At Satoshi's words, Navi's eye twitched in annoyance as she was soon realizing that she would have to be dealing with the boy's stupid antics for some time now. Peaking at the hour glass, it looked like the two had just about 15 minutes to retrieve the bells from her before time was up. Sanosuke really was a sadist for giving the children such a high risk test. But still if it meant that the wasp could knock some sense into the over rambunctious genin by the name of Satoshi then that was fine with her. "I'm going to enjoy this." Was all she said as cracked her knuckles as she made eye contact with Satoshi in a way that was similar to a hunter marking its prey. Even Sanosuke shivered at the pressure Navi was giving out. Poor boy.

The match started with Satoshi taking the lead with Lin following shortly behind him. Her hands weaved through hand seals at a quicker pace than he remembered her being able to do during the first time Sanosuke sat on their sparring match. They both improved, however despite the obvious signs of improvement they were still no match for Navi. She may not look it but Navi is around 500 years old. She actually has more experience in sparring matches than the two and Sanosuke himself combined. The wasp knew exactly what the boy was trying to do by forcing her into a corner of the floor they were in. The floor of the temple they were on was rather large as it looked to be only slightly smaller than the traditional chuunin exam stages for one-on-one fights.

Navi with ease was able to keep track of Satoshi's movements as she advanced towards the wasp. To her, Satoshi was moving in slow motion with each swing of his arm. In time Satoshi would be able to match blows with Navi and thus subdue her, but for now Navi was just toying with the baby shinobi as it has yet been his turn to grow. At the first swing, Navi ducked her head in boredom while keeping her kunai still close to her. At the second swing, she did so again with her eye seeing Satoshi make a grab for one of her bells on her head. With a small shake of her head, she made the bells ring out more loudly than usual in hopes to distract the boy just for a milisecond of confusion. Satoshi did have problems with staying focused and thus would be likely to fall for the trap since he did give up his lead in the previous spar with Lin all because he saw a black cat.

Just before Satoshi would get close enough, Navi would release the kunai in her hand. But she did so at the slightest flick of her wrist so Satoshi wouldn't be able to react quickly enough to the kunai being launched at his foot. The metal would slice through the middle of his advancing foot to through him off balance. And that was all she needed to do to throw him off balance. With a swift knee to the groin, Navi would blast past the corner trap that she let herself fall into by toying with the boy. He would be reeling with pain if it connected. Now all that left was the kunoichi who was approaching with clones.

The fact that she used hair must be these weren't just illusions. As such Navi quickly prepared for the assault of the clone by having her hands swiftly grab on Satoshi's throat and apply pressure enough to have the boy gag. It would render most of his movements useless due to the lack of oxygen he was getting. In another motion, Navi would pick up the boy she was choking and use him as a battering ram to knock the clone back with such a force that it would dispel it with just on strike. Navi did this in a circular motion to knock all attacks aside and thus bring her face to face with the actual Lin who was launching some sort of ninjutsu technique heading right for her. Navi would look at Satoshi with an evil glint that said one simple word: satisfaction.


Navi yanked the kunai out of the boy's foot and with a toss, she would let go of the boy momentarily so he was in mid air. Similar to a ball being served like in volleyball, Navi would move with her right hand to slap the boy hard in the face by putting her weight in the strike. It would be enough to send the boy directly flying into the blast of Lin's attack once it was being sent. The two weren't bad, but they would have to do better if they wished to take down Navi. The wasp would then pick up the senbon needle that Lin's clone dropped. So now Navi was armed with two weapons. This was not looking good for the genin at all. 

They had about 8 minutes left before time was up...

Satoshi pressed the attack. He was focused even as he caught the wasp-being's eyes. She too was intent on the objective of this game. In fact she seemed to want to be there as much as them. She was taking pleasure, or pride, in the event. For whatever reason, she had stakes here. He acknowledged the fighting spirit in here eyes and understood that he'd need to take care.

She moved deftly away from his strikes, though he'd expected that. The first blow was slipped with an exaggerated show of ease. Her head movement had no passion behind it. Her beat was slow. Dull. Taunting.

The second blow was slipped as well, but her pride gave rise to his fingers nearly grazing the bell. At least that was before she shook her head, the bell jangling away from his finger like a particularly noisy insect.

He winced in frustration as his goal flitted away, only centimeters from his grasp. The anticipation of his success caused his focus to falter. Even though he could feel the kunai release from the wasps hand, feel it's trajectory, his movements were too slow to do anything about it. He slid his foot back in an attempt to dodge the weapon and managed only to change it's point of entry by a few millimeters. A negligeable difference. But the fact that he noticed the maneuver at all was remarkable.

He let out a long cry of pain as the weapon buried itself in his flesh, slipping mercifully between the bones in his foot. Then, the wasp drove forward and kneed him directly in the groin. The force was enough to lift him off the ground momentarily. His body reflexively contracted into a standing fetal position as his cry of pain became an anemic wheezing gasp.

The woman then scooted past him with ease having momentarily stunned him. Unfortunately, he was coming along for the ride. He felt her hand sweep in for his throat, even from behind, and instinctively drew in a deep breath. His body flooded with oxygen as he was easily lifted by his neck and wielded like a club. His light body flailed about weightlessly until it was discarded into the air, the weapon in his foot staying behind with his assailant. No, discarded wasn't right, rather, he was being served. Like a volleyball.

He closed his eyes, attempting to prevent the spinning from disorienting him. He was capable of feeling his surroundings and in this moment his eyes would only prove to distract.

At the apex of his aerial journey he exhaled the air he'd stored in his body. This technique was the Wind Release: Stream. The pressure from the compressed air was strong enough to push him upwards and away about five meters, harmlessly out of the range of her slap and over what Lin had prepared. Further, at that point blank range the technique was able to stagger someone back a two meters.

Suspended in air Satoshi opened his eyes and focused intently on the wasp-woman. He thrust his right hand toward his intended target and pressed his thumb and forefinger together tightly.

"Fuwa: Zofuku Ju!" He stated as he snapped his fingers. The resulting cacophony was far from what was expected of a simple snap of the fingers. A thunderclap exploded from betwixt his digits and a bullet of invisible compressed sound fired from his now extended pointer with impressive speed and concussive force. The angle of the attack would make it difficult to simply slide backwards.  Further the unorthodox nature of the invisible technique would make it difficult to accurately predict unless seen before. Hopefully the technique would stagger the wasp and give Lin a chance to inact her plan.

Satoshi, if he landed unimpeded would drop to knee with a wince. His pelvis ached and his foot burned from the laceration. It'd stall him only a moment before he forced himself to stand and reassume his stance. He needed to fight through the pain and stay focused if he was going to protect Lin from a similar onslaught.

Itai...

Jutsu Used:

Lin jumped to the left as Toshi hurtled towards her. She braced for impact before he jettisoned up and over her. Looking at him for a moment, she shot the three bolts at the woman. She knew that it might be something that she could block, but she needed to get close enough to do another jutsu. When the last bolt left her fingers, she started to weave signs again. She wouldn't give up on the both of them. The bolts were aimed, one to the left, one to the right, and the last in the dead center. Lin weaved her hand signs, getting ready for her next jutsu. She didn't have access to any jutsu that she thought would travel much faster than this one. She was 15 meters away, giving the woman only a split second (3/4 seconds) to either dodge or otherwise this next attack. Raiton surged around Lin, she directed the bolts towards wherever Navi was going. She couldn't just sacrifice Toshi for herself, she would need to try on her own as well.

She knew that it was going to be tough getting in there, but she was moving almost as fast as her jutsu. If her jutsu collided then she would move in for the bell. "Just one for Toshi." She said, repeating the same mantra over and over and over, it became a battle cry for her. She didn't care if she was going to be sent back to the academy, she didn't care if she failed the test herself. The Raikage had questioned her loyalty to Toshi, she took offense to that, and if he had training from the Raikage himself, perhaps he would wait for her. Perhaps he would be willing to wait for her to get back out of the academy.

"I've spent too long becoming a kunoichi to quit now. I am not going to lose. I will become the best Medical ninja in the village, I will bring honor to my family and my village. And you can't stop me." The determination behind her eyes wasn't just for the Raikage not believing in her, nor was it because of all of the harsh lessons that Gin had put her through, but it was for her family, for her clan, for her village, for her dream of becoming a medical ninja. She may or may not have the strength to overcome Navi right now, but she would get one of those bells. "Toshi is the only friend that I have, and I will not fail him now!"

She lunged for the bell, her jutsu flying in brilliant blue flashes in front of her, her previous jutsu illuminating the area in red. Lin's eyes flashed their own dangerous blue, more cat-like than anything. She looked like a cat, pouncing for its prey, both hands open, reaching, her fangs bared for Navi. This Genin was all or nothing, either she would get the bells, or she would be out of the running altogether.

Jutsu used, Healing bolts maintained Lin’s chakra:

WC: 5727

The sudden burst movement coming from Satoshi caused an eyebrow to be raised on both faces of the Raikage and his partner as the genin disengaged from Navi's final strike. The blue haired transformed wasp sucked her teeth as the blast of wind left herself staggered as she didn't see the attack coming at all. She had watched the sparring match between the two younger shinobi, the wasp hadn't thought at the moment that technique was also in his arsenal. Navi had let her guard down and was going to pay the price for it. The woman was pushed back no more than 3 meters from her starting location as she to look right at an incoming attack coming from Lin that was closing in on her. Sanosuke saw this and had a thought: That came from Lin herself.

Remembering the other portion of this trial, Lin had the option to save her own skin by subduing Satoshi while the boy wasn't looking. It was a rather simple really, while Satoshi's attention is diverted to getting the bells she would have the perfect chance to strike. Underhanded thing to do, but it would mean that she's able to make hard decisions when applicable. But she didn't and instead decided to fight along side with Satoshi. This girl was showing promise in thought process of to prove herself worth to Sanosuke. The area was cascaded in red lights from her technique as she proceeded her charge despite Navi have taken the time to get collect herself and was already forming the handseals to prepare her own defensive technique to intercept the attack and thus lash out at the girl. She was rather frail and so for her to get this close to Navi must mean she's grasping at straws. This was an all or nothing approach. Time was not on her side, she had less than 3 minutes to secure the bells.

At her words as she charged, Sanosuke felt like he had seen this blind determination from someone. Sanosuke had to think slightly harder on who that specific person was. But when he did remember, a smile came across his lips. It was a sad smile that carried a longing for a lost friend. You'd be proud Reika. It seems you're will was taken up by the same children you and I protected with our title. Sanosuke thought as the red light was now being challenged with blue lights that were radiating from Navi as more chakra was being focused around the wasp.

A rather large honey comb barrier that radiated blue chakra was erected around Navi's person completely encircling the wasp in a spherical barrier that would protect her from Lin's attack. Normally the barrier would easily block such a low level ninjutsu attack. However the Raikage had decided to intervene discretely without any of the participants noticing what he was doing. A quick mental blast was shot from the man after a deep breath was taken in and exhaled outwards. The blast was shot at Navi thus ruining her concentration to properly witthold the pressure off the barrier. The barrier would hold off Lin's attack, but thanks to Sanosuke's intervention Navi would struggle ever so slightly in dropping the barrier that it would provide the girl the opening she needed to grasp her prize. The two of them would make find shinobi indeed...

Lin's hand clasped the bell with triumph as she rolled to a halt a couple of meters from Navi, she was panting and she was sweating. Most of her chakra was used up, and she had used a hail mary tactic, but she had made it out. She held up the bell and jingled it for the Raikage to hear and smiled to him.

She had made it through the trial, and now she was going to make sure that Toshi did the same. She put her hands on her knees and groaned as she got up. She didn't have much chakra at all! The blood rushed to her head and she had to sit down again. She wasn't able to make out any of the other details of the trial, or even if Toshi was able to get a bell.

Lin clutched the bell to her chest and sighed in relief. She hoped that the trial was over for them both. That was the hardest thing that she had ever done. Getting into the temple, challenging Navi... It was... it was... well, it was like Gin's training.

WC: 5919

(OOC: Sorry for the long wait. IRL issues)

Holding his hand up to signal the end of the sparring match between the two women, Sanosuke approached the two of them from his seated position. A shot of annoyance was shot at Sanosuke by Navi as she was fully aware of his hand he had at tampering with the sparring match between her and Lin. No doubt he would get an earful of denying her one moment of fun from her. But despite that, Sanosuke had to say he was rather impressed with the girl's feat. True the reason why the girl had even won the sparring match was due to Sanosuke's interference. But she did show promise in her will.

He'd walk up to Lin and outstretch his hand to the girl to take it. "Need a hand?" Sanosuke asked with a smile in return. He'd wait for her to take it before pulling her up so she was standing up properly. Her body must be tired from all the physical energy she exerted in this sparring match. Lin's body wasn't the strongest nor was it ready particularly for live combat with someone of Navi's caliber. But she will be by the time she's done with his training.

"Well done kid, well done indeed." the Raikage complimented the girl by patting her head affectionately. She really did go above and beyond his expectations. Despite the negative comments he had about the girl, Lin did surprise him irregardless with her results. Navi walked over to where Satoshi was and helped him up. With a nod from Sanosuke, Navi would then proceed to carry the boy to the infirmary where he can be treated more carefully for the injury he received. After all Navi did throw the kunai surprisingly hard at the boy's foot to immobilize him. After his talk with Lin, he would have to make time to talk with the boy.

"Follow me will you?" Sanosuke said to the girl as he would walk towards a nearby window from the larger chamber they were in. The window was already opened to let fresh air in and circulate throughout the room. "You surprised me kid, I never thought you had something like that in you. For that I do apologize for doubting your resolve. After all Gin saw something in you so she mustn't be too crazy in teaching you." Sanosuke admitted to the girl. He did owe her that much. IT would be hard for any student to complete a training exercise after being exposed to such negativity. Yet she was able to do so with gusto. 

The girl had fine markings for being a splendid shinobi indeed.

Lin accepted the hand, and as she stood, she saw spots, and the world did a little jig. She would have rathered that it didn't and that she was able to hold on to her stomach. She barely heard the 'well done kid' as she was patted on the head. She didn't feel like a kid, and she was trying to save Satoshi from being put through another humiliation. Mission failed, as he was going to be brought to the medical ninjas to be healed.

She did follow him, unsteady on her feet, but determined to make it through, and stick it out. She would sleep for three days when she got home, she promised herself, meaning that she was going to make it back home on her own two feet. "Thank you Raikage-sama." She bowed her head and jerked it up suddenly, trying to keep the world from toppling head over heels, and herself as well. She wasn't doing well, with her chakra supply dangerously low (at about 15 at this point in time). She was lucky to be conscious at all. She smiled to the Raikage. It was nice to be appreciated.

Indeed, Gin had seen something in her, "I plan on being the strongest Medical ninja in Kumogakure." She said plainly. With a bit of a determined head nod at the end to punctuate the end of her statement. She wanted to keep it short and sweet, and didn't trust herself not to make a mistake with her mouth, and didn't think that she could take another blow on the head like the Raikage had doled out on her and Satoshi before.

WC: 6206

|Exit Thread|

Training senjutsu d-c, 6206/6000

Due to Sano's inactivity, and Toshi's leaving the site, I am closing this thread for Lin and claiming the WC either for Senjutsu or just getting rid of it.