Stage 1- Event: H
Description: Participants will wander about the island for an unspecified amount of time before encountering a giant plant with a strange looking, pink flower. The bulb in the center will automatically open up, releasing a powerful knockout gas, incapacitating all in the area. Each participant will find themselves suspended very in the air, tied up in vines, mouths gagged, hands tied behind their back, and legs restrained. They will then see all of the exam scrolls in the thread sitting on alter in the middle of an open, red flower. Participants must free themselves of their restraints. The objective is then to retrieve the extremely conveniently located scrolls and escape the area. Participants are in no way obligated to help the other from their restraints high in the trees. Recovering the scrolls however, is not as easy as it seems, as the flower beneath it is a trap as well. Upon the scrolls being touched, the plant will snap shut, gripping down on anything caught in its jaws. If it catches an arm or similar, the small, tooth-like thorns will pierce ½ inch into flesh. Struggling to remove a trapped limb by force will result in further damage. The person attempting to recover the scrolls will have one post after the plant snaps shut to escape. If not, the vines that previously ensnared them will recover and put them back into the same position they found themselves when they awoke.


Scroll assignments (This information is exclusively held by each participant. Their opponents must discern who has what scroll other than their own in the thread):

Scroll of Heaven: Maigo
Scroll of Earth: Shinako

The Chuunin exams were now full gear, the anxiety of which had kept Maigo up the entire night before with the only thing wandering through his mind were battle scenarios and how to avoid or overcome traps he might encounter. He prepared early that morning, not even his own fatigue and sleeplessness wouldn't overcome his excitement and anxiety. He grabbed his gear and got himself together and ignored, for the most part, most of what his squad members were doing or saying. He was finally about to be able to take on the world and test how good he really was, both mentally and physically, and if he was able to progress to the next rank, then so be it. Heading to check in for the exams and get the rules and regulations and things from the proctors he sat down and quietly listened. Still not entirely observant of what was happening as he looked around the room and saw all of the people that he might be facing, some of them children probably still clinging onto their innocence and others with menace in their eyes, but determination all around regardless. As the rules were explained to them, Maigo summed it as being given a scroll of one type and having to find the other scroll in whatever forest area type thing they are placed in. Of course they went into detail about how anything goes and the dangers behind it, as well as how they would be allowed to back out at any point and forfeit the exams. A sort of nice after thought but there would be no retreat for Maigo, not at least as easily as getting caught in some trap, be that sinking sand or tripping on a branch. His determination was at an all time high and it would take a powerful force to dissuade him of seeing this through to the end. After their explanation, the proctors began to send students out to their start zones along with their scrolls and give them their final good luck.

Maigo was left at the edge of the island, he knew his goal was to find another scroll, combine it with his to get a full map of the area and then get to the next location, seemed simple enough really. As he was left there to begin, he knew that other genin also hunting him and his scroll were on the prowl, You can do this, just stay alert and stay focused. Then there'll be no problems at all. he thought to himself as he began to enter the jungle. Maigo debated drawing his sword to cut through it more efficiently but that would leave too much of a trail behind him, so instead he jumped up to the trees and began to look around for whatever he could. He began to head out towards what he imagined would be the center of the island, no guarantee that he would follow the path exactly, but being careful to not move too quickly. He wanted to be able to stop at a moments notice in case anyone else should show up and encroach on his area. As he continued on he spotted a clearing with the sun shining through, he stopped to look around and try guarantee that the clearing was actually clear. Stopping on a branch a few meters away, he carefully scoped around, it didn't seem that anything but a few birds were around and a rabbit or two nibbling on grass. Working his way around carefully it seemed that it was indeed clear of enemies, so he took out his shuriken and aimed directly for the two rabbits, taking them by surprise. If I'm gonna be here for a while it might be good to stock up on food and such now. he said as he collected his rabbits and tied them to his waist.

Heading out from the clearing he found himself back deep in the forest, with shades of green and other various colors of plants around them. Maigo only wished that he knew about plants, then maybe he could use some of them as a food source or maybe utilize them in some way. He approached a small creek and knelt down while keeping his eyes above, then scooping water in his hands like a bowl, he drank some. It was fairly crisp from the natural spring but still some dirt gave it flavor, this would be a nice point for him to keep in mind if he was to spend a long time here. Continuing on about his exploration he began marking different locations mentally as he traveled around, places where he could possibly set up an ambush or places that would be valuable to set up a camp and stay hidden away. After numerous hours of searching and mental measurements he returned to his spring again to grab another drink, but this time things felt different.

He began to drink from the water as he wondered if he had made it back to the same spring or if he had gotten lost and was somewhere else on the island entirely. Nice yellow and white flowers surrounded the area and made a makeshift path around the creek as he sat there to rest and catch his breathe.

[891 words]

150/150 Chakra:

[OOC: Shinako, once you post I am going to clarify that the 48 hour rule is in affect for our posting so we can keep this moving. It shouldn't be a problem, but just to be safe~]

The day had finally arrived, and Shinako had been accutely aware of it since the early hours. Almost as if by some divine force, she had awakened in the night to the darkness and quiet of the first day of the Chunin Exams; the first day of the rest of her life. When morning came she found herself, as she often did, in front of her mirror, but not for the purpose of applying make-up, or jewelry. She wore her long maroon kimono and white pants, keeping her attire simple and practical. She had no idea what the first leg of the adventure would be like.

A few hours later Shinako listened to the instructions of the head proctors, surrounded by the other genin who were participating in their toughest trials to date. Despite the fact that this was one of the most important lectures of her life, Shinako had a difficult time concentrating. Her eyes drifted in and out of focus, and she couldn't help but fixate on the rattling sound. Kunai, senbon, wire, all around her. Each and every one of the shinobi gathered around her would soon be locked into an inexorable spiral down into violence, from which some of them may not return.

The first stage would be a survival and retrieval test. Shinako was silently glad that she had spent so much time alone in the wilderness. It was a new place that she found herself in, stepping for the first time into the jungle, but the same basic principles applied. Looking around, she determined quickly that the arena was an island. Anyone remaining on the outskirts would be easy prey for those attacking from the cover of the trees, so Shinako set off toward the center.

The young woman kept one of her kunai knives in hand, stopping in the underbrush only to cut up portions of whatever edible roots she passed, stuffing them into her satchel. The area, it appeared was quite large, and starvation and dehydration could easily set in after some time out in the elements. Her primary goal was to find water and shelter.

She used her knowledge of game paths to lead her by way of the paths of least resistance through the thick trees. She took some damp mud from around the roots of a tree and covered her exposed skin to protect herself from insects and stinging plants, but otherwise saw no signs of life until she came across two spatterings of blood where it appeared as though something had been killed and carried away recently. Making the safest assumption possible, Shinako proceeded with the mindset that another genin was very close by.

After quite some time more of traveling, she came to a stream, checking upstream several meters for contaminants before returning to her original point of intersection. She took a few gulps of water to keep hydrated and filled her canteen for water later. Looking around, Shinako took notice of the fact that there were flowers sprouting up all around the stream. This would be the logical location for all of the Genin to gather, and it was dangerous to remain on the low ground.

Gathering her tools and packing them with a spare shirt to avoid noise, Shinako located the tallest tree and began to climb slowly and carefully so as to avoid falling or exerting too much energy. By the time she reached the uppermost branches, she had a good vantagepoint of the surrounding area and was relatively concealed by its thick foliage. The kunoichi stayed close to the trunk of the tree, though as she approached her destination she noticed that it was more of a leafy, fibrous stalk than a true tree. Toward the top she began to encounter large, pink flowers, whose color would hopefully help to camouflage her presence.

At this height, the plant's appendages were more thick vines than true branches, but they were wide enough and comfortable to sit on. Shinako stopped and looked down, getting a good mental image of the terrain. If there was one thing to be said about this place of danger and violence, it was that it was beautiful. Looking down, the young woman noticed that these strange stalks dominated the area, filling it with pink and red flowers, transitioning to yellow and white down around the banks of the rivulet. But that was not, by far, the most interesting thing that she saw.

Darting from tree to tree beneath her, Shinako saw a brightly dressed genin moving quickly away. She couldn't tell the identity of the stranger from this high, but she was content to get her bearings a bit more first.

She watched the stranger leave the immediate area just in time to see a familiar figure stop by the stream below her. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Shinako found herself looking down at Maigo, who she had met just days earlier. She stood from her position and began to climb back down the tree. Perhaps if she and Maigo combined forces they would be able to make more sense of the area that they found themselves in.

It took her a few minutes to descend, and she did so quietly, so as to remain alert to the dangers around her. Once she was within a reasonable distance of twenty meters she caught the sunlight on her forehead protector and let out a sharp whisle, flashing a signal onto the ground just in front of Maigo.

921/921

Chakra 150/150:

As Maigo sat there with his hands cupped in the water again, several hours having passed since he entered and he was no closer to the Earth scroll and no closer to even finding someone. He sat down and placed his hand on his knee as he began to catch his breathe and think his tracks over. It was as he looked around that the true environment began to take form, noticing trees out of place and the river rowing in a different flow. This stream was definitely different from the one he had been to earlier, Well great, for all that survival training and tracking information, I can't even keep my bearings on an island. he thought to himself as he placed his hand on the ground and began to stand back up. As he got to a bent over position, his hand leaving the ground and him stretching his back as he stood up, he heard the sound of a loud and sharp whistle and a flash of light at his feet. It was in this moment that Maigo had known he messed up, not fully checking his surroundings on the false premise that he already cleared this area, if Dameon-sensei had been here to see this, he would certainly get an earful to say the least. He paused for a second, he imagined the whistle and flash may have been blade to strike him down, but as he waited nothing seemed to change. His right hand now on his blade as he stood there and turned slowly to the direction of the whistler.

Time stood still for a brief moment as he faced his inevitable attacker, still slightly hunched over, his heart racing, and his palms sweaty he looked at the woman who was standing some distance away from him. The nervousness of being caught off guard prevented him from really focusing in on her as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. For that brief moment in time his mind began racing, wondering if this was a ploy so that Maigo would notice her and then rush in to whatever trap she may have made. Or if she was just that confident that she could take him on in a straight up fight instead of just taking him on from the shadows. Blinking his eyes a few times as he slowly began to slide his sword out, his eyes focused in on the small details of her person, once she finally took form Maigo was left in shock for a moment. Shinako? he whispered towards her as he couldn't believe that the girl he met a few days ago would be the first person he ran into during the exams.

His mind continued racing, he debated what he should do in this scenario, he didn't know much about Shinako and her skills or the jutsu she could use but he knew at this moment that she was an enemy. But was it an enemy that Maigo had really wanted to face? She was rather nice the other day and inviting the other day, but now he was taught to trust no one, how would he know if it's a ruse or not? All of the indecision and anxiety of the moment was telling him he should strike now and be done with her quickly, but then his heart said that she didn't deserve that, but then the exams are a cruel and cold place. He decided to start by playing it cool, taking a deep breathe to calm his nerves, the air leaving his lungs felt heavy and almost visible to the naked eye. He let go of his sword and let it slide back into place while standing up right, he would watch her carefully for any sudden movements and at the earliest sign of trouble, so much as a step in his direction and he would take off in the other direction aiming to separate the two and get away from her. Maigo knew that if they were to battle it out there he would go all out, no holds barred in an attempt to get that scroll. But it being her, someone he knew, and appreciated, he didn't want to have to strike against someone like her. Not until he was at the point of desperation, and he was no where near that point as of yet.

At the the slightest twitch or sound of her voice, no matter what she would do it would cause him to react quickly and with haste. Taking off in the direction up the creek and the same directions the flowers across the ground seemed to come from, and began to expand. Jumping from branch to branch and then to the ground in a repeated flurry of motions intended to lose her, coming to a clearing with a large flower at the center. The plant itself seemed more like a tree than anything, with a large pink flower through the middle, the treeline ended into a circular clearing with the flower in the center. It's pink flower stirred slightly as Maigo approached but he thought nothing of it as he came sliding to a halt a few feet away from it. His slide having him turn around and digging his toes into the ground and his left hand dragging across the ground to come to a stop. Looking back where he had come from into the treeline he stayed crouched down on the ground, like a dog or tiger ready to leap into action, his right hand rested on his blade and ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

As he stood there waiting for something to happen he began to feel drowsy, and it was approaching quickly, like a fireball right to the chest. As he sat there crouched waiting for Shinako to see if he had truly lost her, he fell to one knee, No, was she able to poison me? he thought to himself as he vigorously fought back his impending sleep. His hand fell off his sword and slammed to the ground as he was on his knees and using his hands to stay up, No, I will not lose here. Must... keep. . .going he let escape in slurred and dragged words as his eyes closed shut and he fell to the ground knocked out.

[1073 words, 1964 words total]

150/150 chakra:

As Maigo took off, Shinako's face and ears flushed with heat, as though the sun had suddenly broken through her cover to strike her on the nape of her neck. Her pupils dilated, and she felt her heart-rate increase. Every inch of her skin stood at attention. Giving her surroundings another quick check to make sure that she and the young man from earlier in the week were alone. The spike of adrenaline had her in motion before she could stop herself. The thrill of the chase had taken over.

Shinako had developed fine hunting techniques from both her time in the academy and in the forests outside of her family's ancestral home. She could not say why she chose to chase Maigo, but she found herself taking the first few steps in a flanking motion to his fleeing right side, jumping higher so that she could follow tangentially and from the high-ground. She stayed atop the tree branches, keeping her right arm at the level of her eyes to bat away any branches that might connect with her face.

Thus, when Maigo looked back to see if she was pursuing, he did not see her. Shinako briefly thought of how cruel it was to follow in this way, but she was also keen to avoid any traps that Maigo may have been setting for her. However, the young man was moveing at an extremely fast pace, and Shinako was having a difficult time keeping up. She couldn't imagine that he had time to drop anything too clever behind him. Shinako kept a kunai knife in her left hand just to deal with any unexpected circumstances.

Just then, a particularly thick patch of leaves splashed across Shinako's face, and before she knew it she had lost sight of Maigo. Landing on one of those strange, vine-like branches, Shinako stopped and looked around. She listened in the quiet of the moment to the sounds of nature around her, waiting for some slight cue to expose itself. Then, not forty meters off, she heard a skidding and a halt. She quickly dropped to the base of the tree and slunk through the underbrush slowly toward the sound, kunai gripped in her quickly perspiring hand.

She slid through the bushes, coming to the edge of a clearing with a massive, pink flower. There, much to her surprise, she saw Maigo on all fours, struggling to remain conscious. Shinako's mind raced through the possibilities. She didn't see any enemy combatants, but that didn't mean that they did not exist. Now that she was still and her aquaintance was still, she could pay more attention to the quieter sounds in the surrounding area. Waiting for just a few more moments, Shinako realized that Maigo was completely knocked out.

She decided that if there really was some random assailant they would soon swoop in and attempt to take the scroll that the young man was carrying. Readying her Kunai and moving her shadow to point it toward the clearing, Shinako counted a few long moments, doing nothing but watching and waiting. When nobody showed themselves, she waited even longer, just to be safe. Maigo had taken off so quickly that there was always the possibility that he was leading her into a carefully planned and cooridinated strike.

About two minutes of watching the area around Maigo's unconscious form passed. He was about 25 meters away from her, and if she was going to help him she would need to do so quickly. So, running quickly from her concealment, Shinako dropped her kunai knife back into her toolkit and closed the distance between herself and her unconscious friend. As she reached the final few meters, she slowed and approached cautiously, hands raised in front of her, just in case this was some sort of ploy. She also kept her eyes on the perimeter of the clearing, making sure that she herself would not be ambushed.

Once she was satisfied that she was in no danger, Shinako bent down and checked Maigo's pulse. He was alive, but his heart-rate was severely depressed. She reached down to relieve him of his weapons should he wake up in a panic, but just as she had begun to do so she felt as though her hand had become heavy. Snififng the air, she detected the faint scent of a flower's perfume and looked up at the giant pink bloom before them. Instead, she gripped Maigo's belt and began to pull him away as quickly as she could.

No matter how hard she tugged, the young man's body would not move. She realized too late that, snaking through the grass on the other side of her friend were long vines, just like the vines of the odd trees around them. Her breathing was becoming slow, and her eyelids heavy. She knew that she had fallen into a trap.

The young woman stood straight up, letting go of Maigo's belt, she began to stagger away backwards before falling squarely on her rump. Much to her horror, Shinako saw as the vines began to drag Maigo away, lifting him up into the air. More terrifying still was that she found herself unable to move a muscle. The last thing she saw was a tangle of vines reaching across the grass for her.


It could not be called so much a dream as a hazy vision of grotesque shapes, moving in and out of perception for some indistinquishable period of time. However, when Shinako began to awaken, consciousness came slowly at first. She registered no pain, but she still felt light-headed as she opened her eyes, shaking away the blurriness. The Kunoichi did not take terribly long to determine that she was hanging upside down, high above the ground. Though she tried to fight the urge, she yawned, which was when she realized that her mouth was stuffed with some form of cotton-like plant matter.

Her arms and legs were bound by thick vines. Judging by the length of the shadows, she estimated that it was the middle of the afternoon, perhaps three o'clock. She cast her eyes around, attempting to remain calm. After a few seconds she found what it was that she was looking for. The figure of Maigo, already beginning to stir, was restrained in a similar manner in a tree about thirty-five meters away from her.

She began to think of ways in which she could escape.

1,102/2,023

At one moment, Maigo was on all fours trying to stay awake, it was clear he had been hit by some invisible attack, or some jutsu or genjutsu but he couldn't be sure. The next thing he knew his eyes closed and he hit the ground, entering a world of sleep for some time, not dreaming of anything, just blank time passing.


Groggy, a powerful headache taking over as Maigo opened his eyes, trying to move his arm to rub his eyes and yawn, he quickly discovered that he couldn't move. His arms stuck behind his back, he began to wiggle violently and as he awoke and became aware he would soon realize he was entangled in vines. Being held upright several meters off the ground, he looked downward to see the floor below him, his legs arms and hands all tied up and set inconveniently as he was being held off the branch of a tree. Panic began to ensue as he knew he was in somebody's trap, Is this another contestants jutsu? Shinako was there right before I passed out, but is this her jutsu? And if so, then why not eliminate me and just take me out completely? he thought to himself as he wiggled violently trying to break out. After struggling for a moment he decided to calm down and look objectively at the situation, having no idea how long he had been there or how much longer he had before anyone or anything would show up. Inhaling deeply he closed his eyes, and then exhaled and let his body relax some as he looked around. He noticed that again, they were in another clearing with a wall of trees scattered around and this time, a red flower in the middle, much larger than the one before and with an alter at it's center. On that alter say Maigo's heaven scroll, white with the Kanji for heaven written on it, and next to it sat a black scroll with the Kanji for earth inscribed on it. He was hung up several meters in the air and the sun was high in the sky, meaning it was probably around noon plus or minus some time.

Aside from his scroll now being on the alter, he didn't hear the noise of anyone, just the birds around him and some random animals making their sounds. He looked and saw his sword still in it's sheathe on his belt, he knew that he had nowhere near enough strength to break the vines but his blade could easily cut through them, or at least enough of them to where he could get himself free. First, he had to get down and get over to the scrolls before Shinako or whoever put him in this trap got back to collect the scrolls and get out of there. Sitting quietly for a few minutes trying to think about how to get to his sword, his hands tied in an X at the wrist, so there was no way he could make handsigns to cast any jutsu at the moment, not that it would help someone who had a near non-existent skill in ninjutsu. After mulling over his options he decided that he had to have his sword and he knew of one technique that would let him use it without directly holding it, stretching out his fingers and mentally focusing himself he let the fibrous chakra strings reach out and grab his sword by the hilt, squirming his fingers around to make contact with it and to begin sliding it out of his sheathe. As the sword slide out of it's sheathe and took form next to him he began to shake his body and wiggle around, trying to get in a good position and prepare to drop to the floor, it was then that he noticed something in the corner of his eye at the far end of the clearing. Stopping for a second, he looked into see Shinako also restrained in the trees, beginning to wake up and figure out her surroundings.

His heart raced, If this is her jutsu then how did she get trapped in it also? And if it's not her jutsu, then who is the one that trapped us? Either way, I've got to get down and get ahold of those scrolls before she does. he said as he began to manipulate the sword to start cutting into his hand and arms wrapping. Being as careful as he could to control the sword but cutting his hands and arms free at this point is like trying to thread a needle, only this time with each missed attempt he would be cutting into his wrist and arms. Gaining several lacerations of considerable length but shallow in depth, he wiggled his way through the pain of cutting himself with each and every slice back and forth, trying to shift his body around so that it doesn't knick the same place each time.

It wouldn't be long before he would break out of the vines using his sword to which he would grab the hilt and slash the vines at his feet away and tumble down to the floor with a thud. Hurry, you haven't got much time to act anymore. he thought to himself as he began to rip the material out of his mouth that was preventing him from talking. He began to run towards where Shinako around the flower and was trying to get to her before she could fully get down to the floor, he needed to find out if this was her jutsu and she was the hostile or if this was something else entirely, he ran by the plan and closed the distance between them.

Once Maigo reached about 20 meters, he would be moving at full sprint speed, now forming the 'Rat' hand-sign and planning to stop once he was about 10 meters from her. Intent to put her under the Hell viewing technique before she could escape, intent to buy time so he could get a chance to grab the scrolls. Under the hell viewing technique she would see her worst nightmares manifest before her very eyes and take control of her reality. Once he was sure that she was under his genjutsu he would begin making his way back to the flower that stood about 10 meters behind him, and retrieving both scrolls and then getting out of their. Hopefully his genjutsu would land and his next few steps would be fine and easy going.

[1112 words, 3076 words total]

135/150 Chakra:

[OOC: If you have any questions/concerns or don't understand something that I did then feel free to PM me~]

The bed was not particularly comfortable. It wasn't meant to be. This place was reserved for a different type of comfort; a different kind of bodily pleasure. Shinako saw her own nude form sliding across the sheets and over the form of another. Two other women lay lifelessly on either side of the bed, with a chisled male form in the middle. Shinako hovered over all of them, her shadow falling like death on their still bodies. Her hands and knees found flesh as they moved, and she could taste the salty bite of sweat in the air.

Shinako lay flat on the chest of the living man, using both hands to hold his shoulders down. Bending her neck deeply, she delivered a single kiss to the lips of the dark face. Her own lips tasted like poison as the man began to writhe and swell beneath her. His movements soon turned to a spasm of ecstasy, and then something else entirely. It was only then that Shinako was able to recognize the face. Beneath her, dying of her liar's kiss, was Uchiha Tenzo. Shinako could hear cold laughter as she looked to her left and then to her right, seeing that the bodies of Manami and Joruri were also there, similarly slain in the throes of pleasure.

Genjutsu. Shinako was sure of it. Her heart rate was elevated, and she could feel the bile rising in her throat, so afraid that she could vomit. She could feel herself struggling and whimpering, but could not bring her body under control enough to calm herself. The last thing that she had seen was Maigo cleverly, though somewhat messily, escaping his bondage and rushing toward her. Initially she had thought that he would help her, as she had attempted to help him. She had been wrong, and at the last moment the young man had pulled up and formed a single handseal.

Shinako guessed that Maigo had used a technique very similar to one that she was familiar with. She sped through lists in her mind, naming all of the Hokages in sequence, followed by the cirle of elements, and so on until she felt her pulse coming under control. She did not have access to her hands, and knew that she had only one course of action. Conjuring up every bit of resolve that she had, Shinako located her shadow. Silently, a tendril rose to her poisoned lips, reaching in and removing the gag there. Then, taking her bottom lip between her right canine teeth, Shinako bit down until the teeth met each other.

The taste of blood would have been enough, but the pain transcended that, bringing Shinako's senses immediately back into the present. She saw Maigo moving away from her and toward an altar with two scrolls on it. In her haste to locate him, she had completely missed the obvious location of the event's prize. Her shadow snaked behind her, wrapping around the vines at her wrists and untying them. The shadow then untied Shinako's feet, deftly untangling the vines there, sending Shinako into a fall. All the while, Shinako continued to whimper as though still trapped in her opponent's genjutsu, so as not to alert him and cause him to turn around.

Twisting in mid-air, Shinako landed in a crouching position, making a dull thud as she alighted and locked her eyes on Maigo, who had moved toward the altar and the scrolls. He was scarcely ten meters away from her as she formed the seal of the rat, judging exactly where Maigo's shadow was from the location of the sun and laying eyes on it before her shadow shot forward at an incredible pace, aiming to latch onto it. At this distance, it would take scarcely half a second to reach him, at which point he would be completely frozen in place.

659/2,682

Chakra: 120/150:

Maigo slid to a stop in front of her, ten meters from her, he looked up and held the rat seal to cast his Hell-Viewing technique, she was awake while he did so and watched him do it. As he cast the jutsu he saw her eyes widen and dilate, She must be at the diversion now, leaves and what not flying around her, now to get those scrolls. as he turned back and hurried to the altar, as he began to run he could hear the beginning of whining and struggling against the vines. He felt bad, in the moment he ran up, she might have expected him to help her out, and it would eat at his conscience. That was not a thing Maigo would normally do, but he knew he could get her scroll and poof her back to where she would be helped out by medical staff. She'd probably be angry to say the least, possibly furious, and she may hate him as well, but his greed took him over and he put her under to guarantee he would have enough time to act. But all the while he wondered what she would see under the jutsu, it always intrigued him what people's fears were and how it affected them. By the sounds behind him he knew it wasn't pleasant to say the least, and as he stood at the altar he looked back towards her, he debated throwing his shuriken or kunai to cut part of the vine and give her a fighting chance, but he couldn't give up this golden opportunity to take his victory. He looked at the two scrolls sitting there, his heaven scrolls and, what he assumed to be, her earth scroll.

He gulped as he drew his sword into his right hand and kept it at the ready, since he had seen that Shinako was also in vines he only wondered for a second if she had actually been poor enough to get trapped in her own genjutsu. But that thought left his mind before he had even approached her, and with the presence of the pink flower where he fell and this red flower around the altar, he figured that it must have been an environmental trap from the flowers. Or maybe the jutsu of someone controlling the flowers, but that would be unlikely this far in, if it were someone waiting and watching then they would have acted when he broke free or taken their scrolls and ran, not leaving them on an altar for them to claim. He looked back towards Shinako before he went to grab the scrolls and saw her squiggling and squirming about, he felt badly enough but he knew that once she was back the medics could let her out of the genjutsu. He turned quickly back around and tightened the grip to his sword, reaching out and grabbing hold of the earth scroll that was hers, If I can just open this scroll, I can send her back and then be in the clear here. he said as he felt his fingers tighten around the black Earth scroll. He didn't notice it at first but once his arm began to lift up on the scroll and pull it back towards himself, the plant snapped shut on his arm. Small teeth dug into his arm but he held the scroll tightly, knowing that it was his only way to a simple victory.

First he tried to pull his arm out, but the teeth dug into his skin along with it, so he quickly gave up that idea, sitting with several teeth digging into him and his already lacerated left arm. His sword weighed in his right hand and an idea hit him, he began to imbue chakra into his sword. The sword would begin to glow red and small flames began to leave the top of his blade, he activated his burning slice and set the sword under his left arm and made a wide sweeping slice of the base of the petal itself. His arm could feel the heat of the blade as it passed under him, but cutting it at the best would allow him to take his arm and the petals out with him. Carefully sliding his arm away with the earth scroll as well, his arm shaking from the pain of the lacerations and the petals canine-like teeth dug into him as well. He took his right arm with sword in hand and began to slowly pull the petals off of his arm, to which he heard the sound of a thud behind him. His eyes widened for a second as he thought about the only thing that could be, Had she already broken free of the genjutsu and the trap?! he wondered with angst as he sent his attention from the petals attached to his arms now to the scroll in his hand

The blood would begin to flow from his arm that held the scroll as the teeth of the petals stayed lodged in. Maigo grabbed hold of the edge to the opening of the scroll and pinched it and let the rest drop to the ground unraveling as it fell. According to the proctor, if a scroll were to be opened without the other one as well it would send that person whom owned it back, and since this was Shinako's scroll, she should poof back to the start or wherever the medical staff was at. As the scroll began to drop he could for a moment feel his body freeze in place, totally unable to move much of anything on his person, it shouldn't last long though. Since whatever jutsu she was using would most likely vanish as she was sent back to the proctors and doctors. I'm sorry, Shinako is all he would say as he let the scroll unravel underneath his hand and fall to the floor.

[1004 words, 4080 words total]

120/150 Chakra:

OOC justifications:

Normally the technique would have been subtle, sliding carefully along the pattern of the grass so as to avoid the attention of any eye that might have fallen upon it. A shadow was the perfect weapon, normally beneath the notice of even the most observant shinobi. However, in this instance there was no need for such deception. As Shinako looked up, she realized that Maigo had been reaching for the scrolls. His frame blocked her vision of any good vantage point on which scroll it was that he was reaching for, but she was relatively certain that it was hers. Of course, he would be interested in taking both of them. The young woman smirked as she realized that she had the drop on him. She would paralyze him, grab the scrolls for herself, and then cut and run. It had become apparent from the genjutsu that Maigo was not interested in playing nice.

She had been too busy escaping, and had barely registered the sickening, wet crunch that accompanied the plant clamping down on the other genin's arm. Some part of her thought that it served him right for sticking his hand into the cookie jar after attacking her while she was defenseless. By the time she was ready to spring her trap, Maigo was all but finished escaping, no doubt surveying the damage to both his arm and to the scroll. Forming the sign of the Rat, Shinako sent her shadow rocketing forward. It seemed as though time stood still for that scant fraction of a second as the dark pool sped across the grass. Her focus was unbreakable, her aim perfect.

A screech rang out over the trees on the back of the Genbu. Not far from where the various genin struggled, a hawk fell into a dive, executing a flawless maneuver, talons outstretched, eyes locked on the back of a small rodent. Claws penetrated flesh, completing the flash of a sequence that millions of years of evolution had led up to. The hawk would not go hungry.

Shinako felt her shadow collide, pull taut, and then reel in slack, returning to the tip of her toe as she looked around in utter confusion. The snaking tendril of her Kageyose jutsu still lingered in the air behind her, like a scorpion's tail poised for a strike, though fragmented and made altogether otherworldly by its pure existance under the four overhead spotlights of the otherwise chilly and dark room. It was this detail that most confused the three women in surgical gear that now surrounded Shinako with abject bemusement playing across their features. Shinako stood above them, her sandals planted firmly on a sterile surgical table, her hands still clasped together in the sign of the Rat.

It took Shinako several seconds to realize what was going on. As her shadow tendril whithered away, sinking into one of the many shadows that she cast under the lights, the kunoichi looked from face to face of the surgeon and the surgical assistance, who, for the all their training in emergency preparedness, seemed to be at a loss as to what to do. Slowly unfolding her hands, Shinako came to the unfortunate conclusion that this could not be another genjutsu. Maigo simply hadn't had the time to weave another illusion. No, this was something different entirely.

She had been, by her own admission, sleepily going through the motions as the proctor had given the instructions that very morning, but she now remembered in vivid detail the mechanism of her apparent downfall. As the doctors around her checked their dosiers to determine which unfortunate loser had appeared, in full combat stance and unharmed on their surgical table, Shinako remembered the emergency escape mechanism built into all of their scrolls. Maigo must have opened her scroll at the moment her Shadow Paralysis Technique had found its mark, transporting her with a summoning jutsu to the medical care area.

"NARA, SHINAKO! Twenty-three-year-old female, Blood Type O Positive, Konohagakure. Pressure before exams, normal. Eyes, responsive. Vitals..."

Busy hands rushed to her as Shinako, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, made to sit on the edge of the table, reaching down to steady herself, both in the awkward motion and against the shock of it all. The medical examiners quickly stripped her of her clothing, going over every inch of her body and scanning for traumatic injuries and sponging her clean while she sat in stunned silence. They began, with every passing moment, to become as confused as she was.

The young woman's mind raced, never latching on to one idea or another, trying to make sense of what Maigo had done. Perhaps he had thought that she was injured. Perhaps he had opened the wrong scroll, as his arm had been hurt by that nightmare of a plant. Endless altruisms and misconceptions made their way through her inner filter, until one image laid into her as though she had been physically electrified. As clear as anything in her mind's eye, she could see Maigo standing over her defenseless form, eyes as cold as the village he came from, forming a handseal.

"No, doctor, I can't find anything. She...she must just be in shock."

A long silence, then a whisper.

"Maybe this one quit."

The non-essential medical personel began to gather their various papers and tools and make their way out of the room. If asked later, Shinako would not have been able to pick any of their faces out of a line-up, or to say what questions were asked and answered while she sat in her under-garments on the cold metal of the operating table. Her clothing was stuffed into plastic bags to be disposed of, and she was given a plain black kimono to dress in, and then left alone. That was it. Her chunin exam was over.

Finally alone, Shinako stared at the flat linoleum of the floor, eyes barely focused, mentally reviewing the few short hours that had been the most important test of her life. Looking back, it was easy to see how she had done everything wrong. She had abandoned her search for sustenance and shelter to chase after a person who she barely knew. But no, that wasn't exactly accurate. She should have known that he was an enemy. If her squad-mates ever found out about the time and attention she put into trying to signal Maigo; trying to chase him...ultimately falling into a trap and never truly escaping.

For a few long moments, Shinako simply closed her eyes, laying her head back against the solid comfort of the table. A few hours ago she had been preparing herself to fight, and possibly to die. Now it ended not in triumph, or a blaze of glory, but with betrayal.

Betrayal.

Opening her eyes, Shinako sat up once more, reaching for the garment that had been provided for her, dressing herself in black, like the dead, or someone mourning the dead. Her stare against the blank space of the wall was hard and almost determined. No doubt she would have to explain this to her superiors and her teammates, but she was not willing to accept the chasm of thought that she had just fallen into. She would not be convinced that what she had done was a mistake, or a sign of weakness.

Gripping every moment that she had just revisited firmly in her heart, Shinako told a different story. She had entered an arena where people would be pitted against one another for no good reason, and every inch of her had protested that, curled up like a fist, fingers wrapped around her own humanity. When she had seen a friend she had gone to offer help. When Maigo had fallen she had done her best to rush to his aid, ending up a victim not to her own weakness or inability, but to a single, vulnerable, naked act of compassion and kindness.

Shinako sighed heavily, standing and leaving her guilt and regret on the table. As she exited to operating room it was to a hallway full of people blatantly refusing to make eye contact, yet she held her head high as she headed for the lobby of what she recognized as a hospital. Her common sense and a few symbols on lapels or papers told her that she was still in Kumogakure, and that this had been no short-cut home.

As she passed by the charge nurse, one of them flagged her down and handed her the tools that the examiners had collected off of her person, as well as her tool-kit and satchel. A quick inventory told her that everything was in place. She bowed and thanked the nurse, who also handed her a set of discharge papers and a debriefing packet. Shinako stood at the high counter and read them over. It was pretty standard language, and she simply skimmed over it.

Shinako left the packet on the table, finding no further need for it. Even reading the details of her failure didn't exactly phase Shinako after her self-confidence session in the refrigerated surgical suite. As she began her start toward the front entrance of the hospital, in fact, she caught herself humming a tune from her childhood. Overall, things could have ended up much worse. If nothing else, she still had her health, and she hoped that Joruri was doing well, even is he was still trapped so far away from her in that macabre arena.

It was her teammate and what he was possibly doing, or what was being done to him, that dominated Shinako's thoughts as she entered the lobby. To her surprise, it was filled with men and women wearing flak-jackets and body armor, adorned with the various symbols of the nations that were competing in the exams. It appeared as though this area was being used as a make-shift waiting room so as not to disturb the everyday functions of the rest of the hospital with heavily armed Shinobi moving about.

It was here that a young man who must have been a chunin, sporting the symbol of the leaf-village on his forehead, approached Shinako, flashing a picture of her that he had obviously brought as a form of identification.

"Nara Shinako?" the man asked in a gravelly voice. He couldn't have been much older than she was. Shinako nodded and saluted the man, "I have this message for you...uh," he paused awkwardly as he handed her the message with one hand and scratched the back of his head with the other, obviously at a loss for words. "I'm uh...sorry about the exams."

Shinako smiled and shrugged in a conciliatory gesture, thanking him nonverbally for his condolences. He headed off without another word, leaving her with the plain white envelope in hand. It wasn't post-marked, and had likely been sent by a shinobi who feared that it might have been intercepted en route. Finding a corner of the room filled with mostly leaf ninja, Shinako took a good look at the envelope, labeled with her name and a heart, drawn in a neat pen. The shinobi gathered around her tried their best not to draw attention to the way that they uncomfortably edged away from their village's latest failure. Even this Shinako didn't mind. She broke the seal of the envelope to find familiar handwriting.

"If a shinobi's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to perform one more act with absolute certainty. If his will of fire should reach out into the world one last time to show his love and determination, though his head is cut off, he should not die."

Shinako dropped the letter, ceasing to read what remained, her fingers shaking and her eyes beginning to flood. None of the events of the day mattered anymore. Shinako, lips trembling, choked out a single sob. The light had gone out of the world.

2,029/4,711

Training:

As he fumbled the scroll through his fingertips, hurriedly trying to open it and escape danger, he knew that it wouldn't be long before she acted. His decision to put her under the genjutsu had eliminated all possibility of diplomacy or working their situation out. Not that there was any guarantee of them working together, this was the Chuunin Exams, and everyone on this island would be his enemy, even those who also wore the Kirigakure headband. For the moment his body froze in place, none of it able to move or respond beyond the twitches of individual muscle fibers. Part of him wanted to know whether it was through his own anxiety and adrenaline that kept him from moving, but his brain told him he was trapped by some technique of hers. For a brief moment in time he could watch his body freeze and the scroll unfurl in his hand, it was as if everything in that moment was in slow motion. If either of them had acted any sooner or later the outcome could be very different, but for this instance, Maigo had acted sooner and the scroll unrolled towards the ground.

For a moment he was stuck, frozen in place and then followed the sound of a poof, he felt his muscles relax as the poof came. An exhale of relief, it seems that his tactic to send her away from this place had worked. He quickly turned to make for sure, dropping the scroll as he did and bringing his sword around, there was always a chance it was a substitution from another attacker. White smoke evaporated into the air as his eyes shifted around in all the directions to make sure he was truly alone. After a moment, he finally relaxed, sliding his sword back into it's sheathe and turning to his arm, the teeth and petals still in his left arm. He went back to sit down, leaned against the altar and beginning to remove the petals and spikes from his arm, gently so as not to further injure himself, at least not more than he had to. After the few moments it took for him to get it together and catch his breathe, taking in the last few minutes that had happened to them. I doubt she'll take my apology or anything I could've said he thought to himself as he sat there, now rolling up her earth scroll, But I had to guarantee that I won this battle, especially since a straight up fight wouldn't bode well for either of us. I just hope that one day you might be able to forgive me for sending you out without a fight. his thoughts running tangent to his intentions. Well, I better get this going, no telling how much time I've lost, and I'm not completely out of the woods yet. I'm almost to the finish line for round one. he thought as he stood up and grabbed the scrolls, the earth scroll already in his hand and the heaven scroll from the altar.

As he held both scrolls in his hand he weighed their value and how much he had to sacrifice to get them, losing a potential friend on the chance to get to the next round. More peril and danger awaits him around every corner and he thought it over thoroughly as he slid the scrolls in his pouch and zipped it shut. He ran back, stumbling through the woods, the lacerations on his arm still bleeding and the punctures quite a pain. He had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows but the pain of dealing with it was still over-bearing as he cut his arm up from removing his restraints and again having his arm nearly eaten by the plant also. Reaching another creek like the ones earlier he knelt down near it and washed his arm off, then ripping off the bottom of his sleeves he wrapped up his arms as best he could. The tightness of his make-shift bandages pressed against his arms, he had washed most of the blood off of his skin but the light color of his jacket highlighted gravely against the dark red of the dried blood.

And yet, his first round of the chuunin exams could have been much worse, some simple cuts to his arms were a minor injury to see the bigger picture and to help reach his goal of winning the exams. A long shot at best, he had merely outsmarted only one of his opponents this round and got caught in the most obvious of traps, not a very great nor convincing performance to convince those in charge that he was ready to be a Chuunin. As he stood up from the creek he reached for the scrolls out of his pouch, doing a quick check over the surrounding environment to make sure no curious eyes were looking on or planning to make a move on him and his scrolls. Jumping up to a tree branch and staying out of site for the most part, he sat there and took a deep breathe and prepared to open the scrolls, one black and one white, the Earth scroll and the Heaven scroll. When combined they would reveal a map with the location on where to continue the exams at, where his next challenge would face him. Staying clam and breathing out while he opened up the scrolls together and began to figure out where he should go from there.

[932 words, 5012 words total]
[Exit Thread]

120/150 Chakra:

Training: