Kino's POV-
I sat next to Yacou on the wall near the training grounds, as we watched Kokoro dragging Seika along behind him, following Shinuhi as the elderly man began approaching us. We'd been waiting for Tokama-sensei to arrive, but apparently Shinuhi was going to be training us instead…
Yacou and I shared a glance, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. This was going to be boring….. It didn't help that they'd brought Seika along, and it was all I could do not to jump down and crush him for breaking Dakede's arm like that. Still, it'd be best if I didn't cause any trouble, Shinuhi probably wouldn't like us attacking him…
So, when Kokoro and Seika reached us, we dropped down off of our wall, bowing to the two, though I think we both wanted to throttle Seika instead. We turned to Shinuhi, wondering what the lesson was going to be today. We didn't have long to wait, as he leaned heavily on his stuff, clearing his throat. When he had our attention, he nodded his approval, before speaking slowly. "Alright, both teams have a member who's injured, and therefore both teams are down a man."
He scratched his head, before holding up a hand, reaching out to us. "Tokama-san's not here and he's left you two in my care. Meaning that I am solely responsible for your training today… I don't know what training you've been doing with Tokama-san, and I'm afraid I don't care… Today, I'm going to prepare you for the Chuunin Exams. The Chuunin Exams change every year, but every year the final test consists of one on one combat between the Chuunin, with the matches being determined randomly. The second test usually consists of a team effort between the various Gennin teams."
He yawned loudly, standing away from the staff as he made several hand seals. "Glass Release: Translucent Dance of the Heavens." Several glass shards rose from the earth, spinning around rapidly until they were no longer visible, as Shinuhi thrust his hands forward. There were four cutting sounds, followed by four clinking sounds, as each of the Gennin's forehead protectors fell to the floor.
Shinuhi moved his staff forward, pressing it down on each forehead protector and dragging them across the ground towards him. He bent down, picking them up, before tying them each to his staff. "Today I'm going to prepare you for the second variety of test. You are each going to function as teams of two, and use teamwork to reclaim your forehead protectors. That's all."
I frowned, leaning down to look at his staff… How could we get that? It was impossible, he was a Jounin… I breathed a heavy sigh, clenching my fists as a feeling of despair began to wash over me. How were two gennin supposed to get past two other gennin, and then manage to steal two forehead protectors from a Jounin?
I looked over to Yacou, but she seemed calm for some reason… What was she thinking? Her Kekkei Genkai wouldn't work here, the seals wouldn't get past his glass barriers. Still, if she wanted to try it… I suppose I had no right to deny her the chance to win. I stood up, waiting for Shinuhi to begin, as he grinned at us. Kokoro seemed as uneasy as I was, but Seika whispered in his ear, and he immediately grinned… So Seika had a plan already, huh?
I moved to make a plan with Yacou as well, but I moved too slowly, as Shinuhi banged his staff into the ground. I looked up at the man, feeling a twinge of apprehension at the thought of training this man while Tokama was gone… He smiled at the group of us, as he began making several more hand seals. "We'll begin as soon as my next jutsu is finished. First team to grab two forehead protectors wins."
He stopped making hand seals, as he looked up. "Glass Release: Mirror Prison of the Buddha." Walls of glass appeared around them, creating an intricate maze of mirrors, as Shinuhi sighed heavily, a bead of sweat on his brow. He must have used a bit of chakra for that one… Shinuhi shook his head, glaring down at me as I frowned slightly, feeling the angry gaze of dozens of Shinuhis staring at me. Creepy….
Suddenly, Shinuhi was gone, and I knew the test had begun. Seika and Kokoro immediately took off in one direction, while Yacou and I stood there, staring at the mirrors blankly…. I stood to look at Yacou, smiling and nodding my head. She nodded her head in return, before whipping her scroll out.
She summoned forth her bladed puppet, as it opened it's mouth, a large ball of explosive tags forming. She frowned, turning to me with her brow furrowed. "Hey Kino, I've only got three or four shots with this, where do I shoot?" Oh…. Well that was a problem. We'd need to fire them wherever they would be most effective…
I pointed to the four sides of the maze, grinning widely. By taking out the sides of the maze, we might be able to make the other mirror's fall… Unless they were all imbedded in the earth, at which point we'd need to find a way to destroy the others.
As Yacou's puppet launched the four projectiles, and we heard the shattering of glass as the balls exploded…. Some of the outer rings collapsed, but the inner square remained intact, and now Shinuhi was toying with us. He was running through the maze, the mirrors reflecting only him for some reason, and he was everywhere.
The mirror images were always doing the same thing, whether it was lashing out with a staff, or simply running. I learned quickly that they were incredibly realistic, and the chances of getting hit with a staff weren't increased just because the mirror swung at someone.
Occasionally however, I would get cracked in the stomach, or in the back of the head, and I could already feel bumps forming there… I reached out and grabbed Yacou, pulling her back against the wall, as I used the flight technique. Screw this running around crap, Yacou and I would search in style.
As we floated into the air, we looked down, noting a silver dome, as we descended down to it…. It looked like Kokoro had gotten tired of getting hit, he had surrounded himself and Seika with blades… We descended downwards towards them, knocking on the dome and calling out. The blades parted slowly, and Kokoro stared out at us, confirming our identities before lowering the rest of the blades.
As much as I hated to admit it, there was no way Yacou and I could do this alone. We'd already tried blasting the glass, and that was really all we had… Girin would make things easier, but he wasn't here. Looks like we'd have to make do… "Kokoro, listen. Shinuhi-sensei said we had to take the forehead protectors, he didn't say we couldn't work together to do it."
Kokoro seemed to be mulling this over, obviously debating on whether or not it was a trick, before shrugging his shoulders. "Well, it's probably better than sitting here waiting to be whacked… So, what's the plan?" Kokoro and Kino shared a dumb look for a minute, before turning to Seika, who was busy examining rocks….
Girin's POV-
I drummed my fingers on the bedside, growing bored… Tokama-san had said to rest, but I was far too hyper to rest…. I turned to look to Dakede, only to see the boy on the floor doing one armed pushups…. How had I missed that?
I cleared his throat, nodding my head at the man. "Hey Dakede, whatchu doing that for?" Dakede grunted as he worked, sweat beading on his forehead as he looked up at his roommate. The sandy haired child, looked back down at the floor, the grey cement floor darkened by his sweat as he ignored my question.
I glared angrily, rolling out of bed to punch the Gennin, until Dakede rose up one last time, and was unable to keep himself up. I panicked, knowing how much it'd hurt if he hit his arm, and I leaned down to grab the exhausted child before he could bump his bad arm against the floor, pulling him up to a sitting position. If he'd hurt himself the nurses would have known, and they'd have come put us back in bed, and they had permission from my mother to tie me to the hospital bed…
My amber eyes stared into Dakede's green ones for several moments, before Dakede breathed a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "We promised to go to the Chuunin exams right? I'm not gonna let myself get out of shape just because my arm's broken… You should get some exercise in too, before the nurses come back."
I helped Dakede back into bed, deciding that I wouldn't suffer too much from the loss of activity…. Still, it wouldn't hurt to practice my spitting. And that was how it came to pass that when the nurses returned, they found both Dakede and me laughing happily, competing to see who could spit the furthest.
Kino's POV-
I watched from above as Shinuhi ran through the maze. The old man had already found the other three, and was dancing around them, his staff lashing out to smack them, as Kokoro once again created a shield of blades. I had to admit, the old man was good… Anyone on the ground wouldn't be able to tell what was a mirror and what was him, but from above I had a good view of him, and I was still impressed.
He danced around with the staff like he'd been born with it in his hands…. Still, the man seemed to have sustained an injury at some point, he always struck out with the staff then brought it back to lean on, as if he couldn't land from a jump without it…. Destroy the staff and the old man would lose his mobility.
Kino made several hand seals, grinning slightly. "Earth Release: Earth Golem." As the large rock golem formed out of Kino's mouth, it dropped to the ground, the weight plus gravity sending it rocketing down swiftly.
Shinuhi looked up in time to see the golem coming, and he made several hand seals, thrusting his hands towards the air. "Glass Release: The Wedge of Fate." A large wedge shaped glass construct formed in the air, splitting the golem in half as it dropped down, slipping the sides off to either side of the old man. It was then that Kokoro's dome opened, and the swords darted forwards instead.
Shinuhi dodged backwards just in time to avoid getting impaled, though there were several loud thunks as the swords impaled the staff. The old man attempted to pull the staff away, put the chakra arms wouldn't release the swords. Only after the man's staff was thoroughly occupied did Seika jump out at him, grabbing the top of the staff and kicking at it, splitting it down the middle. At the cracking sound that followed, Yacou's dragon puppet flew forward, flying in circles around the man swiftly, the chakra threads pinning his arms to his sides.
Kino smiled at the completion of Seika's plan, knowing that it should have been obvious from the beginning. Still, they had won, that was all that mattered. Shinuhi chuckled lightly, as two glass shards sliced through the chakra threads binding him. He picked up half of his staff, examining it, before giving the four gennin a whack on the head.
When they all turned to him questioningly, he waggled a disapproving finger, frowning. "I said get your forehead protectors, not break my staff. Now I need a new one… Still, I suppose you did do good… Come on, I'll buy dinner." Shinuhi smiled as he brought Seika over, tousling his nephew's hair. His nephew may be a complete idiot, but he was pretty smart when he needed to be… As they walked, no one noticed that Seika's Kunai pack had been stolen by a shadowy figure.
