Spoiler:

The chuunin exams brought an array of varying shinobi of a large assortment of tastes, classes and creeds. The assortment was well met with the spider shinobi who enjoyed the spice of life or rather the amusement that came with forcing an eclectic assortment of human weapons who were hell bent on killing one another in a small area. He was a peaceful boy of course, by nature, but the fact that he had already determined that he was most likely not to claim victory in these exams didn't mean he could not have fun nor aim to improve the spirits of those around him. The genin about the area were as it was currently shaken to their core with nerves and a tendency to dart their eyes in hopes of hiding their secret techniques lest their would be opponent leap forward and copy them down for their upcoming match all with nefarious laughter. That was, essentially, where this paranoia to fight stemmed from but for Xiao who had already made his peace it was sheer delight to try and egg on those who looked interesting or strange.

One that caught his eye was a leaf ninja who looked as if he would be better suited with the albinos of Kirigakure No Sato with their relentless bloodlust and troubled backstories but that oddity made him interesting to Xiao who was often used to Konohagakures rather diverse populace in comparison to his own people's. He stood in the center of the training field eyeing the teenager who stood far taller than the 4 foot ninja spider much to Xiao's constant reminding by merely walking next to the giants of Konohagakure. What was with the leaf and their obsession with creating these monsters? Xiao folded his arms contemplating how to get him over, how to possibly catch his attention.

Tapping his foot for a moment and noting the dark appearance and gloomy disposition. He was perfect, prime target for the laughing spider of the mist. He opted to go for the direct approach, the gloomy types always hated that the most. Standing as he had been doing all week in the direct center of the arena Xiao cupped his hands and with a mighty roar called out "HEY GOTH KID, I LIKE YOUR STYLE, VERY UCHIHA ITACHI MEETS HASTUR THE MIGHTY, LOVE IT! JUST LOVE IT!" he stated complimenting the fellow from across the arena in a loud booming voice "YOU LOOK REALLY STRONG, I THINK, MAYBE DEPRESSION? SOCIAL ANXIETY? EITHER WAY YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'D BE FUN, WANNA WARM UP WITH ME?" he continued screaming now the entire groups of genin that collected on the sidelines looking at the spider and then all at once shifting their attention immediately to Zinan. An entire stadium. All looking at one gloomy genin hoping he would respond to the request of a loud annoying nuisance. If that wasn't enough to annoy him then Xiao didn't know what would.



500

Zinan had been enjoying his time in Shinwato these last few days. He had made sure to take in the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people, and the general attitude of the whole fighting festival that made up the Chunin Exams. His home village had really gone all out this year for the major and important event. Tensions have been high, internationally, and threats of an impending war have been on everyone's minds. This event would hopefully foster unity between the Hidden Shinobi Villages and help them develop into a unified force against the evils of the world.

Since Zinan had experienced so much of the food of his nation during the past few days, he had made his way to the sparring grounds in order to shake off some of the creeping aches he felt in his joints. The lack of activity and training has left him feeling rusty and irritable. The sparring grounds were a nice service that his village was providing to the contestants during this year's Chunin Exams. There were training bags and work out areas, as well as several small arenas to spar against each other.

Zinan had just finished throwing a few jabs at a punching bag when he heard a very loud voice, screeching at him from across the sparring arena that he just so happened to have been crossing to get to the locker room. The voice was coming from an incredibly short boy who wore gloves that were marked with symbol of Kirigakure. The boy's eyes were locked onto Zinan and it seemed as if the kid's words were antagonizing and mocking.

"Tssssk... what a drag...." Zinan muttered to himself. The loudmouth was clearly trying to egg him into a match. Zinan looked about the arena and noticed that all activity in the stands had come to a stand still. The crowd watched silently, hoping to see to of this year's participants fight against each other, outside of the scheduled exam.

The Kumonosu genin approached the center of the arena, his hands slid into the sleeve of the opposite arm, and arms folded in front of his chest. He was challenged by an opponent, after all, and could not, in good conscience, let the challenge go unheeded. Once he made it to the center of the arena, Kumonosu Zinan bowed deeply from the waist and offered a hand in a formal greeting. "If it will get you to shut up and stop being so loud, I will fight with you," he growled from under his bushy eyebrows. He did not have time for loud little turds and hoped to pummel this Kiri-shonbi into the dirt.

---

WC: 451

As the glum shinobi made his way over Xiao couldn't help but be delighted, he'd never fought this sort of combatant before the slacker types were quite alien to him often only being met with the likes of bloodthirsty murderhobos or elegant royalty of some unknown clan or land. It was refreshing to say the least. Xiao always did like the spice of variety when it came to his friends.

Clapping as the tired shinobi made his way forward the shinobi known as Kyutai to his clan stroked along his chin gently as he eyed his opponent up and down, he was quite an interesting look possibly the same path Xiao would have gone down if he had suffered enough to be sure but as it was Xiao was always quite the spunky go getter that he always initially was. Clasping his hands and thinking for a moment as he awaited the glum shinobi it was when he decided to talk back that Xiao's eyes lightened up, beaming with excitement. "Now that's just rude! Come on just because I'm annoying, loud, rude, stupid, weak, let's admit it a bit feminine, atleast a 4/10 looks wise...Okay hey you got a point, but regardless I'll let that one slide!" Xiao stated with a hearty laugh, further joking as he could see the anger in his opponents eyes.


As the shinobi bowed, Xiao decided to flourish his bow rolling his wrist and crossing his shins as he did so to put on heirs "May the god of battle smile favorably on you during these exams my caterpillar eyed friend" he taunted still trying to draw out the anger of his opponent so to ensure their fight would be wild. Without a moments notice and a simple movement Xiao proceeded to get on to all fours in a pouncing stance and leap forward with a high attack about a metre in the air as he proceeded to bring the ball of his foot downward upon his opponents face, a simple move but a flashy opener. "Take my foot to your face style!"



357

Zinan narrowed his eyes at boy as he began to speak. The boy was demonstrating inexperience and his lack of combat prowess showed through his boisterous demeanor and jester-like attitude. When his opponent dropped to all fours, Zinan began to move. He dashed to his right making sure to only move five meters away, while simultaneously drawing a kunai from his equipment pouch with his left hand and his tanto from his right shoulder with his right hand. Knowing that his flowing sleeves would conceal his next action from his opponent, Zinan channeled chakra into the web gland on his left arm and forced a single, deceptively strong, thread of glassy web from the gland. The end of it stuck to the round pommel of the kunai in Zinan's left hand.

During his dash to his right, Zinan's eyes followed his opponent's movement. The other genin had told on himself about what sort of movement he was going to do. As the other genin launched himself airborne, Zinan popped his left hand from right to left and let the web-connected kunai fly through the air, aimed at his previous location. Even if his aim was off, his web would allow Zinan to recover the kunai or be able to snap it through the air.

He refused to rise to Xiao's goading. If Zinan was a few years younger and had not fought against his own temperamental personality over the past few years, the Kumonosu genin would have raged at his opponent's words. But, he was not a child anymore. He had experienced too much loss and too much abandonment to let some boy's words goad him into an emotion-fuel action.

---

WC: 289
Total WC: 740

---

Chakra 245/250:

Zinan moved like a spider and even held a web like gauntlet, was this guy one of Sero's own too? A cousin? A relative? it could be possible Xiao thought as Sero did seem to get around alot. it was a thing with dark lords, though they had that whole spooky design they did seem to attract advances quite easily. Xiao noted that Zinan too was spooky, another connection. He'd need to make note of that. Regardless, as he dashed forward on all fours so too did Zinan who flanked to his right moving only five metres away much to Xiao's amusement who skidded and adjusted his weight to face his opponent watching as he drew a kunai from the pouch. "Hey...Is your Dad, y'know, my grandpa? Tall, pale, flair for the dramatic with a spooky castle?" he stated looking as the knife was pulled causing Xiao to laugh waving his hand "Whoah whoah, I don't have a wallet, this suit is waaayyy too tight" he jested as he then grasped his tanto causing Xiao to need to think and think quickly of course. As he made movements from his sleeves obscured to Xiao's vision the little spider merely assumed it must have been a set of some type, when it came down to it almost every shinobi he had fought was always quite good at the whole 'deception' aspect of combat and thus he always knew that every movement tended to be deliberate.

As the kunai flew straight with webbing as Xiao remained airbourne he called out "Hey hey! That almost hit me! stated as he shot out an organic web towards the kunai obscure it's projected speed whilst positioning himself into a cartwheel flip to roll away and avoid the kunai's trajectory. "I kid I kid" he stated as he manuevered to the side landing in a crouch positioned looking to his opponent Seriously, Be careful next time y'know? You could put someones eye out" he continued as he positioned himself in the crouch like positioning hoping to stick the kunai to the floor with webbing. As the little spider then proceeded to have a little fun.

"This next technique...." he stated forming a sequence of false handsigns that did nothing "Will end this match." he stated as he began to run forward towards the fake spider attempting a low sweep kick as he sprayed webbing forward hoping to hit his opponents face "FIST OF THE NORTH SPIDER" he yelled out hoping to unleash an arrange of low impact, painless strikes to the shinobi opponent.




441

Zinan sighed as the spider-like child across from him spoke again. The kid's poor attempts at humor, the irritating jests, and the supposedly witty comments were only things that were chaffing Zinan. The Kumonosu genin supposed that this could be a tactic by the other shinobi to get an emotional rise out of him and throw him off balance, but judging by the look of the child, Zinan figured that he was not intelligent enough or cunning enough to come up with such a plan. Regardless, the Hidden Leaf shinobi knew that he needed to keep himself calm and collected; it was not as if this were a sanctioned match in the exams. He knew that he was prone to irritability and quick rises to anger, but he had been working on it. That was one thing that Uchiha Kyohei-sensei had instructed him on before he disappeared.

Zinan watched as child fired a glob of web at his kunai and stuck it to the ground and scowled. There was no way that the other shinobi noticed his strand of silk glass connected to the knife, but why would he stop the flight of the kunai when he could have avoided it and let it soar into wall opposite of Zinan? He continued to hold the scowl on his face as the child made another smart ass comment and began to charge at him. Zinan quickly sized up the other shinobi and was assured that he had the advantage in size, speed, and reflexes. Zinan took several rapid steps away from the charging idiot and switched his stance to place his right foot in front of his left, toes facing in the same direction as the tanto that held; directly at Xiao. Not only did Zinan have the advantage of reach in physical size alone, but his opponent was charging him without a weapon draw, which indicated some sort of taijutsu. Zinan was wary of a feint from his opponent. The child could be craftier than what he was letting on and could attack him using a short ranged attack or jutsu.

Zinan was able to follow the movement of his opponent's hips and read the sweeping low kick just in time. He was able to lower his blade to guard from the kick and dropped the shoulder that was opposite of the attacking leg. Whether or not his blade would bite into the leg of his opponent, he would use the momentum of the impact from the leg to roll his body away from Xiao, thus mitigating much of the injury that he would receive and avoiding the punches that were to follow.

Zinan's eyes barely caught sight of the burst of web that was fired at where his face was a moment's breath prior. It dawned on him that the intent of Xiao's flurry of attacks was to mask this webbed attack behind a hard impact and a series of distracting strikes. If the webbed attack had landed, it would have blinded him from further strikes and would distract Zinan for as long as it took to remove the webs from his face.

At the end of Zinan's roll, he would spin around to face his opponent once more, and use the inertia from his spin to strength the power of his arm as he yanked on the web that was still attached to the kunai. He attempted to rip it free from the webs that held it down and send it airborne, towards the backside of his opponent. He also brought the tanto in his right hand to the forefront of his posture once more and slashed, distractingly, at Xiao's torso.

---

WC: 622
Total WC: 1362

As Xiao watched Zinan he was simply in awe of his ability unable to fully think for a moment as if his mind went blank. As Zinan leaped over the kick Xiao proceeded to grab his head in shock unsure of what to do next besides simply watch as Zinan leaped to the air with his blade drawn trying to manuever his leg but having the blade scrape across his leg his skin tight suit not doing much to protect him as a scar was made across his thigh causing Xiao to wince in pain.


Xiao began to bleed from his leg, holding it in shock as Zinan rolled avoiding Xiao's techniques he made a spin causing Xiao's webs to snap free the kunai now able to be manipulated it was then thrown striking his left shoulder blade causing him to kneel in pain followed by a slash across the stomach causing Xiao to fall to the floor in pain.

"Okay okay, I yield, I yield, Congratulations" he stated as Xiao then proceeded to waver his in defeat making an X across his chest and proceeding to use the last of his strength to create a web zipline, sending him airborne roughly 10 ft above the arena before swinging away with what little pride he had left.


---
[EXIT]
Defeat
219

Total WC Thread Count: 2815 - 1 EP
Loss - 1 EP
Total EP: 2 EP Gained.
150 Ryo

TWC (Personally): 1517
1517/750 - D - Body Flicker Technique (瞬身の術 ~ Shunshin no Jutsu)
767/750 - D -  Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken (忍法・瓦手裏剣 ~ Ninpō: Kawara Shuriken)

17 DISCARDED WC

Zinan skid to a halt, his eyes narrowed and pupils constricted. Xiao was throwing in the towel and waving the white flag and Zinan could not understand why. The fight had just started and he was just warming up. He spat to the floor by his feet, Damn Hidden Mist shinobi, I thought that they were supposed to be vicious killers who would fight to the last man. Zinan fumed as he watched Xiao cross his arms across his chest to make an "X." Zinan would think of child as a coward for the rest of his life, no matter how short lived or drawn out it may be.

Zinan kept his eyes on the other shinobi and started to wrap the silken web around his arm like he would a rope. In this manner, he pulled his kunai back to him. When the kunai was back at his feet, Xiao made a zip line and left the arena and Zinan watched him go, a scowl firmly planted and immovable from his face. Picking up the knife, he used his tanto to sever the web that was tied around its base. He stowed the tool back into the equipment pouch on his left hip and slid his tanto back into its sheath, which was on his right shoulder blade.

He turned his head to the judge who was staring at the place that Xiao disappeared through with a baffled expression. The judge shook his head to clear it before announcing to the audience, "Exhibition Match, Guan Xiao versus Kumonosu Zinan, Kumonosu-kun wins!" Zinan nodded to the man and raised a hand to the crowd. He did not like the pomp and fanfare, but he knew that this was all dog and pony show. He continued to wave at the crowd until he disappeared into the hallway that led to the locker room.

[EXIT]

[VICTORY COUNT: 1]

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WC: 313
Total WC: 1675

Total Thread WC: 3232 = 1 EP at 2500 WC
Victory #1 = 1 EP
Total EP: 2