An arena covered wall to wall in tall grass, seven feet high. As contestants enter, they will immediately notice their vision is impaired by the thick reeds of grass, however, there is something more at work. Combatants cannot see more than 1m around themselves with vision alone, heavily obscuring one another from view, but any movement in this grassy arena causes extremely loud rustling as the grass is pushed to and fro, allowing shinobi to pinpoint one another through sound. Whenever a shinobi moves in this arena, the direction they are in relative to their opponent is immediately revealed.

As Xiang was transported into the new Chunin Exams arena, set for her and her new opponent, she thought back on a story character from some of the books she used to read on her free time. They were about a relentless warrior that had, overtime, had became the strongest of them all. Through years of rigorous training and strife, he was molded into the perfect fighter that could never be beaten by the enemy. The only thing that could stop him was nature. Yet, despite nature, he could still push along until his last, dying breath. Despite all of his power, however, he kept a cool, collected mind, and never thought himself as a God among men; simply carrying out his missions without wavering, and believing that there could be something to match him, one day. Until that happened, though, there was a singe line he always said before a fight, one of which Xiang was going to mimic at this very moment...

"Lets do this."

Fueled by the anger she felt at her chance of a fair battle being completely shafted versus Koryu, she was eager to make certain that Zinan was not the same way. He made it past the first round, so of course he had to be much stronger, right? Maybe more skilled? Xiang didn't know, but what she did know was she was still going to try her hardest, and filter her rage into productive battle strategy. The long, grassy area she was put into, around seven feet high, obscured her ocular sight to a point where she could only see around a one meter radius. While the Byakugan would still provide her something her opponent did not have - being in the form of seeing through said grass like an X-Ray, in order to see chakra pathways - she did not feel like relying on it for now. She had to be careful, as she figured any movement she made would give away her position. So, what was an aspiring Shinobi like her supposed to do? Transformation Technique, of course! While it wouldn't give her any natural weapons, the fact that she could take on a much smaller, lighter form would be critical for her success in the arena. It couldn't be just any animal, though, as she needed mobility on top of certain body functions that could help her find the opponent. Now, obviously, her senses themselves wouldn't be bolstered, but having more than two eyes still kinda helps, if provided.

That being said, before she did change, she decided to take a bit of prep time. She ripped a few of the blades of grass in front of her into around ten pieces out of two blades of it, then stored it in her pouch. That way, she had a few platforms to use later on for combat purposes. After that, she was ready to transform, forming the hand seals necessary. With a soft, white cloudy 'poof' under the grass, Xiang was now not even two inches tall, having transformed herself into a ringneck snake, though in length was at least a foot long. This little reptile are already capable of crawling at high speeds, so it was built for speed, just like she was. On top of that, because she was now so small, there was going to be little disturbance caused by her slithering along the grass. So, now with her plan in action, she took a random direction to the northwest, moving at a moderate pace of six meters per second, occasionally stopping after twenty-four meters to look for any signs of her opponent, tongue twitching and tiny eyes seeking out the minutest of details. Who knew what they would do, though? She never even seen Zinan fight before...even though they have met!

[Current WC: 640]

Chakra/Jutsu Used:

Picture of Snake Transformed into:

It was nearing the time for the second round of the chunin exams. Zinan was irritated that his first opponent did not show up to the designated place at the designated time. They were an Aburame, no-less. Just like them to let the fame of their clan get to their head and not find the round against him worthy of their time. Zinan shook his head and looked about the small inn room that he had been staying in. The place had become his home away from home during the exams; the rough linen sheets, the poorly crafted desk and chair, and the musty smell of dry rot completed the place. Zinan sighed and stood to his feet. He had been lounging in the bed all morning. He knew it was time for him to gather his tools and make his way to the arena site. He swiped his equipment pouch off of the desk and wove it onto his belt. He knew that the tools in there were all organized and maintained to the best of his ability.

He made his way downstairs, tossed a few ryo to the inn keep as a tip, and made his way out of the building. He picked up his pace to a steady jog and found himself at the gathering point for exam participants. Several ANBU were standing about and one recognized him. Calling his name, the ANBU pointed towards a large scroll on the ground that had a seal, similar to a summoning seal, drawn on it. Zinan nodded to the masked shinobi and stepped onto the scroll. With a few hand seals from the ANBU operative, Zinan disappeared from Shinwato and appeared in the arena with a small poof.

The Kumonosu genin rapidly took in his surroundings. It was a large grassy field where he could not see very far from himself. He narrowed his eyes, this was not good; he knew that his opponent was a Hyuga and that the byakugan gave her a huge advantage over him. He had to even the playing field. He did not see any trees, boulders, or walls that would let him have a good view of the arena. He glanced skyward. Nope. Nothing up there either, he thought with a sigh. He looked about his immediate vicinity and noted that the grass stopped just before the small platform that he had been transported to. He knew that grass was loud and his opponent was probably listening and waiting for him to rustle the blades and reeds.

Zinan decided, instead, to let the Hyuga girl come to him. Zinan crossed his index and middle fingers of both hands and created a web clone of himself. He nodded to the clone. It nodded back and took off through the reeds rustling his way to around thirty meters away from the real Zinan, towards the middle of the arena. The clone drew a kunai and crouched down low as he kept his eyes and ears out for his opponent. The real Zinan sat down on the small platform, feet crossed and under his knees, his buttocks on the small stone dais. He flashed a few hand seals, bird, rat, snake, monkey, and held his hands out, letting the backs of them rest on his knees. From his hands, countless of nearly invisible webs appeared and wove their way through the reeds of grass to attach to blades that were forty or so meters from Zinan. The web made a near invisible sheet that covered a circular area around him. Any movement in the area and Zinan would know it and would be able to respond accordingly. He closed his eyes and sighed, Once the web has been woven, the spider simply waits.... The old Kumonosu proverb rung silently in his head. He smirked at the sound his grandfather's voice as his web glands twitched with silken glass.

---

WC: 654
Zinan Total WC: 654
Thread Total WC: 1287

Zinan Chakra: 220/250:

Clone Chakra 24/24: