and kicking then, to the laugher of the jounin outside the jar.

Koneko kept weeping and, by the time the water was reaching her shoulders, Zeph gently cups Koneko's face with his hands.

"Fear not, Koneko-chan. I will not let a flower such as you pass away without experiencing the love of a man."

"What *sob* are you mmph!..."

Leon's gasp and the jounin's sudden outburst of laugher contrasted with Koneko's wide, shocked eyes as Zeph kissed her in the lips, eyes closed.

Akira didn't notice, too far gone in his bloodlust to notice such. He did notice what happened next, however.

*POW* *CRASH* *CRUNCH*

Leon and Akira could only stare at the now shattered glass leaking out the water where Koneko had punched Zeph through, and right into the jounin, projecting them both against the wall, imbedding them both in it... though fortunately for Zeph's health, the jounin served to cushion the impact.

It was unfortunate to the jounin, however, who was out like a light, and probably in need of medical attention.


The Hokage leaned back in relief in his chair, then, realising interfering was not going to be necessary in Koneko's case. Though, he did wonder...

"I wonder if she's related to Tsunade..."