trial briefing:

It was time for the third trial, it was nerve wrecking to think about it. Ilya had not imagined that she would come this far already. Sure, she had hoped to do great for her nation and her village, but somehow with the recent influx of genin coming from the land of wind and the remote village hidden in the sand, she felt like she was being completely overlooked, as if those refugees were now more kiri-nin than she herself was. It was both frustrating and just plain annoying to be set aside for people that have nothing to do with kirigakure in the first place, simply mooching off of the village's success and strengths because their own people couldn't handle a little set back. In Ilya's eyes, the whole Sunagakure issue was just a pitiful excuse to try and get a better place in life.

Alas, her thoughts on that matter were soon snuffed out when the proctor arrived at the waiting area, calling her name and telling her to prepare herself for her upcoming final trial. The Uzumaki girl was without a doubt nervous and not just that, she was affraid as well. Affraid to fail and make a fool out of herself and already overwhelmed by the attention the chuunin exams seemed to get from all the nations, she felt like she was watched by more than just her peers.

She had watched the trials of others as well, just to see what she'd be up against in her own trial and possibly beyond that, when the real exams themselves would start. At the very least there were some genin that were extremely promising and most likely they'd easily beat her if she'd face them in the final rounds. "Ugh, No use fretting over the details, I guess."

"Uzumaki Ilya, have you finished your preperations for the trial, you're wanted to arrive at the arena shortly," The proctor's loud and stern voice resonated through the waiting area, obviously the speaker that send his voice through was quite loud and it really did startle the Uzumaki girl when she was so deep in thought. "Sorry sir, I'll be ready in a second," All she had to do was check her two rapiers, make sure she had not forgotten her kunai and didn't have any wounds or bruises left from the last trial. When she made sure that everything was in order, Ilya wrapped the Kirigakure head protector around her arm and walked up to the door that would lead her to her next trial. "I'm ready for my trial, sir."

The door opened and the proctor arrived with a clipboard in his hands. "Allright, have they briefed you on your trial?" The man looked at the kiri genin and grinned slightly, especially when she nodded that she had not been briefed yet. "It's simple, you'll be facing off against a member of our local fauna, a storm tiger. All you need to do is survive for at least a minute and you'll have passed your trial, do you understand?"

Ilya was surprised by this briefing, if she was supposed to survive for just one minute to pass this trial, than no doubt this beast the proctor mentioned would no doubt be something very strong and very dangerous. It was really befitting for a final trial. "Yes, I understand...I'll do my best not to get killed, I guess."

The proctor grinned again at her response and brought her to a large door on the other end of the corridor they had been walking through. "Here it is, good luck and don't die...too soon."

623/2000

She was scared, affraid to look what would be behind the door, nearly jumping a few feet in the air when the metal hinges started to screech with a metallic sound, revealing a rather rocky area behind them. It looked like an open arena or a rock garden, but with a large cage with thick steel bars around it and at the very center of the area, there stood a majestic white beast, a white cat of sorts with a zig zag pattern of black stripes. It was an amazing sight, to see this beast, this storm tiger, yet at the same time it was terrifying to behold, for as it let out a loud, earth shattering roar, sparks flew off of its furr and it bared its teeth towards Ilya who was forced to enter the area.

It was as if the beast could smell her fear, mockingly roaring a few more times, with sparks of electricity flying around the majestic beast each time it opened its maw. Ilya had never seen anything like this creature and though fascinated by its majestic appearance, she still remembered what the proctor had said. She was supposed to survive for at least a minute against this beast and what was worse, they seemed to expect that people, even trained genin could die when facing this majestic storm tiger.

Before she could say anything or could react, the doors behind her closed and a buzzing sound signified that the trial had begun. As soon as the kiri nin turned her head, she was astonished to see that the storm tiger was no longer where it had been moments before, surprising the genin by ramming against her and unleashing a painful jolt of electricity. "What the...!!" She yelled as she got slammed against a rockformation, feeling all her bones nearly buckle under the force of the beast and her entire skin tingled from the load of raiton that went through her. This wasn't good, that storm tiger was much faster and stronger than she had anticipated, probably even surpassing most of the chuunin she could think of. "Oh crud, I have to survive an entire minute against this beast?" Nearly again, the beast jumped at her, but this time she narrowly managed to jump aside, though she did not manage to avoid getting hit by another jolt of electricity, which badly burned her side, though luckily did cauterize the very wound it created.

"The Fu... oh no you don't," As the storm tiger yet again adavnced, yet again jumping at her with the intent to sink its teeth into her flesh and probably roast her alive, Ilya unsheathed the weakest of the two rapiers she carried, trying to discourage the beast by stabbing towards it a few times with the rapier and at first it seemed to work, but the tiger wasn't exactly impressed, simply obeserving the genin for a better angle to charge yet again and charge again, the beast did...

501/1124/2000

The Uzumaki girl was in deep trouble, when the storm tiger charged at her, even she knew that she could not take more than one of this beast's charging attacks, let alone survive two of them. Ilya could still feel the force of that first attack's effect, her muscles and bones cried out in agony and it seemed that the only thing keeping her standing was her will itself. "Damn it, I knew this wasgoing to be tough, but I hadn't expected anything like this," Readying her rapier, she suddenly had to move when the storm tiger rushed at her, yet rather than bite at her, it literally seemed to have decided on just bluntly squish her by ramming the girl with its full brunt and brawn in the balance. "Oh shit..."

Ilya had to think fast, prove that she was worthy to be on this stage, worthy of calling herself a shinobi of the village hidden in the mist and to do that, she was not allowed to just give up or surrender, even if it meant being sent home in bandages and a few casques. Instinctively, she thrusted her rapier foward, only to feel herself being pushed back by the rushing storm tiger. However it looked like she counted on that very momentum, making sure that her rapier got stuck in the beast's pelt, she jumped aside, landing roughly against a rock, but with great anticipation looking at how the storm tiger could not stop itself in time and eventually crashed against another rockformation, wedgint the rapier deep into its flesh before it snapped, the hilt of the blade clattering on the ground, while the blade itself had pierced the storm tigers flesh and had even ripped open its skin due to the force at which it had broken off, revealing a rather deep and bloody bound in the storm tiger's left shoulder and back. "Well, I can't take you down, but you can do it yourself, no?"

Readying her second and higher quality rapier, Ilya jumped straight onto the rock and bit her thumb for good meassure. She was certain that beating the storm tiger was out of the question and with the repeating attacks of the beast, the minute she had as a time frame seemed to last an eternity, with the seconds crawling by at a snail's pace as it were.

As the storm tiger roared, lightning came from its pelt in nearly all directions, this was a rather shocking sight for Ilya, who though using raiton herself had never seen such a display before in her life. Only by quickly making the handseals rat, ox and snake, slamming her palms together and literally slamming the lightning bolt that came into her direction to seal it away, was Ilya able to save her skin, though quite literally she had burned one of her hands quite badly while doing so.

forty five seconds had passed, but she was still not safe and the storm tiger was far from done with her."Seriously, how many people survive these beasts in general?"

521/1645/2000

Preparing her rapier, the genin calmed herself down, despite staring directly at an angry and wounded Storm tiger, which was bearing its fangs and clearly not amused by what had already transpired. Ilya wondered how she had actually managed to get through the trial so relatively unharmed, yet as she thought about this, she more or less forgot to focus herself on the beast and as a result could not react in time when a bolt of lightning slammed against her rapier and coarsed through her arm, shocking and paralyzing her in the process.

The storm tiger, after letting out a roar, noticed this predicament and used this lapse of judgement in its own advantage, suddenly jumping at Ilya, who despite still feeling the stinging and burning sensation of the raiton discharge, managed to somewhat cover herself with her free arm, only to feel the beast's fangs sink deep into her flesh, tearing skin and muscles, but also ripping apart the sleeves of her clothes and more importantly cracking both bones in her lower arm. "Aah sheesh frigging...sage of the six paths damn it, god that hurts!!" Her scream and her incessant cursing made it obvious to any spectator that the Uzumaki girl wa in a world of pain, even more so when the storm tiger suddenly yanked at her arm, swinging Ilya around like a ragdoll before releasing her, sending her flying and crashing against a rock formation.

While landing painfully, the shock of crashing against a rock made the kiri nin cough up blood, the red liquid splattering onto her clothes and dripping from her arm. The arm which had been torn open, hung limply at her side, yet she used her rapier as support to stand up again and despite the pain and the fact that she was now unable to even make any sort of handseal, Ilya readied herself for what was without a doubt going to be the worst ten second of her entire life. Or so she thought at least, as the beast started to rush towards her, bearing its fangs and letting out a loud and terrifying roar.

Ilya could feel every bone in her body shake when hearing said roar, closing her eyes, while still holding her rapier towards the beast in utter hopeless defiance, only to hear something slam down on the ground in front of her, followed by what sounded like a mean hiss coming from the storm tiger. As she opened her eyes again, she could see a man standing in front of her, who calmly placed his hands upon her shoulders. "It's over, you've managed to survive kid. Go have your arm checked at the medic station, can't have you going to the next phase of the exams with a disadvantage like that now can we?"

473/2118

exit/complete