I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.
- o 0 o -
Neji
"Just how did these gold chain necklaces end up in those Hell Hounds?" Tenten wonders as the ranger holds up a small collection of necklaces. Lee tosses a ring in Tenten's direction while he looks on with a slightly bemused look.
"I would think they ingested them along with the rest of their... 'meal'." He answers as he pockets puts the polishing cloth back into his pack, his dagger gets re-sheathed in its place on his belt. "Though you would think this cultists would stripe them of their jewelry before feeding them to their hounds." He adds as he glances about the floor, particularly at the scattered, broken bones.
"Makes you wonder if there's anything of value in their..." Lee muses as the monk glances over at a dung heap. He fights the urge to vomit at the very idea that his team-mate proposes.
"Lee..." Tenten groans and he glances to find the ranger of the group looking a bit more pale then Tenten normally looks. Lee just seems to look slightly proud of himself, which causes him to conclude that's the Dragonborn's goal in suggesting that idea.
"Can we please focus here? We're now in the kennel of this cult, which means we're likely going to run into a lot of monsters before we make it to the central area of this temple compound. We also don't know from which direction Gaara and his party is going to be coming from either." He reminds the other two.
"You know, I thought we weren't interested in bringing this cult down, just crossing through this country?" Lee muses and Tenten nods in agreement with Lee.
"I have to agree with Lee on this one, Neji. We were only trying hook up with the others." Tenten points out and he sighs.
"Well, do you really think they'd let us pass through un-molested? I mean, they let loose a clan of Owlbears, then Drakes." He says and Lee asks, "How do you know those things were Owlbears?"
He points to the wall behind him that shows a bunch of posters of various monsters they have encountered with a few they haven't seen before. The names of the monsters were underlined in bold letters in common. "Oh! You know, maybe we should take those down so we can take them with us." Lee says and Tenten just sighs.
"You know, I kind of thought knowing monsters was a ranger's job... I mean, they are wilderness guides." Tenten admits with a frown and he gives Tenten a thoughtful look.
"Maybe that section was in that book part that you lost." He muses thoughtfully. Tenten flushes slightly while Lee is already taken down four of those monster posters.
"Well, while you two are doing that, I'm going to go check on that door to see if we have guards swarming outside of this part of the animal compound." He says before heading towards the wooden door that's barred with iron bars to reinforce it.
)-o-(
Gaara
"Do we have to share our plunder with that other party of Leaf nins?" Kankuro asks him as they finish walking pass the gate houses in the disguises he stole from this cult's storeroom on the fourth floor. Temari is their 'prisoner' since Kankuro and him were the only two that could pass themselves off as humans.
"Unlikely since all that gold I pocketed while with them was still there." He says before adding, "I did count it before I pocketed it."
"Well, that's a relief." Temari mutters softly as best as the bindings on the rogue's beak can allow. "Shh!" Kankuro hisses softly as a patrol comes down the hall as they head to the prison cells.
The guards pass by them without glancing at either Kankuro and him, though a cruel smirk hovers about their faces at the sight of Tamari. Finally, they get into the prison section of the temple complex and while Kankuro inquires about guard shifts, he moves through the hall between the various cells that hold various humanoid monsters like Cyclopes and Wererats.
The Wererats perk up after getting a whiff of his scent. A few of the prisoners begin to stir as they realize something's up with a selection of prisoners. A slight crack and Kankuro has killed the guard. As Kankuro looks around for the keys which gives Temari the signal that they're in the clear, so the Kenku breaks through the simple rope bindings, bindings that had been under an illusion to look like metal chains.
Within seconds, Temari is already beginning to pick the locks of the cells using that lock kit that his sister had added to over the months they've been trapped here, in this world. Kankuro finds the key ring and once the Rakshasa tosses it over to him before reanimating the dead guard. A few of the prisoners give his brother a wary look but were too eager to leave to be overly cautious.
Once all of the cells were open, the prisoners head for some hidden room and come out with weapons. Without a word from them, the newly released beastly humanoids have a scent of health potions coming from them as they pass by him. Murderous intent shine out of their eyes as they file up the stairs.
Within minutes, alarms sound while screams and war cries erupt. He watches as the last of the prisoners vanish and after a few minutes, Temari comes out of that concealed weapons room humming a happy tune while Kankuro finishes creating an army of skeleton minions out of the discarded dead bodies of nonhumans, like goblin types and Gnolls.
"How stupid are they, leaving at least one cell packed yea high with bones of the dead." Kankuro mutters before directing the horde up the stairs before they head up. Not much happens as the first of those undead minions likely arrive in that hall, which could mean anything at the moment.
"Just be sure to not have any undead hang around when we're traveling with that other party, they do have a half-elf ranger among them." He answers as he heads up the stairs before they did. He hears the fabric of Kankuro's clothing move slightly, he could only guess at what movement the tigerman had done since he didn't bother to turn around to see Kankuro's reaction to that order.
)-o-(
Anko
"Looks like they got things well in hand." She muses as she watches as those minions belonging to one of the Sand nin slowly drift down the hall. The few enemies they come across were usually overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Kankuro continues to animate the dead so the number only increases instead of decreases. Fallen skeletons only needed to have that spell recast for those to once more get up off the floor fully 'healed'. "Well, they are in the running for passing this part of the test." Iruka muses from his seat in the chair before one of the few active observation orbs.
There is only six teams left in the running and they are the Leaf rookies, Gai's team, the Sand nin, and finally, Orochimaru's team. "I'm surprise none of the Jonin are demanding to see how their teams are doing considering how long this exam has been running." The Chuunin siting before the orb that's tuned into Kakashi's team.
"Gai and Kurenai are antsy, though Gai's doing better at hiding it then Kurenai. Asuma and Kakashi seem to be holding up, though Baki seems to get nervous every month around the full moon." She answers before frowning slightly as she tries to recall if there was ever a Jonin for the Grass team.
"Must be because of the demon sealed within Gaara." Iruka muses and she nods, it had been surprising to learn that they had two Jinchuriki instead of one participating in this Chuunin exam. Although from what they have learned, Gaara's seal is incomplete compared to the seal the Fourth had used to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. Which is a mixed blessing since it wouldn't hurt for those bastards to be reminding now and again of what a demon really is.
"Makes you wonder how long it would have been before the fox had gotten out if the Fourth had used an inferior seal..." Her latest 'secretary' muses as the woman makes her presences known with a bunch of files in her hands.
"Wouldn't have held for a month if you recall poison attempts." She answers as she turns to take the files from Miyako. "I'll be in my office." She says as she reads the titles of the files.
Miyako Inoue falls into step behind her. "Has any of this information reached our Jonin's ears?" She asks Miyako as she glances over at the purple haired Chuunin.
"No it hasn't. The security spells have ensured that but they are beginning to notice our tension." Mrs Inoue informs her.
"And just how many of our people want to bring them in now?" She asks, not that she didn't blame the Chuunin about this but she needs those Jonin acting naturally since they pretty much live in that quarter of the building with outside Jonin and they won't if they knew they're about to be attacked. She knew that if the shoe had been on the other foot, the Jonin wouldn't hast to keep this vital information from the Chuunin.
"Just two more to add to that camp." Miyako informs her and she sighs as she drops the files onto her desk once the door it closed. "Outside Jonin are also getting antsy, they don't see why they have to remain here when it's clear their Genin have failed." Miyako adds.
"So we organize something to keep all of the Jonin occupied. Busy hands and all that." She says as she settles into her comfortable rolling chair.
"That also might be good for our own people too. We do have more man power then we need at this moment." Miyako adds thoughtfully.
"I'll trust you know who would be best suited to be put in charge of this grand distraction." She informs Miyako and the twenty something Chuunin nods. "Now then, how goes correcting those bugs in the spells used for simulations?" She asks as she locates an on-going file that's only allowed to be stored within her office.
)-o-(
Kakashi
"This is getting tiring." Kurenai growls as she drops down onto the couch while he watches as Gai juggles knives blindfolded. "I don't see why we can't at least get a summary of on our teams." The new Jonin mutters.
He privately wants access to his book collection but he doesn't see that happening, so he manages to say without showing his irritation, "If they're not here then we must have done something right."
"That's not as reassuring as it was a few months ago." Kurenai states sourly. "I mean, we've been here for over two years! Surely giving us an update about our teams wouldn't interfere with the exam process." His fellow Leaf Jonin says with a defeated sigh.
"Even if we break into their records room, I doubt we'd learn anything." Asuma states as the man comes to drink from the water bottle that's resting the coffee table to his right. He turns to give Asuma a raised eyebrow.
"Really, now? How would you know that?" He asks in a light tone.
"Those three Mist Jonin managed it a few months ago. All of the papers they found were blank. They don't know what happened but woke in the medical wing." Asuma tells them and he couldn't help but be curious now.
"Interesting..." He muses as he begins to consider the facts as they stood. Isn't there still a Leaf nin comatose in the medical wing? He muses, it's the only item of business that he finds odd since he's seen the Chuunin do a lot of miracles things since arriving in this complex.
-)Be Continued . . .(-
