With two victories under his belt now, only a single trial remained between Hanza and the next stage of the chunin exams. It was with no knowledge of when the next trial would take place that’s a Hanza would lay down in his hotel room that night and sink into a delicate slumber. He was at peace and for once, he felt a good rest was possible for the first time in weeks. It took almost no time for the young, snowy-haired Kiri-Nin to fade into that wonderful feeling of rest. His dreams would begin joyful and upbeat. His mother and father asking him how he had been the last few months. His old home, the streets he had walked in his youth. It was so familiar and comfortable. Until a sort of static came across the visage. And then a pain at his temple. He looked around his old home to notice everyone had left. And then he smelled smoke. Everything was on fire.

Hanza opened his eyes with a gasp and began to cough sporadically. He was disoriented and it was unbearably hot. He was no longer in his hotel room. A passionate orange glow could be seen through the broken rubble of the walls of the building he was within. Fire. It raged outside, coming inward toward him. He stood and walked out of the building, at which point he was shocked to see two women in little more than pajamas. One of which was Izumi Karisuma, someone he had become rather acquainted with over the last trial. Her hair was up, and her clothing consisted of a white tank-top, and short black shorts. The other woman, whom remained unnamed to Hanza at this time, had red hair much like that of Izumi, except with teal mixed in. It was difficult for Hanza to tell exactly which parts were teal as it was up in a messy bun. She wore emerald sleeping shorts with a black tank-top.

Had everyone been dragged out of their beds and thrown into this? Were those two the only others? Hanza would have minimal composure here, as the temperature would have the most effect on him, being someone who required such a low body temperature to be maintained. All he could think to do was to cool himself with Hyōton. He stumbled out of the building and attempted to mold chakra, with absolutely no success. He would try his best to do so, once more. Failing again. He looked to the two women before him and made his way to them, joining them in a circle.

An unsettling figure from above seemed to speak over some sort of system. He explained the situation. At least one of them was to escape in order to succeed. A special Jounin would be hunting them down with fire jutsu as this was attempted. They had no access to their chakra. This task was going to be literal hell.

Hanza looked to the familiar Izumi first, hearing oht her logical plan to allow her to make the dash for the exit whilst himself and the newcomer, Nova, attempted to stall and distract. It was a solid plan, and Hanza couldn’t come up with anything better. All he had was suggestions.

“No real time for proper introductions, but to be quick my name is Hanza. I’ve gathered yours is Nova and we must both know Izumi from previous encounters.” he took a breath to regulate his racing heartbeat. “Most of the surrounding buildings have been set alight, it is only a matter of time before we are isolated to only a single straight pathway, out in the open. That will not bode well. This special Jounin can likely disable Nova and myself in one swift encounter. That means direct combat is not an option. All of us need to take advantage of the structural weakness of these buildings. Get inside of them and make your way toward the exit. He doesn’t know which of us is the fastest unless we show him. So we split up and use the cover of the buildings, dodging and ducking through windows to move from one to the next. He will not be able to find us all in time.” Hanza looked at the two with a somber, slightly fearful expression. “No matter what you hear, no matter if you lose sight of us, you don’t stop running forward.”

With that said, Hanza would nod in assurance and bolt toward the leftmost set of burning buildings, ripping his T-shirt down the middle to reveal a rather toned physique before tying the cloth around his mouth to filter the smoke. He offered the rest to them if they’d have it before he disappeared into the building.

WC: 806

Hanza could feel the ardent caressing of the wild inferno, lapping flames occasionally singing what little tiny white hair was present on his arms. The building he had entered was two stories, and he had looked ahead just enough to know the next one was only a single floor, meaning he would be leaping from this one straight over to the roof of the next. His plan was not one that seemed overly complicated. He needed to remain as unseen as possible. The man in charge of taking the three of them down would not risk allowing a wild card genin to slip out of sight. Hanza felt relatively confident that the Special Jounin would pursue him and would catch him.

That was necessary, as while the Special Jounin wasted his time hunting the Kōri clansmen, either Izumi or Nova would be the true threats here, fast and furious as they might have been.

The ripped cloth over his mouth only did so much for him, his white hair quickly becoming more ashen, and even black with soot in some places. The buildings he would be choosing to scale and leap across were not too structurally weak at this point. The flames had only started a few minutes before the three of them were awakened, at most. Hanza pushed his elbow forward and charged through a glass window, landing and rolling across the ceiling of the next building. When he rose to his feet, his left foot smashed through the weak tile. He was able to recover only be a hair as he continued his forward dash. He could see Izumi from this vantage, only briefly however. She seemed to be taking the most advantage of the situation, moving with extreme haste.

Unfortunately, Hanza also caught a glimpse of Nova as he took a risky jump onto the rickety metal stairs on the side of a large three story building. The poor girl seemed to be ducking and dodging her best away from the deadly debris. It was at that moment that Hanza saw the masked shinobi. And then his forward momentum carried him away from what he imagined was an unsightly thing. Nova has served her role. Hanza was surely next.

The metal ladders and stairs were scary just to climb on, let alone knowing that the attached building was currently ablaze. It was as Hanza pulled himself up to the next level, at the second floor, that what sounded like a missile seemed to whirr toward him.

BOOM!

An explosion as devastating as an explosive tag hit the top of the building Hanza was scaling. The metal supports for the ladder he was hanging on to gave way. With only milliseconds to act, Hanza thrust himself through the window at his left, rolling into the second floor of the building. Within it were office chairs and desks. It seemed the computers had been loaded up and taken away for the purposes of the exams. As Hanza zipped as quickly as he could through the building, he could hear it creak and groan. And as he looked back, all he could make out was a dark silhouette coming through the flames.

He grinned. This was a good thing. Izumi was likely so close to the finish now. She had clearly been left unassaulted up to this point. Hanza leapt through the next window and sought to land in the grass below. It was about 20 meters to the next building and he couldn’t have cleared it with a single leap. As he thought he was free, another explosion hit.

BOOM!

Hanza ended up more than clearing the twenty meters. His entire back covered in major 2nd degree burns. The rest of his damage being bruising from his crash landing into the next building. The city was growing more ablaze by the second. His pain was excruciating. His eyes were bloodshot. And they closed, gently as he surrendered to the anguish. The building around him smoldering lightly as he heard and felt the rumbling around him.

Have I contributed enough to win this? Do I deserve it?

He clenched his pale fists and forced himself to a standing position, he would not allow Izumi to make the rest of this all on her own. He had not pulled his share yet. He ran forward, staggering at first, then forgetting his pain in a rush of adrenaline. Hanza had achingly trained for months. He had braved the streets of Konoha as an outsider and an outcast. He had found pieces of himself that he had not known existed. The burning sensation that he felt from shoulder to shoulder, all the way to the small of his back would never compare to the soreness he had felt for months as his muscles struggled to catch up with him.

No. All of that hard work would be put to shame if he didn’t persevere just a bit longer. It seemed he would be crucially needed in the next few moments, making it arguably the most important decision he had made throughout these exams. The special jounin had counted Hanza out, and from the soft ground he now stood upon, the snowy haired man could see the menacing figure looking over Izumi from the top of the tallest building in the are. At seven stories, this location gave him a sweeping view of the entire area, and Hanza knew the man was tracing out Izumi’s path with his eyes. She was so close. So very close, and so capable. Hanza made a break for it. Flying as quickly as his legs could carry him, he scaled every set of stairs in the emergency exit stairwell. Sweat and soot painted his scorched body as he made it out onto the top floor of the building and spotted his target. The hooded figure seemed to bide his time. Overly confident that he would put an end to this trial.

He would pay for that error. Hanza rushes forward and for that moment time would have seemed to have reached a standstill. A hanseal began to form from the special jounin. The white haired, slightly limping assailant rushes forward as quickly as he could. That jutsu could have been the end of the entire trial. A failure stamped promptly on all three of the young genin. Disqualification from the next rounds.

Flames began to spew forward and as they did Hanza leapt forward, grabbing the man’s head in the bend of his arm and carrying them both off the seven story building, flames enveloping Hanza evenso. The delivery of this emotionally charged maneuver was in fact stone cold. They would both plummet into the water below, a small pond breaking some of the fall and dousing the now fully covered Hanza Kōri. The young man would be covered from head to toe with moderate second degree burns, requiring to be carried off field by a medical team. He would be spending the rest of his days prior to the next stages in intense recovery. And that was fine.

Carry on, Izumi. Win this for us.

[Exit Thread]

WC: 1194

TWC: 2000