The Number of Death
Exam 2: Day One
As the designated exam starting point begins crawling with various genin, a hint of fear begins to creep into their minds as they notice the warning signs littering the fences that wall off a dark looming forest.
"W-what is this place?" Tomoki, one of the young leaf genin pipes up.
"The location of your next exam of course," The proctor replies with an ominous smile. "Good ol' Training Ground 44, but its often colloquially been called, The Forest of Death."
"Oh yeah? What we're the past applicants superstitious or something?" Kazen Uzumaki, another leaf genin chimes in.
"I wouldn't know," the proctor appears next to the red haired genin in an instant before wrapping an arm over Kazen's shoulder. "Since most of the ones that survive have a tough time stringing sentences together."
Kazen is completely caught off guard as the proctor messes with his hair for a bit. "Your team is Squad 4 right? Haha seems like you'll be extra screwed! Try not to die in there! ♥" The proctor flickers over back in front of the crowd of genin and begins explaining the rules.
As the speech is wrapping up with the risk of injury, asking them to sign consent forms so they're examiners aren't held accountable for their deaths, Kazen begins to lose interest.
"Just a survival test, huh?" Kazen turns to his teammate Remilia. "Any chance you can make friends with the snakes in there?"
"Heehee, I'll try my bessst." The fair skinned girl laughs. "No promisesss though~" she tells him while pulling a strand of her long black hair behind her ear.
"Hmph, do they really expect I, Itami Nanae, to sleep in the dirt of this filthy forest?" a prim white haired genin asks in frustration. "Utterly unglam."
"Relax, pretty boy! We'll get through this no problem." Kazen rests his hands on the back of his head. "This should be a piece of cake compared to Kiko Sensei's survival training."
"That wasss pretty sscary," Remilia crosses her arms and shudders. "Don't remind me."
"The issue isn't my survival, Uzumaki!" Itami scoffs. "Did you ever consider my dashing good looks could be TARNISHED in front of my potential bride?"
"Itami... What the hell are you talking about?"
"I know it must be difficult wrapping your PEA brain around the idea that one such as I~, ever not looking my best!" his white hair flutters as he pauses to bask in his beauty. "But you see Uzumaki, the fate of the entire Nanae clan rests on me finding a bride!" Itami pledges by placing a hand on his blue suited chest.
"Look Itami, we're in the middle of an ex-"
"JUST imagine it Uzumaki! You're a young kunoichi I've come to sweep off her feet in this treacherous forest."
"Okay..." Kazen follows along.
"But as you longingly gaze up to me while in my arms, you suddenly realize it! My perfect complexion has been TAINTED by numerous days of missing sleep! I'D BE RUINED!!" the young heir throwing his hands up in the air as he rants.
"Well honesty," Itami stops to chuckle to himself. "I would still be farrr better looking then the rest of this miserable lot," his smile sparkling, oblivious to Kazen's annoyed glare. "But when it comes to love, first impressions can be EVERYTHING!" he continues to ramble on to himself.
Looking for backup, Kazen turns to his other teammate. "Hey Rem, you're a kunoichi. Could you please talk some sense into loverboy? Remilia?"
". . . Boa Constrictor." The kunoichi was completely spaced out, crouched down with her attention locked onto a snake she could see through the fence in the forest training grounds.
"Maybe Squad 4 is doomed after all," Kazen slumps into a bit of a depression as he starts filling out his death waiver to enter the exam grounds.
"Alright listen up, we will now begin handing out scrolls!"
Squad 4 heads inside the closed off booth, handing in their waiver forms before receiving their Earth Scroll.
"Hold on to this for us, will you Uzumaki? We need someone to keep it safe while I do all the heavy lifting." Itami decrees.
Kazen's patience had worn thin, "Last time I checked, I don't take orders from a hysterical little-"
"Ssstop it you two," Remilia stepping in-between the two. "We need to work together as a team. Who knowss who or what we'll be up againssst out there?"
Kazen begrudgingly agrees as Itami tosses him the black scroll before they emerge from the booth.
As Squad 4 begins to head towards their designated entrance point, Kazen feels the eyes of someone watching him from afar. He quickly turns around as to catch his observer but none of the other scattered genin squads seemed to be looking his way.
"Has someone targeted me already?" Kazen thinks to himself while searching through them. He scans the crowd one more time before leaving to catch up with his teammates as they get ready to take position at their gate, Entrance Point 14.
HEADS UP MAGGOTS! THE SECOND SECTION OF THE EXAM HAS BEGUN!
As Squad 4 rushes through their Entrance Point, Kazen pulls out the Earth Scroll and quickly puts up a hand seal.
A paper tag rushes out of Kazen's pouch pocket and levitates in the air in front of him, as he tosses the Earth Scroll towards it. The sealing formula glows as the scroll quickly warps inside of the seal. "Annnd done!" Kazen places the tag back in his back pouch as the team begins to run up a tree.
"Took you long enough" Itami says as he skids to a stop on the tree. "I'd rather not spend too much time in this savage place" he tells his teammates as he forms the boar seal for his Swift Style. "So I'm off to find us a Heaven Scroll, no need to thank me"
"Itami, sstop-" Remilia starts but Itami is gone in the blink of an eye, zigzagging from tree to tree in an instant before leaving his teammates' sight.
Sigh
"Well, there goes our strength in numbers"
"Don't worry, I should be able to talk to ssome serpentsss throughout the foresst, and track down hiss location later" as the two begin traversing through the forest, leaping from tree to tree.
"Think he's strong enough to take on a whole team by himself?"
Remilia thinks for a moment "I mean I hope ssso, he might be fassst enough if he surprises them!" She looks over to see her teammate giving her some side-eye.
"Okay okay! A bit unrealisstic and yesss, he'll probably need our help, but there'ss nothing wrong with a little faith right?"
"...Faith huh?" Kazen turns somber as he's reminded of the past, where he once clung onto his faith and where that brought him. His expression softens as he hides his melancholy with a smile "Yeah, you're probably right Rem. Just can't help being the pragmatist, I guess."
AGGGGGHHHHHHH
The two stop and glance over to the direction they heard a team screaming. There are couple more wails before their cries fade into the sound of the forest.
"A squad was taken down already? Guess those waivers weren't just for show."
"What's the plan? We're down a member and even if I tracked Itami, he'd move on to sssomewhere elsse before we get a hold of him"
Kazen thinks for a moment, "We could try and pull off a Formation A? Set up some traps for incoming teams and if we're lucky, get a scroll out of it while barley lifting a finger."
"Hmm, yeah that could work! But we'd need to sset it up closser to the central tower" Remila thinking it over.
"Agreed, let's try and get at least halfway through the Forest first. Just make sure to scout out for the enemy on the way"
"Ssir, yes ssir!" Remilia teases as she puts up a little salute, bringing a coy smile out of Kazen.
The pair begin journeying through the forest once again, with Remilia using her snake-like heat sensing to detect the other surrounding lifeforms.
Before long Remilia slows as she detects something "Ssstop Kazen, I can sensse a heat ssignature up ahead"
Kazen lands on branch next to her "Just one person? What are they doing over there?"
Remilia closes her eyes and puts up a hand seal. "They're.. they're on the ground... and walking towards usss"
"Be on your guard, they might have detected us already."
The two of them lie patiently in ambush, waiting in suspense as the unknown individual gets closer, and closer. Suddenly they hear a familiar voice.
"Did you fools really believe anyone would stand a chance against my brilliance?", the pair looked down below to see Itami standing on the ground with a black scroll in his hand.
"No way..." Kazen states to himself in disbelief, as he gets back up.
"Itami! Impressive work!" Remilia yells out before she hops off her tree, heading down to meet her other teammate.
"Apologies for running off earlier, wasn't too glam of me was it?" Itami calls out.
"No worriesss, let's-"
twang
To the shock of Itami and Remilia, the kunoichi is suddenly suspended in midair as an ethereal Adamantine Chain became wrapped around her torso.
"Kazen?" Remilia looking at him with shock and surprise "What are you doing?"
"You did your research, I'll give you that much." Kazen peers down at the concerned Itami, the chain adjusting from behind his back.
"Let her go Uzuamki!" Itami demands as he takes out a kunai and gets into a battle stance.
"Two things gave you away. First off, even though he's a bit of blowhard, Itami is a bona fide genius." Kazen continues by pointing down at Itami's scroll "He wouldn't have forgotten that we needed a Heaven Scroll not an Earth Scroll."
Remilia turns to see Itami had in fact been holding up an Earth Scroll. "Couldn't he have grabbed it without thinking?" she questioned, unsure who to trust.
"Kazen's lost it, Remilia! Get out of his chain fast!"
"Your nail in the coffin though," Kazen retracts his chain and places Remilia back up onto a branch. "Was your apology. Never once since I've met Itami has he ever been quick to admit when he's wrong or voluntarily apologized for his actions!"
Remilia's eyes widen, surprised at how she couldn't have considered something so obvious right before her.
"I sssee now" she smiles at the thought of some Itami's more outlandish antics "which makess you an impossster".
The fake Itami grins as he puts up a hand sign, "Thanks for the intel." He dispels his transformation, in a puff of smoke their deceiver reveals themselves. A boy about their age wearing a robe and concealing his face with head scarves. "Unfortunately for you, your Earth Scroll is just what I need!"
「TRAP RELEASE: EARTH DRAGON JUTSU」
Suddenly a large trap seal formula appears on the ground, starting to glow as it activates. The earth within the formula begins to mold into the shape of a dragon before it launches at the two-man squad.
Using the golden chakra chain attached to his back, Kazen cracks the chain against his tree branch like a whip, launching towards the rival ninja at a rapid speed before rescinding his jutsu.
The foe slaps their hand on the ground, and the earth dragon turns straight towards Kazen. As it barrels directly towards him, Kazen smacks his hand on its head. Pushing over the mound and into a spin before sliding down the winding earth dragon jutsu's back.
"Isn't it a bit rude to leave your girlfriend here to die?!" the rival genin mocks before he directs his dragon jutsu at Remilia up in the trees.
As Kazen kicks off the moving heap of earth, he puts up a hand sign and the paper bombs he'd placed, explode on the earth dragon's head. Bits and pieces of stone and dirt rain down as the red headed genin closes in on the trap seal's caster.
His opponent uses his thumb to measure where Kazen is positioned in the air before using their off hand kunai to cut a wire. They hear the large creak of the trap as two hulking tree trunks attached to ropes come swinging down towards Kazen on both sides.
'Too large to seal!' is the last thing he thinks before the timber came crashing together, being caught in-between.
"KAZEN!!" Remilia calls out in a panic.
"One down." The head scarved Genin begins sprinting up the tree towards Remilia. "One to go!"
The kunoichi prepares herself for battle when she spots a paper tag rustle out of the wood trap, and soar up above the head scarved ninja.
In a puff of smoke Kazen emerges from the paper tag, slashing his assailant in the chest with a kunai, sending him flying down to the ground. Still recoiling from the pain, the opposing genin snaps his fingers and plumes of flame blast out of the trap seals he'd placed on some nearby trees. As the flames arc through the air towards Kazen, with a simple hand sign a paper talisman quickly comes flying out of his pouch, rushing to his defense.
「PAPER STYLE: CONSUMING SEAL」
The paper tag's seal glows as the incoming flames are warped into the talisman. Kazen snatches the paper tag before preparing to finish off their attacker, but as he looks around he sees his opponent had completely vanished.
"Ssso not happening" Remilia deeply inhales as she leaps off her perch.
「NINJA ART: POISON FOG」
Kazen quickly moves up his tree as a dense cloud of poison exhales out of the kunoichi's mouth, engulfing the terrain below the trees in deadly fumes as she descends.
When she lands on the ground, the poison fog begins to stir as their invisible target covertly knocks some of the fumes away with a Wind style jutsu. Remilia pinpointing the concealed enemy flings a volley of shuriken, but as the toxic fumes subside the head scarved genin was already long gone.
Remilia lets out a sigh of relief as she falls to her knees to rest.
"Yeah, now might be a good time for a break" Kazen stashes his new jutsu bound seal into his pouch pocket before heading down to Remilia.
"Thiss exam sucksss"
Itami zipped through the trees so fast he'd become a blur, and using his Air Levity jutsu, he was practically flying with how light he'd become. Although the genin had covered a lot of ground, he still hadn't encountered any enemy squads yet.
"All I want is to SHINE on the battlefield, is this too much to ask, Forest??!" The Forest seemingly answers with a crashing noise of a battle in the distance.
"YESSSSSS!! Thank you Forest! You're a bit glam after all." Itami switches directions and speeds towards the distant sound.
At the center of the commotion, a huntress girl bawls as she nocks arrows, firing them at her pursuer as she flees from tree to tree. The one following her was unyielding as they stomped through the woods, only a few paces behind her on the ground.
"BWAAAAHH!!" hic "How is this faiiir??" sniffles "Is this THING even human??!" Choko asks as she weeps at her current predicament.
"Whhyy meee GOD??" As she cries, she begins to infuse Wind chakra into the tip of her arrow for next attack.
"L-leave me aloneee!" she chokes out before leaping from her cover.
「w-WIND STYLE: WINDFALL ARROW」
She releases her arrow and it bolts through the air with ferocious speed towards her enemy. As the attack hones in on her target, the muscular figure enwraps themselves in gray chakra before it makes contact, having the arrow snap against their chest.
"AAUuuuhHHHH!!! tHEY KnoW ChaKra FLoW ToO????"
The chakra shrouded individual compresses their legs before they bound up and into the air directly towards Choko.
"Imsorry-Imsorry-Imsorry-Imsorry-Imsorry" Choko mutters as she shuts her eyes close, wincing as she's about to be attacked.
"Madame?" Itami looks down at her and smiles "Are you alright?"
Sniff "Huh?" Choko opens her eyes to see her rescuer, realizing in a mere moment she'd been swept up by this stranger and was floating in the air.
"What's your name?"
"Ch-choko. Who are you?" she asks him.
"I am Itami of The Nanae Clan but if you'd like, you could call me your... fiancé?" he says with sparkling smile.
"..." The gears begin turning in Choko's head as she processes the situation.
"Bwuaaaah!" She puts her hands to her face as she begins bawling again. hic "I thought I was saveed, but this guy isn't gunna help me unless I marrrry himmm!!!" she wails. sniff "I'm only thirteeeen! I've got my whole life to live!! I'm too youngg to be a housewiffeeeee!!"
Choko begins squirming in Itami's arms attempting to jump out.
"Ah I see." Itami wasn't quite prepared for this reaction but his ego quickly rationalizes it. "She's so overcome with emotion from my glamorous charm that she's jumping for joy!"
"L-let mee go! That-t-t monster's gonna get meee!" hic
"Don't fret Miss Choko, I'll take care of this rogue for you" Itami reassures her. "It is the glamorous thing to do after all."
The gray chakra surrounding her pursuer dissipates as they rise from the pit they formed from the drop of their impact. A bare chested, muscular, light blue stone man arose from the crater, reminding Itami of a temple shrine statue that'd come to life.
"How peculiar!" Itami places Choko on a nearby branch before floating down to meet this living statue.
"She's not as innocent as she seems" The stone man spoke. "She was firing at my squad from afar, it wasn't until I chased her down that she started putting on the waterworks." he explains.
"That so?" Itami sizes up the moving statue. "Even if I were to believe you, you're still my enemy in this exam, no? We're standing on a battlefield and here, you exist solely for me to shine."
"Pretty full of yourself huh? Let's see what you got!" The statue beckons as he gets into a Taijutsu stance.
Itami smirks before fading into a blue rush, racing across the forest clearing. Making the first move, Itami's fist lands squarely onto the sculpture's face. As pain shoots up Itami's arm from the sheer density of his opponent, there isn't a hint of discomfort from the blue statue besides his turned face.
"What? There was no effect?!" Itami's thoughts were cut short as the statue thwacks his arm into the speedster, swatting him away like a fly. Itami barely manages to pull out a kunai to block with. But even as the dagger absorbs the brunt of the blow, the immense strength of the stone fist sends him sailing into the dirt. Tumbling across the ground, Itami plunges his kunai into the earth, raking it across the battlefield as he catches his fall. 'Extremely durable defense along with overwhelming brute force' the genin evaluates as he sees the statue stomping towards him. 'She wasn't exaggerating, he might truly be a monster.'
"What's this? Weren't you gonna show me how you shined?!" The blue statue asks he jumps towards his downed opponent with his arms outstretched. Itami rolls onto his shoulders before springing backwards off the ground. Propelling himself into the air, he flings his kunai at the stone foe. The blue statue claps his hands together, producing a shockwave that knocks the kunai away and expands towards the airborne Itami. The genin raises his arms to block as the thunderclap knocks him away, across the battlefield.
"That jutsu of yours makes you quite sturdy," Itami's eyes burn with fury and excitement. "How fortunate, I've been in need of a good punching bag!"
「SWIFT STYLE: AFTERIMAGE CLONES」
Itami begins dashing towards the blue sculpture and starts shaking rapidly as he splits into being in two places at once before the pair splits off into four.
"Afterimages? Harmless tricks like that are a waste of chakra."
'As it stands right now, I have no way of seriously injuring him and with one solid hit from this guy and...' The four Itami's charge towards the statue. 'Should I simply use these as a distraction and take the girl out of here? The statue gives him a beckoning look. 'NO! That's what a loser would think!' The first Itami makes contact, dropkicking the stone genin. The statue slides back a bit before punching straight through its body but the fist simply passes through while the other two Itamis barrage him. 'I'll just need to buy some time to find his weakness. Until then, I DANCE!'
"They're physical clones then? No matter!" the stone man yells before slamming his fists into the ground, blasting debris and dust everywhere. The statue looks up as the dust begins to fade, and the numerous Itamis practically taunt him as they remain unfazed.
"A bit slow on the uptake huh?" The bent down statue looks over his shoulder to see Itami was now comfortably sitting atop his back, crossing his arms. "How boring." The statue whips around swinging his fist, ripping through the air where Itami should be only to realize its an afterimage. "For a work of art you're not very glam, aren't you?" Leaning against the statue's back now, as the statue looks over to him Itami throws his elbow into his opponent's sculpted head.
"Hrk!" The four Itami clones flicker in and out, attacking the statue from every angle. With every hit thrashing the statue's body, not giving him time to think as they violently jar his head.
"Enough!" In the midst of the barrage, the blue sculpture is able to form a hand sign and wisps of gray chakra begins to flow and circulate around his body. As the numerous Itami's continue pummeling the statue, his body begins hardening and simply absorbs the blows as he focuses on channeling his chakra.
「EARTH STYLE: EARTH CLOAK」
The weight of the gray chakra grows immensely as it flares wildly around the blue statue, blasting everything away everything in its radius. The afterimages disappear as Itami skids across the ground. 'His chakra, its intensified somehow?!'
"Smashing Fist..." the blue statue readies his fist as he begins concentrating his chakra into his fist. Itami flickers from the ground and reappears in the air near the statue, moving to disrupt his attack.
"SEISMIC SHOCK" The stone man twists around and throws out his fist, unleashing a massive shockwave that tunnels through the air. As the attack clears the blue sculpture surveys his surroundings, as his opponent had disappeared from the blast. Noticing a drop of blood he looks up to see the prim ninja floating high above the ground, grabbing at his blood soaked shoulder, looking down on him with a bitter smile.
"Your pretty fast, you almost made me believe those afterimages were real clones earlier." The statue admits. "You were using your speed to switch between them, making them seem physical right?"
"Hah! Took you long enough to figure that one out."
"All the same, that speed won't do you much good now if you couldn't put a scratch on me before you were down an arm."
"Its a bit early to be gloating, don't you think?" Itami hollers down. "Don't worry, one arm is more then enough to take you on!" he yells out before starting to flow chakra into his good hand. "After all, giving handicaps to weaklings is the courteous thing to do, is it not?"
The stone man can't help but smile at his opponent's audacity before gesturing towards him. "Come then!"
Itami wisps out of the air and appears just a few feet away from the statue, accelerating as he lunges towards him. The blue sculpture responds by shifting his arm into a stalagmite spear, aiming to skewer the incoming speedster. 「SWIFT STLYE」As Itami moves in, the spike grazes the side of his face as he angles the usable side of his body.「HUMMINGBIRD'S SONG」His arm becomes nearly unseeable as he launches into a rapid flurry of unrelenting blows.
'Conentrate. Concentrate. Remember how he flowed his chakra' Blood begins flying off Itami's fist but with every hit his arm get harder and stronger. 'REMEMBER!' Chips and pieces begins breaking off the statue and with one final strike, Itami smashes part of the stone man's face off sending the statue head over heels.
Huff, huff
Itami's knucle trembles as he can barely feel it, breathing heavy after keeping up with that onslaught while simultaneously finely controlling his chakra.
'Impossible! With a single glance he's imitated my Smashing Fist style somehow?' Beginning to get up on one knee, pebbles and stone flakes start to crumble and fall off the statue's face. Inside the large facial cavity revealing that not just the outside, but that the inside of his foe is made up entirely of stone.
"You're... not human..." Until then Itami had assumed that his enemy was upkeeping some sort of earth jutsu armor, but as he peers at the cracks forming on the statue, he realizes he's dealing with something far stranger.
"Does my appearance frighten you?"
"Itami Nanae, last scion to the Nanae Clan fears no man, made of flesh or not."
"That's the spirit!" The blue statue grins before he lifts his arm, then plunges it deep into the dirt. He fishes around for a moment before retrieving a fist sized stone. "I am known as Eiken the Divine Statue!" he proclaims as the statue take a bite of the rock like an apple.
"H-HUH???" Itami is dumbfounded as he watches the stone man chew on the pebbles in his mouth before swallowing, as he does so the cracks and damage on his body begins to close up and heal.
"Hey! Stop that!" As Eiken is about to take another bite, Itami throws a shuriken, knocking it out of the statue's hand.
"Rude." the blue statue says as his face begins to reconstruct.
"Oh what? Did you expect me to sit here while you heal yourself by eating a goddamn rock?!"
「EARTH STYLE: STONE PEDESTAL」
Itami braces himself for an attack, but watches as small slab of stone rises from the ground underneath the statue for him to sit on.
"Sheesh making me get serious like this, I was hoping to save this until the tournament." Eiken tells Itami as he raises a hand sign high above his head and closes his eyes as he gathers his chakra.
"What are you jabbering on about fool?"
"I'm saying until now I've been on the defensive..." The slab of stone begins to fracture as small rocks begin to swirl around Eiken, with his gray chakra cloak burning wildly.
「EARTH CLOAK: STAGE TWO」
The slab abruptly shoots further out of the ground, with the statue disappearing from its pedestal. Without anytime for Itami to think, Eiken crashes into the earth, desolating the surrounding area. Blown from the impact Itami is flung hig up into the sky, opening his eyes to see just as Eiken catapults himself after him. The heir inhales sharply as waves of pain shoot though his throbbing shoulder, as he weaves his hand seals.
「WIND STYLE: WIND DRAGON JUTSU」
A large wind vortex comes billowing out of Itami's mouth, forming into the shape of a dragon. Roaring at Eiken as it soars down toward the ascending blue statue, Eiken simply winds back his arm before smashing his fist through the dragon's maw. The wind screams around the statue as he tears through it, ripping straight through the dragon before his fist finally sinks into Itami's stomach.
Bleugh
Itami vomits up blood as his body is rocketed even higher into the heavens.
"HA! Looks like I sent him into next week!"
Itami opens his eyes as his body is violently flipping through the air. Weaving the hand seals for his Air Pressure justu, his body halts in the air before plummeting toward Eiken.
Eiken smiles, "And he's back for more?! You truly were a worthy adversary, ITAMI NANAE!!!" he yells while forming his sculpted fist into a stone shaped axe. 「PETRIFICATION: STONE EXECUTION」
"IF YOU'RE DIVINE, THEN I'LL CAST YOU STRAIGHT INTO HELL!!!!" 「WIND STYLE: SUPER AIR PRESSURE JUTSU」
Itami raises his arms above his head, interlocking his fingers as he channels his weight control jutsu into his fists. Rapidly descending as he closes in on Eiken as they both are falling towards the ground, the blue statue winds up his stone axe in anticipation.
「WIND STYLE: WINDFALL ARROW」
Just as Eiken began to unleash his attack, an arrow from below splinters against his stone axe, halting the force of his swing. Choko had been watching the high up battle from her tree branch using her dojutsu, Water Reflection Eye, which dilated her pupils and greatly enhanced her eyesight. She had been waiting patiently with her bow for the perfect moment to disrupt the statue's movements without injuring her newfound ally.
'DAMN!! That huntress interfered?!'
"YAAAAGGGH!!" Itami hammers down his overhead fists into Eiken's delayed stone axe swing.
The two ninja's battle lust was palpable, culminating into the clash of their attacks with their pride as warriors on the line. The force of the impact creates a shockwave in the air, until Eiken is able to overpower Itami, flinging him into the surrounding trees.
"Even with all that you still couldn-" Eiken suddenly felt a pull as his arm begins to weigh much more then before, rapidly dragging him down to the clearing.
As Itami crashes through branches and trees, he activates the tree climbing jutsu on his hands and feet, clinging onto one of the nearby branches. The force of Itami's fall bends the branch back before snapping back into place, which slingshots the scion back towards the battle.
Eiken loses his concentration for maintaining his chakra cloak he nosedives towards the earth. 'This guy! He baited me into thinking he was using some all out attack, when his real aim was to suppress me with some sort of weight jutsu!'
Eiken readies his good arm as he's plummeting. "You tricky bastard!"
Itami hardens his leg as he soars toward Eiken, "Don't be a fool. We're Shinobi after all."
Eiken waves his good arm and launches a cloud of rock powder, but with the time it took for the statue to swing his arm, he saw Itami had already crossed the distance. As his enemy was about to land his high velocity kick, Eiken's reminded of the high intensity bouts he'd have with his master.
「SWIFT STYLE: TERMINAL VELOCITY」
The force of Eiken's plummet along with Itami's high velocity render the statue in two, the kick ripping straight through his torso as chunks of stone explode everywhere from the impact. Eiken's body subsequently crashes into the ground along with stone debris, as Itami skids and rolls along the dirt and patches of grass.
It takes a moment for Itami to get up, using up the last of his chakra in that last attack. With the adrenaline beginning to fade, he's physically exhausted as he grabs at his shoulder and limps through the battlefield. Blood trickles from his arm as he makes his way towards the broken statue. In the corner of his eye, he spots something among the rubble. "A Heaven Scroll?" As he goes to pick up the scroll he hears an unfamiliar voice. "That's far enough!"
Itami looks up to see a headscarved ninja holding up an unconscious Choko, with a kunai against her neck. "Leave the scroll and step away from Eiken, or the girl here is going to fail this exam permanently!"
"Oh forgive me, Forefather! As I've foolishly brought on your wrath not only on myself, but my ally Choko as well!" A blindfolded warrior monk prays as he leaps through the exam grounds trees.
"I should have foreseen that this test was not only examining my abilities, but a trial of my faith as well. I knew it was foolish of me to forsake my afternoon lashes, even while engaged with this exam! Please I beg you, oh Great Ancestor. Only seek the punishment of your devoted kin!"
"Mitsuteru! If this is your way of telling me, Choko not coming back from scouting the area is somehow my fault, you will RUE the coming nightfall!"
"If I had only heeded your word and hadn't listened to my brazen, shadow obsessed teammate! I know now not to follow her heathenistic suggestions." Mitsuteru continues on.
"Why you insolent little- grah!" Kuro, a ponytailed girl with glasses, raises a fist in anger. "...Your life is now forfeit Mitsu! I cannot guarantee your survival as the POWER OF MY DARKNESS knows no bounds!"
"I thought you said the reason we haven't seen your 'great power' is because it has numerous conditions that need to be met?" Mitsuteru replies after he finished his prayer.
". . ." Kuro smacks Mitsuteru with the blunt end of her spear. "Sh-shut up! When the conditions are met THEN my darkness will know no bounds!"
"Aghh, I see your starting to repent for your transgressions by inflicting the punishment yourself." Mitsuteru says as he opens up his robe, barring his chest for another strike. "Please another!" he requests as an ecstatic smile crawls onto his face.
"You always make it weird Mitsuteru." Kuro says as she puts her spear away.
They suddenly hear a large shockwave, further into the woods.
"Mitsu!" Kuro calls out as she stops on a nearby tree.
"I know," the priest monk replies as he weaves a few hand seals.
「NINJA ART: PINDROP RESONANCE」
A cacophony of sounds from all over the surrounding area begins to enter into Mitsuteru's ears. From the crawling of insects, to the flapping of a bird's wings, he sorts through these noises until he's located the commotion he was searching for.
"Found it, this way!" he calls out as the two of them veer into a new direction, venturing further East to the other side of the forest.
Mojo Nakasendou was panicking.
'No one should've been able to see through the trap I'd thoroughly laid out! Should I had really acted confrontational towards Squad 4 when I was posing as their ally?' he wonders as he thinks about everything that lead him to the point he finds himself at now.
'In any case, there was no chance I was going to go along with Eiken's plan of spending the day 'forming an army of golems to march through the Forest with them', and Hanagi seemed to be more focused on his own task.'
He looks down to match the gaze of the wounded Itami, standing over his teammates' broken body with their Heaven Scroll.
'Not only did I not obtain their scroll, but they somehow ended up with ours! And where the hell is Hanagi anyways? Damnit!'
"Did you not hear me?! Let me spell this out for you: Put down the scroll and step away from the statue or the girl here is gonna die!"
"You're in no position to threaten me!" Itami calls out. "That girl is an acquaintance, not my teammate. While I'm guessing this hunk of rock here is part of your squad?" Itami inquires to the head scarved genin.
"Don't press your luck! You're trying to tell me you really wouldn't care if she died?!" Mojo asks as he presses the tip of his kunai against Choko's unconscious neck, drawing a bit of blood.
"NO! I'm saying it's a life for a life! I'll give you back your teammate for the girl, but if you kill her..." Itami glares at the captor. "I won't hesitate to return the favor two-fold!"
"Ha! Talk about an empty bluff! Eiken doesn't bleed and he's made entirely of stone, even severed in two he'll bounce back in only a day after he's regenerated. You on the other hand don't seem to have that luxury, or the time you'd need to take his life!" Mojo gestures at Itami's wounds with his kunai.
"Now I'll say it once more: PUT DOWN THE SCRO-" Mojo suddenly freezes up in place, paralyzed. He quivers as he attempts to move his body and sees as a small white snake slithering out of his robe.
"Got a bit ahead of yourself, eh Itami?"
As leaves swirl and fall before Itami, Kazen and Remelia appear right before his eyes, creating a Manji Formation to defend him. As Mojo grows stiffer, Choko's unconscious body slips from his grasp.
As she falls to the ground, a ponytailed girl jumps out from the forest and catches her in midair. As she lands on the ground, the girl angrily looks toward the other genin. "Who dares injure the comrade of Kuro Blackshadow?!" With a blindfolded monk priest not far behind her.
High above the clearing on top of a distant tree, a figure watches in the shadows, waiting to see the situation unfold.
Between the numerous and varied individuals involved in this showdown, they all share a single thought: That Heaven Scroll is mine!