[M&M3e] Naruto

[dangelo]

"Well, message received." Sodai replies energetically. "We have plenty of them as our prisoners now, and still it doesn't feel like a victory."

After a long pause, she addresses Lord third. "Hokage-sama, I beg your excuse but this is getting late and I must return to my own assignment. I'll be here in the morning."

She calmly leaves the room.

"I think it's time for you to get some rest, kids. Go to your homes and be with your loved ones. You deserve that."

[Darkstorm]

"As you say Sodai-Sama. With your escuse.". Emiku replies looking at all and taking a bow to the Hokage.

Loved ones she thinks as she leaves the room That would be something....

[John Cribati]

Kyori

I was actually hoping to say this in private, but Since you don’t have information on him... that missing-nin from Ame. I’d never seen him before, but I remember his chakra signature, and his bird. He was one of those responsible for the attack on my monastery.

[dangelo]

"Then I'm proud of you." Lord Third says. "And I'm sorry you had to face him like that. I will personally look into the matter, Kyori. You are not alone. None of you are."

"Amegakure have been struggling to establish themselves as a strong Hidden Village. They lack powerful techniques and bloodlines to reassure their authority and protect their boarders. We have spies in the Land of Rain who can investigate this man's origins, but it will take some time. Maybe years before we have any lead."
"When we do find something, the mission will be yours, Kyori. Until then, I only ask you one thing: don't go after this man by yourself. It's not wise."

[Izzarra]

Nara Kimiko Conditions: Hindered & 1 degree of damage. Chakra: 26/60 HP: 1

Once she is excused from the giving the report Kimiko stumbles to the hospital so she can get proper treatment for the various injuries that she sustained during the mission. The snake bites alone were reason enough.

[dangelo]

Going back to your day-to-day life is somewhat weird. You start to get why it's so normal for shinobi to take a couple of days off after a long mission.

All the other rookies, except for team Asuma, ask you about the Warehouse mission. Santuro spends most of his time hidden away in his Clan's headquarters, but you see his teammates picking up new assignments every morning.

Life is... actually good again. In a week, Yotsuda-sensei finally wakes up. In a month, he's back in the training field, waking you up at 4 am. Provisions were made for Yazuko, Emiku and Mungi to be trained by him, given his knowledge on fuuinjutsu, genjutsu and etiquette, so they're also included in the buggle call.

In the morning, you usually have meditation, mantra recitation and calligraphy, followed by either picking up new assignments (LOTS of D-Rank missions) or a special class on the most basic sealing techniques and how do these seals work: you start by studying the process of sealing and unsealing objects into a scroll, the properties of these objects and how they can be made. After a few months, you have successfully crafted your first explosive tags (a combination of calligraphy and meditation to seal a huge volume of fire into the tag), even though they weren't quite perfect and sometimes fizzled out instead of igniting.

After lunch, Kimiko usually cuts it short and runs off to the hospital; Being the youngest of the apprentices, she knows better than to be late. Meanwhile, for Yazuko and Emiku, it's time for elemental practice. Learning new jutsu and finding a way to adapt the technique to your own style is hard work, but you make some progress every day. Yotsuda insists on teaching Yazuko advanced theoretical physics, specially electricity and electromagnetism, which involves huge piles of homework every week. Emiku gets to learn Fire Release properly from a specialist, and quickly finds a way to combine her taijutsu style and katon in an unique way.

Kyori and Mungi's training often consists on daylong hide-and-seek exercises where they take turns tracking each other. The others sometimes participate, specially Yazuko, once he developed a lightning release sensory technique.

Yotsuda constantly sets up new (and sometimes over-the-top) battlefield scenarios to put you in a disadvantage, like fighting on the water and against multiple foes, so Mungi can't hide in the ground or grapple one of them for too long, fighting with high-pitch noises going off randomly, defending or attacking a fortification, and so on.

Before you could realize, weeks had become months. Work was tedious sometimes (cleaning, repairing, guard duty, paperwork...), but you were never alone. All the other rookies integrated with you, which was at least noteworthy for Emiku and Mungi, who had been mistreated for their families' legacy before.

---

5 months later, 8:00 PM.
After a very long day of training and hard work, Yotsuda takes the five of you to a steakhouse. The all-you-can-eat coupons were enough of an incentive, but he did have something important to say.

"I have taken the liberty of writing you these recommendation letters." He hands you each a piece of paper. "It's for the Chunin Exams that are going to happen a month from now. This is not mandatory, but I highly recommend you to take it. It's a great opportunity to see what's the real world is like out there, and I honestly think you can make it."

"The rules of the event change every year, but the overall concept stays the same: First a survival exercise, then a fighting tournament. Together, they are supposed to simulate a dangerous battlefield, forcing you to think carefully about your decisions."

"Plus, this year's event will have a little twist: Three-man squads are not allowed. This new rule was made to encourage all shinobi to think outside the box and come up with new formations. You can only participate with a group of five candidates."

"I did know about that before it was announced, and I admit it was partially why I wanted to train you five together. Is saddens me that Kobayashi Kaede wasn't so excited as you guys about her shinobi career after your first mission... but she and I will be there to root for you."

"Now, kids, please hear my advice. Soon enough, foreigner shinobi will come to the village for the exam. They will spy on you to learn your techniques and strategies. With that in mind, I made arrangements so you can use our private dojo in the Hyuuga District." He looks at Kyori. "Which is very generous for my clan's standards, I should say. You don't have to use, but the doors are open."

---

1 month later, 9:00 AM.
Following the instructions given to all candidates, you make your way to the Academy's courtyard early in the morning. In there, you run into a large group of young, mean-looking shinobi.

Spoiler: Reference

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There are a few familiar faces in the crowd; Team Asuma is there, and apparently they teamed up with Mungi's former colleagues to make a five-man squad. One of Yazuko's former teammates got together with both of Emiku's, Hidehito and Maya, and the other one didn't show. The three of them teamed up with two older genin.

You have about half an hour until an examiner gives you further instructions. This might be an opportunity to learn about the other candidates, but most candidates are not drawing a lot of attention to themselves.

[Novabomb]

Mungi Koto has never had it so good.
He will not fail his new friends.
He spends the time edging around the outside, and sizing up his competitors, starting with the Genin from other villages.

Spoiler: OOC

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He is using assessment on as many individuals as he can during the time period, starting with people from the other villages.

(I do not need the actual information at this time, so do not worry about actually listing it)

[Darkstorm]

Emiku starts to cry. Tears falls from her face as she sees the flames coalescing into the form of red, fire petals that fill the air around her. Petals flying as the wind and chakra blows on it.

It was beautiful. Not something like an explosion from the tags, or fire release explosion. The explosion was soft and the leaves expanded and floated... She could almost feel the smell of the flowers.

But she is crying also from the way she, and her new found friends were with each other. It was... Nice. Very.

Quickly she puts her pretty visage again and smiles as if nothing had happened.

Spoiler: mental picture

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Think something akin to Bleach's Byakuya Kuchiki Senbonzakura, but with fire leafs

_____________________________________

Emiku listens to her sensei, and feels proud of herself and her team mates. The training was hard, but had brought the best in each. A quick development of skills. She pondered if they could take the Green Snake alone now - maybe. Just a maybe. But that was telling. They were good to take on a Jonnin level opponent.

She makes sure she'll use the Dojo for practice, and use opportunities to gain social advantages and learn more about the Hyuuga. She has a lot of faith in her social skills.

_____________________________________
Emiku walks in in a pristine new (for the occasion) kimono, and a new painting on her umbrella. The occasion was important and she had to look good.

Despite all her maneuvering and social grace, her ancestry made her not welcomed in some parts. But slowly she would erode that boulder. She would become part and important in this village.

She makes sure to talk with her former team. She had missed them. They were very different from her new team mates but... They had trained together. Learned the basics together. She would help them if she could, and hoped they would too.

She glides along the teams looking and presenting herself properly to the leaders, trying to assert if she knows any, and things she remembers about them.

Spoiler: OOC

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Emiku will use her skills using assessment, Connected and well informed
Assessment: (1d20+8)[16]
Well informed: (1d20+7)[24]

[Seandiggersby]

Yazuko was extremely happy to have made new friends. He enjoyed training with Yotsuda who helped him learn many new techniques aswell as being able to practice with the other 4 genin. He lost his parents but they sort of became a new family to him.

_________________________________________________

He looks around at all the other genin taking the exam. He waves to his old teammate but won't initiate a conversation. He looks around sizing up all the the competition.

Spoiler: ooc

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Assessment on as many people as possible

[dangelo]

Sunagakure sent six teams, Amegakure sent four and other villages sent less than that. Kirigakure extraordinarily sends a team for the first time. Kumo and Iwa, as always, continue to hold their own exams.
The five shinobi from Kiri all wear the same white cloak and white mask. You can't tell them apart from each other just by looking at them.

[John Cribati]

Kyori
Status: Grumpy (Normal), Chakra Sight Active | Chakra: 60/60

Kyori was never one for socializing, but she does make a point of going around the room, usually accompanied by one teammate or another, only stopping to cross her arms and lean against a wall in the general vicinity of other ninja from Konoha. If she uses the constant change in vantage points to get a proper sweep of the foreigners in the room, well, who’s to blame her?

Spoiler: OOC

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Activate Chakra Sight and make a bunch of Routine Perception (Chakra Sight) Checks. She’s got a +15 to that.

[Izzarra]

Nara Kimiko Conditions: None Chakra: 60/60 HP: 1

Over the months of training Kimiko is able to refine her ability to flow her wind natured chakra into weapons and the first steps towards learning medical ninjutsu have greatly improved her control over her chakra.

She is honored to be nominated for the Chunin Exams and begins studying what records she is able to access in preparation.

Spoiler: OOC

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Has Kimiko read anything of importance regarding what we might expect to face.

Eidetic Memory: You have perfect recall of everything you’ve experienced. You have a +5 circumstance bonus on checks to remember things, including resistance checks against effects that alter or erase memories. You can also make Expertise skill checks to answer questions and provide information as if you were trained, meaning you can answer questions involving difficult or obscure knowledge even without ranks in the skill, due to the sheer amount of trivia you have picked up.

Expertise: (1d20+9)[17]

[dangelo]

The place was crammed with people, so Kyori had some trouble telling chakra signatures apart from each other. Still, one of them was so distinguishable that it was impossible for her not to notice. This one guy from Sunagakure, a tall, 14 year-old wearing round shades, is clearly the leader of his squad. His chakra signature screams "Earth Release", but not like other Doton users Kyori might've seen.

When Kyori watches Mungi perform Earth Release techniques, she can clearly see the Change in Chakra Nature happening inside his body, when his physical and spiritual energy combine to manifest earthen materials.
In this guy's case, his chakra is always changing it's nature. For what Kyori knows, it should be impossible and even useless to do so, unless you wanna waste all your chakra. Still, he doesn't seem to be wasting any of it.


Kimiko is aware that the Sand takes this international exam thing very seriously. To keep their high standards, the village only sends their best genin, keeping other young shinobi and demanding that they train for a few years before applying. There's this culture among gamblers that "You just gotta figure out who did Suna send to wipe the floor with the rest of the candidates, than you put your money on that kid. Simple as that."

She also read about how squads from lesser villages usually have more trouble than those from Konoha and Suna. That's mainly because their villages lack special techniques, weapons, prestigious shinobi clans and bloodlines to equip their candidates with. Things like fancy eyes, dog noses and hijutsu.

[dangelo]

Mungi notices a particularly dangerous squad from Amegakure. They're young, a little reckless and are making some noise in the room, trying to intimidate the others with the size of their fuuma shuriken and how one of them can keep it balanced on his finger. He realizes how shinobi from lesser villages rely a lot more on ninja tools, like fuuma shuriken and explosive tags, and wonders what would they do if someone took it from them.

Emiku knows everyone who attended the Academy with her, and even a few others. Among them, there are some individuals of special renown (for the better or for the worse). The heirs of the Inuzuka, Hyuuga and Shimura clans are in the same squad, as you know, but now Mungi's old colleague Sarutobi Yotsui is also a part of the team. They're the "konoha favorites" in the exam.
During the time she spent in the Hyuuga District, Dorago was not there; He wouldn't speak to her or to any of her teammates, though he was never explicitly rude to her. Apparently, he didn't focus a lot on his taijutsu for the last month.

Yazuko recognizes another genjutsu user in the crowd: Mungi's former partner, Tonori Ishida, who uses music and sound to trick people's minds. Ever since Konoha lost the Uchiha Clan, they haven't managed to send a lot of genjutsu specialists to the event.
Genjutsu users, more than anyone, usually stick to a low profile. Yazuko is not sure about other villages, but at least they probably don't know about him too.

[dangelo]

Flashback:
"Information is power." Yotsuda said. "Kimiko, Kyori, you both have signature weapons. Show up with them, and you're already feeding information to the enemy. Keep your weapons hidden in these scrolls until you need them. Believe me, any well-prepared candidate will be doing this."

[John Cribati]

Kyori (Also Flashback)
Status: Amused (Normal in Name Only)

They’d gone through the theory of sealing scrolls, but Kyori had never had her own before. With the scroll in one hand and her podao in the other, she gets her chakra flowing the right way... and her weapon disappears in a puff of smoke. With a thought, it’s back in her hand. If she practices the motion a few too many times for “Just to make sure I’ve got it down” to be a valid excuse, well, you could never be too careful.

Rumors of her grinning from ear to ear as she does so are greatly exaggerated.

[Izzarra]

Nara Kimiko Conditions: None Chakra: 60/60 HP: 1

It feels weird going into the exams without her sword on her back. She almost feels naked without its weight, even though it is sealed in a scroll with her other equipment.

[Darkstorm]

Emiku continued her social gliding among the party, till she thinks she has gatehred enough information and had been present - she had been noticed and made a statement of her maners. Laying the bricks for future connections. That was the way she was taught.

She eventually returns next to her group and comments "The nin from the sand seem strong this year."

[dangelo]

At precisely 9:30, someone detonates a smoke bomb in the middle of the room. The doors are shut closed with a loud bang, pulled by strings of wire.
A man's voice can be heard echoing villanously through the room.
"I hope you're sure about your decision... cause you can't give up on the exams anymore."

"If you think you wanna be a chunin, think again. You must be a capable ninja in almost every aspect to lead others into battle. You might have specialized in ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu, but there's something else you're yet to master..."

The smoke vanishes. The man is a 30 year-old special jonin, but you can't really see his face behind the huge pile of paper he's carrying in his hands.
"Paperwork."

"Each of you must fill these forms." He throws one at each candidate.
"Things will get dangerous. You may die in the exams." He says casually. "So you must agree with the terms, and read everything carefully! Also, please register any tools you bring into the exams; That means pills, weapons, anything not included in the standard kit."
"You have ten minutes to finish, and not a second more. I am Yuma Tenchi, Konoha's Master Bureaucrat, and I won't take any questions. Begin!"

You can barely finish in ten minutes, and end up skipping a few paragraphs. At some point the paperwork feels a little redundant, but it's somewhat clear that this is already part of the test.

At the ten minute mark, Tenchi raises his hand in the air. "Now! Hand over your forms, and I'll give each team a different number. Don't lose it, don't ask questions. Now, pay attention to these instructions, as I won't repeat them:"

"First: The first part of the Chunin Exams will be a survival exercise with maximum duration of 120 hours. It will take place in the Sixty-Sixth Training Ground, also known as the Valley of Doom. Don't judge the book by it's cover, though: it's worse than it sounds."

"You have two objectives: Gather intelligence and deliver it to the headquarters, represented here by hidden scrolls and a tower in the centre of the arena."
"There are ten special scrolls hidden in the arena. Look for points of interest that would be relevant in a battlefield situation: warehouses, fortifications, hideouts. To make it to the next phase, your team must find one of those scrolls and bring it to the tower."

Tenchi unfolds a large scroll that turns out to be a map of the arena.

Spoiler: Map

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Dotted line: Swamp area, where the tower is
Scale: If the map was a perfect circle, it would have a 20 mile radius

"Each squad will enter the forest through a different gate. Remember that number I gave you? Good: This is your gate. Go there."
"There are examiners in every gate waiting for you already. The exam will start in forty minutes, so don't be late. I will be here reviewing these forms, but don't waste my time with foolish questions. Go away, now."

[Novabomb]

Mungi Koto is too committed to doing as instructed to think about his answers to the paperwork.
At the command to leave he almost breaks into a run, but even he thinks to himself:
Why give us 40 minutes to get in position when it can be comfortably done in 20?
We are given a chance to do something....Gather intelligence?

He fakes being slow to move out, and tries to get to a vantage point where he can read the contents of the papers as the examiner looks through them.

[dangelo]

The squad's number is 31. Mungi keeps an eye on his form...

Mungi: Perception - (1d20+15)[31]

...and manages to see it when Yuma Tenchi drops another pile of paper on top of it: 32 was a Sound team, 30 was a Leaf team. Not sure which one, though.
Those squads will be your nearest threats at the beginning of the exercise.

[Darkstorm]

Emiku stops and says to the others "So this means only 10 teams maximum can pass. Less if any team has two or more."

She looks down and starts mulling the words "There will be two ways to approach this, but both will require speed. Most teams will try to find the scrolls - they will encounter oposition as there is a low Scroll/team ratio. Others will speed towards the tower and try to catch the teams comming, trying to pick the scroll they have. Both strategies have ups and downs, and depend on speed and even luck."


She looks up and adds "This will be hard."

[John Cribati]

Kyori
Status: Normal

There's also the option of taking teams out before they have the chance to get anywhere near a scroll. Fewer people to fight when we do find one, but that puts us at a disadvantage if we're racing to get one in the first place. Wouldn't be a good idea to split up into three teams, but we work out different formations for offense, retrieval, and Defense.

[Novabomb]

Mungi Koto after deciding he has obtained all the information he is going to be able to get, he returns to the others.

Gate 30 is from Konoha, but I could not catch which one. We should angle away from that side. Gate 32 is the sound team. What do we know about them?

[Izzarra]

Nara Kimiko Conditions: None Chakra: 60/60 HP: 1

"Or perhaps we should head towards Gate 30. We might be able to make an alliance. Two Konoha teams working together to get two scrolls."

[dangelo]

The candidates from Otogakure left as soon as they were dismissed by Yuma Tenchi. Like other candidates from lesser villages, they try not to draw too much attention to themselves and keep an overall low profile, assuming they're always on disadvantage.

The location of the gates are marked on the map, a total of 34: 18 for the Leaf teams, 6 for the Sand, 4 for the Rain, 3 for the Grass and one for each of the Waterfall, Sound and Mist teams. The map doesn't say which gate is assigned to which team.

[dangelo]

After a quick twenty-minute walk, the team reaches gate number 31. It's guarded by a regular chunin from Konoha who's only five years older than you. He proudly wears a green flak vest and comments about his three attempts to become a chunin.

Up until now, three strategies have been discussed: Rushing to the tower and trying to catch the teams comming with scrolls, trying to team up with the Leaf team to the east early on, or ambushing the Sound team to the west with your privileged information about their location.

• Rushing to the tower is high risk/high reward. Your enemies will fight with everything they have to keep their scrolls. Although they might be weakened from previous battles, at this point they'll also be willing to spend any available resources to win.
  
  
• Trying to team up with a Konoha team is dangerous, though rational. There are more teams from Konoha than from any other village, so everyone's ready to fight a compatriot; but even then, between fighting fellow Leaf nin and fighting outsiders, most reasonable people should choose the latter.
  
  
• Ambushing the Sound team could be a good offensive move that wouldn't put you at too much risk, but it has to be quick and clean. If you waste time during the first hours of the exam, you might lose the chance to find a scroll before another squad does.

Spoiler

Show

Last chance to discuss strategies before the exam. Once you're in, I'm gonna need a number of Perception and Stealth checks from everyone, so feel free to roll the first one upfront in your next post.

[Darkstorm]

Emiku feels her heart beating fast as the moment aproaches. Fighting she could do, but handling the calm time before that was something she was still getting used to.

"I propose we use the sensory advantage we have" she says looking at her companions who were better than her at it "to map the movement of the other near teams, and gain a tactical advantage. I still believe speed will be important, but probably best if intertwinned with moments to "scan" the battlefield".

[dangelo]

The chunin examiner by the gate checks his watch. "It's time. Good luck in there, team 31. I hope you come out alive!" He unlocks a heavy padlock, loosing the thick chains that kept the gate shut.

After a long time of nervous expectation, the examiner blasts the gate wide open, relieving you from waiting. "Now, go!" He yells, raising a fist in the air. With this loud command, the five of you instantly leap forward, running into the woods at full speed.

There were thirty four teams and only ten scrolls; The exercise was clearly designed to be a quick bloodbath with lingering consequences. Those who fail to find a scroll in the first hours of the exam must work around it quickly, or the ten teams might just reach the tower and finish the exercise. At the same time, if you don't run to the tower immediately, other teams will lay traps and get ready for you while you look for scrolls.

The first thing to do, however, is to situate yourselves. Yotsuda always said that "In order to play Shogi, you must look at the board. If you don't scout the battlefield, you're just blindly moving pieces around, waiting to be ambushed." With his words in mind, you keep your eyes open for every little detail.

The forest is dense, but the trees are thick and branch out widely, so it's easy to leap around. What really gets in the way is the rugged terrain: valleys and hills of all sizes sprout from among the trees, sometimes covered by them, sometimes emerging as grey stone peaks.

Spoiler

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Rolls, fix and another fix (messed up the rolls twice )
Kyori, Yazuko, Mungi: No need to spend chakra with this use of your techniques. Do it for the next times.
I decided to roll your Perception without range penalties and work my way backwards from there.

There are no enemies nearby.
Kyori finds a blurry mix of five chakra signatures in both directions, one to the east, one to the west. The Konoha team is one of the veteran ones, they're a few years older than you and tried the exams several times before.

Spoiler

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[dangelo]

Two minutes in, as you venture deeper into the forest, you face yet another decision. Again, the squad takes a quick break to scan the battlefield.

The Sound team (31) has gone off your radar. They changed directions as soon as the exam started.

The Leaf team (30) has stopped moving. Kyori can sense their chakra moving around a small area, as if they were looking for something. Yazuko's static strings detect a building, a bunker of sorts. Mungi's tremor sense picks up a faint vibration produced by kousen rubbing against tree trunks - they're putting up traps.

But something else draws your attention: Another squad is approaching the bunker, probably Team 29. Kyori immediately identifies the Mist team's chakra signatures.

They seem to have turned left (just like the Sound team did) and then right again, following Team 30's trail. You can intercept team 29 on their way there, try to reach Team 30 before them, wait to see what happens or just ignore them and consider that scroll lost. All information given here is assumed to have been shared with the whole group.