Forest of Death: Water and Thread and Angels, Oh My!

“…and that’s why a single world government would allow unprecedented prosperity and –”

“Oh, give it a rest, Akaito!” bemoaned Chosuke, the quadruple amputee not able to take any more political rambling.

Akaito rankled at the interruption. He never took well to being disrupted while in the middle of a good political rant!

“What, you disagree, Chosuke?! I suppose YOU have a better way to bring peace?” Akaito couldn’t help himself but try and start something. In defence of his dream, he was willing to throw down with anyone!

Chosuke flexed his scissorhands as he sat up, and while his mask covered his face, Akaito could feel the smug grin on his teammate’s face!

“Well~” the masked genin started, “lt seems to me that anyone who would want to force the world to conform to their desires, could only be called a villain!”

“HOW DARE YOU!” Akaito yelled, jumping to his feet. Those were fighting words!

“Oh, what’re you gonna do? Gonna cry?” Chosuke taunted.

“Oh, that does it!” Akaito yelled! He threw a hand up, the thread connected to it whipping out, ensnaring his teammate.

“You’re gonna be sorry!” he grinned, as he tightened the threads. He was somewhat surprised that Chosuke didn’t try to slice them, but he was too irritated to think about that. To his shock though, as soon as he applied pressure, Chosuke burst into a cloud of smoke!

“Huh?! What?”

Akaito’s jaw went slack. A shadow clone?

“Finally noticed?”

Akaito looked up into the branches of the tree they were under. Now that he was not distracted either by indulging in politics, or in defending said politics, he could see Chosuke just lying there on a branch, arms behind his head and legs crossed!

“H-How long have you been there?” was all he could get out.

“About when you started raving about unification, so about half an hour now.” Came the reply.

Akaito stumbled backwards in shock, before his body tensed, and using his threads like grappling hooks, he leapt up to his lazing companion.

“Just because it was a clone that said that stuff doesn’t excuse you! I will defend my dream no matter wha-”

“What are you two doing?”

The two boys looked down to their third team member. Rinka had her hands on her hips, looking up at them. The reluctant girl sighed in exasperation. In one hand, she had a bag, full of supplies that they would need for the five-day exam ahead of them, as well as lunch. In the other, their Heaven scroll, one of the keys needed to pass the Forest of Death.

Hungry, like all teenage boys, Akaito and Chosuke jumped down in front of her, only to get a slap upside the head for their troubles!

“Ouch! What was that for?”

Rinka looked down at the pair of them, nursing red splotches on their cheeks. She was the shortest and was not going to lose an opportunity to tower over them.

“We’re about to undergo the hardest exam we’ve ever faced, and you two are wasting chakra and energy? Grow up!”
“But he-”
“No buts! Now, eat.” She cut Akaito off as she plopped down, unwrapped Chosuke’s food for ease of access via his scissorhands, before getting her own food out. Chosuke happily started eating, skewering the meat bread, while Akaito grumbled as he sat down to join them.

“We’ve got to stock up on protein and carbs as much as we can now, and the exam is in less than an hour, so get ready!”

With that, Team 11 had their last civilized meal until after the exam.

Three hours later…

(Any sign?) whispered Rinka.
(Not yet.) responded Chosuke.
(Shhh!) hushed Akaito.

The trio had made their way north-west, along the river, close to the tower. Their plan was to lay an ambush on any teams that passed through this junction; either across the bridge or through the clearing. All that they needed now was a team to fall into the trap.

One hour later…

“Come on, Daiki, keep up!” grumbled Kamare Hozuki. Ueno Daiki was bent over, coughing and hacking, trying to match his healthier teammates paces. Nobutake Fujiwara planted his foot on a rock as he scouted ahead, hair blowing in the wind, looking effortlessly cool as he shaded his eyes with one hand while his bow rested in the other. Team 7 had yet to encounter any other genin team, only having to deal with some nasty insects that were easily cut down, with only a few suction marks to show that the fight even happened.

Daiki struggled forward, using his shovel for support. He was not well. He knew it, his teammates knew it, everyone who knew him knew it. His bone cancer was accelerating, to the point that the doctors only gave him 5-10 years of life, but he had forced himself beyond his limits to get to this exam. After a moment to catch his breath, he trudged onward to keep up.

“Wait!” Nobutake suddenly hissed. As soon as he did, Kamare was next to him, and even Daiki put in a rapid burst of speed.

“There!” Nobutake gestured with his bow. Up ahead, in a tiny clearing surrounded by bushes, was another team, and what was more, they appeared injured! They could see a red-haired girl tending to two boys, each seemed to be in bad shape. One had a bandage around his head, while the other had his limbs in splints made with branches.

Team 7 scrambled into formation, keeping in cover while getting close enough to eavesdrop.

“Told you that ambush was a bad idea!” grumbled the red-haired girl.
“MmmmMMmmMMMMh.” Was all the bandaged one could get out. The splinted boy said nothing, simply gazing upward in despair.

(Seems they messed up their sneak attack.) whispered Daiki.
(This is our chance. If they still have their scroll, we can grab it!) responded Kamare.
(OK, here’s the plan. Daiki, you seal them in a barrier, while Kamare uses Extreme White Attack. If any are still conscious after that, I’ll cut them down. Ready?) instructed Nobutake. His two teammates gave a thumbs up.

(OK. In one, two, THREE!)

In one fluid motion, Kamare performed the hand seals, and released his White Extreme Attack! The dragon soared from his hands, orb clasped tightly in its claws, zapping toward their unaware trio opponents like lightning! As it began to curl around its cargo, signalling its imminent detonation, Daiki slammed an opaque barrier down. Not an eye-blink later, there was a tremendous crash, only deafened by Daiki’s defense! The red-haired girl’s eyes widened as she attempted to raise a defense of her own, but to no avail, as her team was consumed in the blast!

“Great work, you two! Now, Daiki, before they can recover! Lower the barrier so Kamare and I can finish them off and get the scroll!” commanded Nobutake. Daiki nodded, made the appropriate hand seal, and dissipated his barrier. As he did so, the dust and debris kicked up by Kamare’s attack flowed out like smoke.

Not wasting any time, Nobutake sliced the air in front of him, crescents of chakra carving toward where the opposing team had been, the force dispersing the remaining cover. Kamare held back, readying another White Extreme Attack, as he used his Sensory Arts to scope out how their opponents handled their surprise attack.

His eyes widened as he sensed the truth!

“GET BACK! IT’S A TRA-”

The words died in his throat as he turned and saw threads leaping from ground! Daiki was not fast enough to dodge the sudden assault; the threads wrapped around his entire body, before snapping tight and slamming him into a nearby tree! He had just enough air in his lungs to cry out, before the threads were too tight for him to do anything other than shallowly breathe, else the threads would cut him up!

Nubutake fared better, able to dodge the first threads that lunged at him and cut the ones that followed up. Kamare, meanwhile, had no need to dodge, as his hydrification kekkei gekkai simply liquified his body, allowing the threads to pass through him without harm.

Unbeknownst to the members of Team 7, this had entirely been a trap. Chosuke had summoned three Shadow Clones, and Akaito had use Concealment Arts to disguise the clones as them, before laying his threads across the surrounding area. Now Nobutake, Kamare, and Daiki found themselves in a spider’s web, at the mercy of the hunting Team 11!

“DAIKI!” both Kamare and Nobutake cried out. They needed all three of their members if they were to pass, and if Daiki were to be taken out, neither of them would get through this stage! Not to mention, of course, that being down a member put them at a serious disadvantage!

However, as they charged to rescue their comrade, more threads leapt from the soil around them! They lashed, whipped, and thrashed around, forcing them apart.

“Kamare! There’s got to be someone controlling these threads nearby! We’ve got to –” before Nobutake could finish his sentence, he felt a disturbance behind him. With instincts honed from infancy, he spun around, raising his iai in a block. Just in time too; as he just barely defended himself from an assailant! His arms and legs were missing below the joints, replaced with wicked looking blades, and while his face was covered with a mask, Nobutake was certain he was grinning.

“You suckers fell for it so hard, you may as well be lollipops!” Chosuke bragged, as he began his offensive, their blades clashing so quickly as to seem to vanish!

Kamare had no opportunity to go to his aid, he had his own problem. As he turned to go to help, he suddenly found that he was blind! Not simply blinded, but his eyes were gone! If he were anyone else, who couldn’t restore their body by reshaping the water, he’d be a goner. But as he was who he was, he swiftly flowed water back to his head, restoring his sight. He turned to face his aggressor and saw the red-haired girl. Her hand was dripping with water, but only for a moment, as the water that had been his head was suddenly sucked into a strange mark on her palm!

“Saw that you were immune to the threads. Nice water trick. Oh well, if you can’t be taken out that way, we’ve got other methods!”

With that, she charged! Kamare attempted to gain distance, to cast his Lightning illusion flash and trap his opponent in a genjutsu, but no matter how much he tried, she caught up to him with ease! Each time he thought he had a moment, she was behind him, draining away more of his body with those marks! Damn body flicker! Kamare thought to himself, as he resigned to a direct fight.

(What is she doing?) Akaito whispered to himself. He was able to sense the whole battlefield through his threads, and while Chosuke was duelling with Nobutake, Rinka was not entering Angel Mode! Why? She could end this fight in an instant if she would just activate it! He glanced over to Daiki. His threads were strong and sharp, and with his illness cutting his breathing short and his hands pinned in place to prevent hand seals, he wasn’t getting free without external aid. Gritting his teeth, Akaito turned his focus to the sword duel, as he couldn’t help against someone who was unaffected by his threads.

Chosuke was keeping up his barrage against Nobutake. His swordsmanship was superior, but Nobutake was excellent at finding opportunities to loose arrows at him! But distance could also work in his favor. He let Nobutake scurry back, dodging the incoming arrows, as he performed his shadow clone jutsu! Nobutake’s eyes widened as over a dozen clones popped into existence, but his tenacity and training kicked in, as he loosed arrow after arrow at his incoming foes!

Akaito could barely keep up with them, limited as he was by only sensing through his threads, but he could tell the difference between Nobutake and Chosuke. Chosuke’s footfalls were sharp – both literally and figuratively – thanks to his blade prosthetics, while Nobutake’s were soft and light. He waited until the light step was in just the right position, before wrapping a thread around his foot!

Nobutake was distracted by the thread for all of a second, as he reflexively sliced through it, but that moment was enough. Chosuke and his clones sprang forward, tapping into his massive chakra reserves, to overwhelm Nobutake’s defenses! Scissors snapped shut all over his body, cutting deep into his arms, legs, and torso. Without even giving him a moment to register, Akaito lashed out with more threads, pinning the swordsman to the ground. Just to ensure victory, Chosuke and his clones used their body weight, crushing Nobutake to the ground.

As their duel was underway, Kamare was struggling to keep himself intact. Rinka’s kekkei genkei was countering his own, allowing her to drain away his body, making her stronger to boot! This wasn’t good. If he lost any more water, then he’d be at danger of dehydration, a fatal condition for a Hozuki. Thankfully, he had more than enough chakra to keep going! He let himself collapse into a puddle, barely avoiding another vacuum, before re-solidifying behind Rinka. Rinka turned to face him, a smile on her face.

“You know, I’m really quite surprised that you can keep moving. I must’ve suctioned away half your mass by now, yet you’re still kicking!”

Kamare couldn’t help but return the smile at the compliment. “Well, I do have a clan reputation to hold up! A proud and noble lineage like mine can’t be overcome easily!”

Kamare was not a skilled communicator, but he could see that whatever he just said, really, really ticked her off! Her smile disappeared, contorting into a snarl, and her eye started twitching.

“What would you know about lineage or family?! You don’t know a single thing!”

Her chakra flowed like water around her, but as red as blood. Kamare didn’t know what this was, but it didn’t matter. He had hidden his arms behind his back as she started getting mad and had made the necessary hand seals to unleash his strongest attack!
“EXTREME WHITE ATTACK!” he cried out, launching the dragon out, infusing it with as much chakra as he could. It screamed through the air toward Rinka, who made no effort to dodge, before curling up and exploding!

Yes! Now to trap her in a genjutsu and go save Nobu and Daiki! Kamare thought to himself, only to have his hopes dashed as the dust from the blast was suddenly scattered.

Rinka was surrounded by ephemeral light, coalescing into a halo above her head, with esoteric markings crossing her skin.

Finally! thought Akaito.

“What – what is this?!” Kamare had never seen anything like this before! Was this a unique kekkei genkai? Whatever it was, it let her tank his Extreme White Attack like it hadn’t even happened!

“Purification.”

With that one word, a blast of Divine Energy erupted from Rinka’s body, rising up as a pillar of light. At once, the few injuries that Kamare had been able to inflict vanished, as did the anger that had twisted her face. She seemed serene all of a sudden, like she had turned into an angel!

Faster than Kamare could process her movement, she was in front of him, with her hand in his chest!

“Wh-what?!”

She rummaged around his insides for a moment, before pulling out the Earth Scroll!

“I thought you would be the one to carry this.” She said in a voice that had become as sweet as honey “With your ability, it was the safest spot. But you lost too much water. You’ve become translucent. Once that happened, it was easy to spot.”

“Huh?” Kamare looked down at himself. Usually when he became water, he looked like someone had painted him a light blue, but now he was almost see-through!
She must have drained so much of my water supply, that my density has been lowered! he realized.

The now-angelic Rinka turned away, looking to Chosuke, as well as several threads that seemed to be listening.

“We have both scrolls; we must make our way to the center!” She almost sang to her teammates. Chosuke nodded. The threads bobbed up and down in agreement before moving to pin down Nobutake and Daiki even more.

“Wait a moment! I’m not do-” Kamare was cut off by a massive blast of unrefined chakra, sending him flying back and splattering him against the massive tree trunks all around! With that, Team 11 took their leave, darting through the trees, vanishing from sight.