Kitsune Legends

Okay...tomorrow, I have to go back to school -hisses at education-.

Strike that. In preparation for the state testing next week (I live in California), our teachers gave us a buttload of homework. I'm sorry that this update came later than we all wanted it to. T.T.

Reiko no Tori: Of course they'll be in the story -smiles-. Who else would they meet when they go to Konoha? And don't worry. That'll be in a few chapters later. Maybe 3 or 4 chapters later.

Key: "Talking"

'Thinking'

(This key will be updated as the story continues.)

-points downwards- EDITED! (only the test explanation of course)

Phase 1: Dungeon of Despair

It was still raining hard when Mikiko trudged her way towards Genji's office for her punishment. Thunder clashed high above her, lighting up the dull face. Grimacing, she turned the corner of the open hallway and entered through the sliding door. Inside, the only light was from a candle on Genji's desk, reflecting the dark and hungry look on his face. She closed the door quietly and bowed to the higher ranking Hakumei.

"Good evening, Genji-sama...," she greeted quietly, straightening out her form and walking forward towards the desk. Grinning, Genji nodded, standing up from his chair to begin the child's punishment.

20 minutes later...

Mikiko screamed in pain as the whip lashed out against her bare skin. Her mind began to turn numb along with some parts of her body as the whip cracked again, hard enough to give her a scar for life.

'Why...why am I here?' she thought bitterly as she got whipped again. The pain jogging her memory, she smirked unexpectedly.

'Oh yeah. Shuriken.' The whips stopped crashing down on her little body as the blood loss started to make her woozy.

'But I'm used to it anyways...' The last thing she saw before she passed out was a grinning Genji, rolling up his whip.

Miko eyes slowly opened as the birds started to chirp outside. Her body was covered in a cold sweat from her dream. Sitting up on her bed, she rubbed out the sand in her eyes, grimacing. She glanced at her clock. '4:45 am...' Yawning, she slid out of bed and walked towards her shower, located in her room. As she stripped off her clothes and got inside, she turned the temperature of the water as cold as she can get it and turned on the water. The sudden coldness woke her up fully as she thought about her dream. Punching the tiled wall of the shower, she cursed.

"Dammit..."

After freshening up, she walked back to her bed and crouched beside it, groping for something under her bed. A faint metal clink rang as she pulled out a katana with a thin chain-like tassel extending from the bottom of the hilt. At the end of the silver chain was a tiny crescent-shaped blade, as sharp as a knife. The sheath, hilt, and handle were colored a deep jet black. Mikiko got up and strapped it onto her back using a strip of dark brown leather especially designed for her.

It wrapped diagonally across her upper body, from her right shoulder to her stomach, making the handle sticking up diagonally over her shoulder from behind (you see, Mikiko and Tsuki were a little shorter than they were supposed to be). Walking confidently out of her room, she joined Tsuki outside theHakumei manor.

Tsuki also had a weapon she didn't show their team yet. Tucked in her white obi, she had 2 fans by each hip. Each had the Hakumeiclan sign on it; a silver crescent moon with 3 blood red jagged claw marks slashing through it. Tsuki grinned happily at Mikiko before leading them both towards training area 34.

Riku sat cross legged by the metal fence bordering the training area, growling as he slammed his fist on the ground.

"Where the hell is everybody?" His voice echoed throughout the empty field in front of him as he groaned and threw his head back. He blinked as his head went into the shadow of one Hakumei Tsuki as she smiled down at him sweetly.

"Aww...Riku-kun, bored out of your mind already?" Riku craned his head backwards to look at the young girl towering over his sitting form as the wind blew over them, causing everyone's clothes to sway.

"Not with this view."

Blushing, Tsuki jumped back a few feet and used her hands to keep down the bottom of her kimono as Riku laughed. Mikiko cleared her throat to make them acknowledge her presence, and suddenly Riku shut his mouth, remembering her blood limit.

-Flashback-

"With a few simple hand seals," she demonstrated by forming them, "we can manipulate any liquid to our will. Also, it cuts the use of chakra on suiton jutsus in half, even when our bloodline limit isn't activated," explained Mikiko. Tsuki nodded as Riku imagined Mikiko suffocating him in a water bubble around his head. He shuddered...

-End Flashback-

He laughed nervously for a while before getting up from his seat on the grass and dusting himself off. "Anyways...where's that damn sens-"

A cloud of ninja smoke exploded in front of him as he jumped jumped away from it, shielding his mouth and nose. Out came Hoshigaki Katsu, eating a chicken terriyaki stick. Tsuki and Riku approached him, drooling a little as they stared at the stick. Mikiko kept her face expressionless and crossed her arms.

"Yo," he said grinning at them, "Ready for your test?" Tsuki gulped and wiped the drool off of her mouth. She stood of straight and looked at her sensei dead-on.

"Let's get it over with."

Miko nodded as Riku recovered from his hunger attack. Nodding, Katsu walked towards the heavily locked gates, his students following. He unlocked the door and the locks fell with heavy thuds. The gate creaked open, letting them get a better view of the area. Before they could walk in, he held out this arm to stop them.

"No. Before you go in, I'll explain the test," he said happily; the 3 stopped and listened intently to his next words.

"During this test, you will all have to start at different entrances to the training area and go into the trap door that one of my water clones will be guiding you towards. Underneath is a dungeon that you will have make your way through it, using only the things you brought here today," he ignored the collective gasps from the genin as he continued, "you will be encountering everything a Mist genin like you should be able to deal with, or at least live through," he laughed maniacally for a bit before going on, "However, there's a twist. In order to pass this test, you must retrieve a silver kunai hidden inside the dungeon. Then, make your way towards the exit...if you can find it. By the way, the dungeon is about 8 miles wide in radius," his students' faces hardened in determination.

He smiled inwardly. 'I might actually come to like these kids...' Katsu held up a clock with a timer in his hand and pointed at the 1. "You have until 11 am to get the kunai and get out of the dungeon. About 30 minutes after the timer goes off, the many emergency exits will be opened for you to get out from."

Silence.

"So. We have about 5 hours, right? What do we do about food?" asked Tsuki.

"Oh don't worry about that. You'll find that some things will be in the dungeon that you won't normally find underground...A ninja must see through deception and look beneath the surface...Underneath the underneath," and with that, he formed a hand seal.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, 2 more Katsu's appeared, all smiling. One took the hand of Tsuki and formed more hand seals, making them disappear in a tiny tornado of mist. The other clutched Mikiko's shoulder and did the same. Five minutes later, the true Katsu nodded towards Riku and led him inside.

As the young boy passed the metal gates a chill ran down his back. He looked around at the eerily silent forest. 'What the hell is this feeling? It's like something is watching me...' They arrived at a wooden trap door in the ground, with a metal ring attached to it. Katsu grabbed it and pulled up, revealing a stone staircase. The heavy scent of blood escaped the opening, washing over Riku. His face remained the same.

'It's not like I smelled this much blood before...Tch...' He took a deep breath and calmed his rapidly beating heart. Katsu checked a pocket watch he was carrying in his pocket. Riku's heart beats started to fall in synch with it as he waited for the sign to go. Tick. Tick. Tick. He clenched his fist, urging this throbbing to slow down.

"Begin!"

End Chapter

Hehe, cliff hanger. I will try to update as soon as I can (and I'm sorry about the short chapter; I usually get about 2000 words in...the test prep must be getting to my head...jeeze...). It might take 1-3 days to update, I'm sorry. But here's the bright side. After all this testing, there will be no HW, meaning 6-8 hours of free time for meeee! FYI, I spend most of my free time reading/writing fanfictions. I hope you stay to read the next chapter. 'Till then, see ya!