Trial:

Fuyuko had spent the night in the infirmary after completing her second trial. She also didn’t seem to be the only one that had spent the night there or at least had their health checked up for no lingering effect from the gas they released into the room. They requested her to stay even though she didn’t really show any signs of being affected, her coughing just wouldn’t stop. So as a precaution she was requested to stay at the hospital. Despite not liking being in hospitals as a patient, they weren’t really going to do anything with her. Well at least for the time being. She also didn’t really have any plans for anything else. So with no legitimate reason to leave the hospital she stayed. However after a quick morning check up to see if everything went better she also quickly left the place. Grabbing her gear and heading over to the next designated area for her third and final trial.

Upon arrival at the destination she instantly got picked up by a proctor. From here she was guided to the central location of where he trial would start to take place. Fuyuko started to wonder what the goal of the third trial was while she was being guided through what seemed to be ruins of the village. Many broken walls and things all over the place. Was there going to be a battle royal already? Where to many genin passing the trials and they needed to cut the competition short earlier? Those and quite a few other possibilities were running through her mind as she simply followed the proctor. It got her heart racing a little bit, not because she was afraid, but because she was getting excited about the idea. Being able to measure herself against the genin from other villages. Gauging the potential of her competition and see how strong they really were. But most importantly see how well she faired against them, did her training pay off? There was only one way to find out.

The proctor stopped walking after a while and turned around towards Fuyuko. Fuyuko let out a small chuckle when she realized how all the proctor had been behaving similarly. They all guided her to the location, then turned around to give the instructions and then walk away. It was most likely going to turn out the same. “Is there something funny?” the proctor asked a bit irritated. “No nothing, I’m sorry!” she replied quickly and flustered as she bowed. “Well then. It is time for your third and final trial. In this trial you’re tasked to escape the arena. To reach the edge of the arena you have to run 200 meters in any direction. As the obstacle for this trial you have to escape from a spec. jounin who will hunt you down and prevent you from leaving the arena by any means necessary. To top things off you will be unable to use any of your own chakra during the trial. A timer will start shortly after I leave you. When it reaches zero a horn will be blown, signaling that the hunt will begin. I wish you the best of luck youngster.” Soon after the last word was spoken the proctor disappeared almost instantaneously from her eyesight.

The words left her a little bit saddened. The thought of already getting to battle some of the other genin had gotten her really excited. To find out that it was just a ‘simple’ escape task had left her a little demotivated. She slapped herself on the cheeks to snap herself out of the gloomy trail of thought. She started thinking about what the proctor had told her. He didn’t mention that she wasn’t able to move already. Only that she was going to get hunted when the horn was heard. As soon as that thought clicked she started running into one of the alleys. However the moment she had barely reached the entrance of the alley she looked behind her on the ground. The dust and sand that on the ground clearly showed her tracks. It would lead the hunter straight in her general direction. She back tracked quickly, making sure her footprints would match her old ones and especially making sure it wasn’t obvious which of the two directions she would end up going. Having reach the middle point with her blurry footprints of where she was standing when she go the instructions she picked another direction and ran that way. Just as she was about to do that the horn was blown. With only a fraction of second having passed the arena was set ablaze. Before Fuyuko completely understood what had just happened the fire had spread throughout the entire arena. Shaking her head quickly she started running into the direction she had chosen leaving her starting location out of sight.

Eight meters, nine meters, ten meters. With every step she took she kept on counting. When she would reach 200 she should about be at the end of the arena. Completing the final trial and confirming her advancement to the next round. But running past the burning building was not as easy at it seemed. The heat the flames alone were generating quickly made her break out a sweat. Breathing was not as pleasant anymore either nor as rhythmic. Having to pause her breathing now and then to make sure she doesn’t fill her lungs with smoke. She just had to make sure to keep breathing, make sure she was capable of keeping up the pace. So that when and if the hunter would catch up with her there would be as little distance between the border and the place she would get caught. Thirty-one meters, thirty-two meters, thirty-three meters. Thinking about it, what was she to do when the proctor would catch up with her. Not being able to cast jutsu’s would make it impossible for her to defend herself in anyway possible for her attacker. So there was only a slither of a chance that she might be able to injure the shinobi with her tools. But that seemed highly unlikely. The shinobi would definitely be able to block any attempt she would make by conventional means. She would have to get tricky about it. Have to come up with non-text book ways.

Hitting them in their delicate place could definitely be an option. Her face turned even brighter red when she thought of that, as much as she disliked the idea of it, it was not the time or place to be held back by morals. Using some sand to throw into the eyes of the shinobi would also work nicely. It could work both as a ‘smokescreen’ as well as a ‘weapon’ to irritate the eyes of the shinobi. Buying herself at least a little bit of time. Sixty-four meters, sixty-five meters, sixty-six meters. A little more than a fourth of the course had been completed by this point. She started to struggle a little more with her breathing. Probably running a slightly too fast of a pace with the slight lack of proper oxygen she could get in due to the flames. Speaking of which, the heat they were generating seemed to have increased as time passed by. She wished she could jump up and onto the rooftops so that she would be less surrounded by the flames and not absorb as much from the heat. But that would leave her fully exposed which would make her extremely easy to spot. So as much as she would want to go up there, she didn’t really have a choice but to stay surrounded by the flames. Be engulfed by the heat that they generated.

One hundred meters. Fuyuko finally managed to cross the halfway mark. However shortly after it happened. That which she tried so hard to avoid. She had taken a pretty decent sized whiff from a cloud of smoke. Almost instantly setting her on a coughing fit and haltering her advancement towards the edge of the barrier. She looked around as she continued to cough, if there was a place where she could hide out of sight. So that she wouldn’t get caught if the hunter came running by. Behind her was a broken wall she could climb over into a house. It would do for the time being. Struggling a little bit due to her coughing and small space between the wall and the ceiling, but eventually she would manage to get inside the building. She got herself seated close to a flame. Far enough away from it that she wouldn’t breath in the fumes that it generated but close enough that it would mask the sound of her coughing. It continued for quite a while. She probably would’ve recovered faster out in the open, but the chance of being spotted would have been just too big there. It was too great of a risk to do that. Eventually her coughing would stop and just as she was about to get ready to leave there was a noise. It was soft but unlike what she had been hearing the entire time. It was not the noise of the crackling flames or that of more being created. No it was that of a footstep. She listened as focused as she could, but the noise from the flames was also making it hard for her to hear the hunter. Her plan at the current moment in time backfiring on her. She was trying to reverse the rolls, make the hunter the hunted, but it didn’t seem possible.

She waited and waited, hoping to hear another noise made by the shinobi. Nothing seemed to happen until eventually she heard a soft thud. Followed by the sound of squeaking wood coming from straight above. Through the cracks between the plans she could make out a figure. Nothing concrete but at least enough to know the shinobi’s location. She got herself up as quiet as she possibly could. Prepared herself for her next action. She jumped up as fast as she could making a fist while she did so. When she got within striking distance from the wooden planks she went for it, slamming her first through the wooden board and grabbing on to the shinobi’s leg. When she had a proper hold on its leg she would yank on it as hard as she could. Pulling the shinobi through the hole that she created and his body was creating from falling onto it. Letting go when she realized that the shinobi would fall through and make a somewhat ugly smack onto the ground. Ensuring that she would have enough time herself to make a decent landing and make a quick dash out through the door.

There was no time to be wasted. With the shinobi so close behind her and incapable of moving, even if for only just a bit, she had to great the biggest gap possible. She quickly jumped up on top of the rooftops and started to run again in the direction she had been running the entire time. Due to not having to worry as much about inhaling bad fumes this time around, she was capable of reaching her fastest pace possible. It was probably still pale in comparison to the spec. jounin. But it was all that she could do. Just run as fast as possible. Hope that she had bought enough time to not have to face the shinobi again, at least not until she passed the barrier.

Another 50 meters had passed, about the same was left to go before she would reach the barrier. That’s when she could hear it. The war cry of an enraged person. She kept on running, not wanting to waste a second. But her legs, they didn’t seem to agree with her. They wouldn’t keep up with the pace she wanted to keep going. However that mattered not in this moment, they just had to keep working for a couple more meters after that they could stop working for the rest of the day. It did not matter, she just had to reach to finish line. Just ten more meters is what she thought as she heard the words spoken of a fire jutsu. With her lack of understanding the general fire technique’s she had no clue what was coming for her. Four more steps left to go, she could feel the heat rising fast. Three more steps, the flame had caught onto her. She could feel a searing hot touch on her back. Two more steps, the flame started to spread rapidly around Fuyuko, trying to surround her from all sides. One final step left to make. She jumped through the flames that had completely surrounded her to cross the finish line. The flames disappeared as she crossed the line, but they had already done a decent number on her. Her shirt mostly scorched away, he backside covered in moderate and major 2nd degree burns with her arms sustaining major first degree burns. Her pants came out mostly unscathed, but the same couldn’t be said for the upper half. She kept herself covered with what little clothing was left of her shirt. A small was on her face knowing she cleared the final trial. But it was clearly filled with pain as well. Off she went again, back to the nurses office for another treatment.


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