Winning Arrival

“Huh? What does that mean?” Rinka asked out loud, staring at the sign.

Earlier –
The trio raced straight to the tower as soon as they had attained the Earth Scroll. Rinka, still in Angel Mode, had gotten Akaito to bind himself and Chosuke to her with his threads, letting the group move at her speed rather than having to go at the pace of the slowest. Akaito and Chosuke hadn’t particularly enjoyed the trip; flailing in the air behind their angelic teammate as she sped through the trees at a dizzying speed, but the results spoke for themselves. They were at the tower, they had both Heaven and Earth scrolls, and by the look of it, no-one else was here yet. They had paced around the perimeter of the tower, scouting it out, and had found that there were many doors, each sealed with a paper tag. None had been opened yet.

“Guess that we go in?” replied Akaito, surrounding threads flitting through the air like snakes, on the lookout for any sign of attack.

Chosuke rolled his eyes behind his mask. “Gee, you think?” he said, as he slit one tag open with his scissor-bladed prosthetic. The other two flinched backward, nerves on high alert, but nothing popped out to assault them. Instead, the door opened to reveal a room inside. Without missing a beat, Chosuke strolled in, his bladed prosthetic legs making a ‘clink’ with each step.

“Hey! Wait up!” cried Rinka, as she moved after him, dropping her Angel Mode as she did so. Akaito followed, closing the door behind him, and sealing it with threads.

“Looks like nobody’s home.”

Chosuke had his scissors behind his head in a clearly relaxed pose. The room was sparse, with white walls and floor, and really rather dirty.

“Eugh, would it kill them to clean this place once in a while?” grumbled Rinka.
“Why, feeling the need to maid, Rinka?” joked Akaito, giving her a cheeky grin. Rinka’s face immediately shifted from one of disgust, to one of anger. Rinka had made no secret of her backstory, and her loss of manhood. Needless to say, she was not keen on being on the other side of the coin, so to speak.

“SHUT UP, AKAITO!” The red-haired girl yelled, raising a fist at him, even as Akaito raised his hands in a mock surrender. Were they not good friends before this test, Rinka would have thumped him for that, teammate or not.

“Oi, ya two, come read this!” Chosuke interrupted. He was staring at the front of the room. In the darkness of dusk, they hadn’t noticed it upon entering, but there was a large sign on the wall.

If Heaven does not exist, enrich your knowledge, and prepare for the chance.
If Earth does not exist, run the fields in search of an advantage.
Open the series of Heaven and Earth, and the perilous way shall be redressed. This is namely the secret of “the one that guides”.

“Huh? What does that mean?” Rinka asked out loud, staring at the sign. Akaito and Chosuke stared at her as though she were an idiot.

“Huh?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”

Her face turned as red as her hair. “W-well it isn’t to me, so spill it!”

Akaito facepalmed. “It’s quite simple. The key is in the third part. ‘Open the series of Heaven and Earth’. It’s saying that we are to open the scrolls here to advance.”
“Yeah” added Chosuke “and since you’ve got the scrolls, get them out so we can move on!”
“Alright, alright, keep your mask on!” Rinka retorted as she rummaged around before pulling out the two scrolls. Handing one to Akaito, the trio glanced to each other, sharing a moment of doubt. What if they were wrong, and this was a trap? Well, there was only one way to find out. With a nervous exhale, they broke the seals of their scrolls and unraveled them. As soon as they did, white smoke began to emanate from them!

“Wahhh! Booby trap!” exclaimed Rinka, raising her hands to defend herself.
“No, this is a summoning jutsu! Drop it!” cried Akaito, as he threw his away from him. Rinka did the same.

The smoke billowed forth, until it coalesced into an adult! It was a tall man, with his lower face obscured by a mask. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a stopwatch, and nodded.

“Mmm, six hours, 47 minutes. An impressive showing for our first team of this generation. That time puts you right on the leaderboard for best times ever! Though with your display, I wonder how much faster you could have been without spending time waiting in ambush or walking around the finish line. Ah well, that’s neither here nor there. You came first, so congratulations!” the man said as he politely clapped.

“Yeah! We won!” Rinka jumped for joy, fist pumping in the air.
“We already knew that.” Akaito said as he rolled his eyes at her immaturity.
“Yeah, but this is confirmation! We’re the best!” She grinned at him, giving a V for Victory sign as she did. Behind her, Chosuke mimicked the symbol with his scissor-hands.

The man chuckled at the youthful display. “Apologies for interrupting the celebrations, but the exam is far from over, but we shall have to wait and see how this stage concludes first. There are 4 days, 17 hours, and” – he double checked his watch – “11 minutes until then, so you have quite a while to wait!”

“Eh? What are we supposed to do until then?” inquired Rinka, hands on hips as she spoke.
“Well, since you got here so quickly, and it’s already dinnertime, I’d suggest you get something to eat. In the meantime, there is of course no leaving the premises until the second stage is officially concluded. You shall all have to remain indoors until then. But at least you’ll likely be getting a better sleep than those still out there.” The jonin responded, as he looked beyond them to the door to the outside.