The Chuunin Exams

The Chuunin Exams are to be held in Hidden Mist.

Hidden Leaf sends three teams to Mist, Team Four, Team One (which comprises of Kara DeWitt, Klika Kadiri, and Ken Riki, led by Bill Brady), and the Team that has the Ino-Shika-Cho lineup.

Exam One (Thirty-six teams)

Teams cross a field of traps, in twenty minutes or less.

Team Four summons Pancake (a summon housecat) and Triscuit (a giant lioness summon) to sniff out and help disarm the traps. The pair of summons are promised a good brushing and a dinner of cheese, bacon, and clam chowder.

Team Four completes this test within ten minutes.

Exam Two (Twenty-three teams)

Determine the false teammate.

Four months previously, Walter decided that Team Four needed a way to confirm each other's identity in case of an imposter. Michiyo wanted a secret handshake, but Hiko pointed out that they should just use the code-seals on their wrists to secretly confirm identities. Michiyo pouted, and insisted they still have flashy secret handshakes to throw off imposters, or in case of chakra depletion. So they came up with three secret handshakes, referred to as 'Easy,' 'Medium,' and 'Hard.'

The handshake quickly determines that Hiko is the hidden imposter. The imposter doesn't even know what 'Medium' is, and Hiko is allowed to return to the team.

Exam Three (fifteen teams left)

Held in the Deadland Swamps of Hidden Mist. One third of the teams are given scrolls, the other two thirds none. To pass this exam each team must bring one scroll to an old bunker in the middle of the swampland. But there is a catch – all teams must remain within the swamp, and the bunker's doors will only open at the end of the week.

Team Four is not given a scroll, but they quickly obtain one from a Hidden Rock team. Hiko cheats and seals the scroll into a seal on his wrist. They present their scroll to the proctor, and it is blood-stained. After getting a scroll, they set out to terminate the other two teams from Rock, as well as some other teams that try to take their scroll away. They kill four teams total, beat five away. At one point, Walter is captured in a water jutsu, and drowns. Hiko revives him with mouth-to-mouth while Michiyo holds the enemies at bay. Walter is undamaged, but is unable to forget the feel of Hiko's mouth on his – better than his rare kisses with Michiyo.

During the Exam Chouza Akimichi dies.

Leaf Team Ino-Shika-Cho

Inoichi Yamanaka

Shikaku Nara

Chouza Akimichi – dies in third Exam.

After killing off the Rock Genin, Team Four allies with a Mist team they met earlier - Team Mirage.

Kiriko Shibuya is the genin leader of Team Mirage. She is a poison specialist, and is patient and level-headed. Yatsuo Kaguya has a bloodlimit that allows him to fight with his own bones. He has a very short temper. Mira Gintaki uses mud ninjutsu and kenjutsu – she is distantly related to Reika Gintaki, whose grandparents came from Mist.

Kiriko takes a liking to Walter, proposes an alliance with Team Four, and wary, Hiko draws up a contract for both teams to sign. Once the sealed contract is signed, the two teams use earth and fire jutsu to excavate a cave in a hill. They bunker up for the next four days, only leaving to hunt, guard, or do the necessaries. Team Mirage never pulls anything funny, and we discover Kiriko and Mira are a lesbian couple, which fascinates Walter, as they both seem decent and skilled, yet are sexually deviant. At the end of the week, the two teams struggle to the bunker, and pass.

Final Round (four teams left)

One on one combat.

Here are the teams who made it to the final round:

Sand Team Quartz

Kentaro Hokori, Puppeteer, puppets. Genjutsu type. Earth type.

Looks: bushy brown hair, black eyes. Tall, spindly limbs.

Dress: dark brown bodysuit, wooden mask over face. Wears hitae-ite on arm.

Isogi Sokonao, poison user, senbon user. Ninjutsu type. Fire type.

Looks: spiky black hair, brown eyes, handsome. Tall.

Dress: Baggy tan flak jacket, tan trousers. Wears hitae-ite on his forehead.

Yomi Kenka, fire user, giant shuriken user. Ninjutsu type. Fire type.

Looks: short brown hair, square face, medium height. Brown eyes.

Dress: Dull brown robe, red sash. Dark brown baggy trousers. Wears her hitae-ite on her forehead.

Mist Team Mirage

Kiriko Shibuya, water type, poison user. Ninjutsu type. Has a deadly pair of poisoned Neko-te.

Looks: Curly brunette hair to her back, elfin face, gold eyes. The kanji for 'touch' is tattooed on her neck below her right ear. Earlobes are double-pierced

Dress: teal water country tight sweater, black short-trousers. She wears two loops of bandoliers that contain numerous pouches for her poisons, antidotes, darts, and needles. Wears her hitae-ite on her forehead.

Yatsuo Kaguya, bone user, bone daggers. Ninjutsu type. Earth type.

Looks: White hair, zig-zag part. Light grey eyes, red dots above his eyebrows. Earlobes are double-pierced.

Dress: blue water-country turtleneck, baggy brown trousers, loose over-shirt. Wears his hitae-ite around his neck.

Mira Gintaki, mud user, sword user. Earth type, Kenjutsu type.

Looks: spiky silver hair, brown eyes, catlike face. Short. Earlobes are double-pierced.

Dress: navy water country turtleneck, navy leggings, wears a burnt orange and forest green patterned kimono robe over it. Wears her hitae-ite around her forehead.

Leaf Team One

Kara DeWitt, wind type, katana and wakizashi. Trap specialist, kenjutsu.

Looks: Short, pretty, freckled. Red hair to her waist, green eyes.

Dress: Short silver dress, blue mesh armlets and fishnet tights. She wears her hitae-ite on her forehead.

Ken Riki, earth type, favors a pair of sai. Trap specialist.

Looks: wavy blonde hair, gorgeous, scrumptious, grey eyes. Tall.

Dress: brown leather jacket, blue denim short-trousers, white tee-shirt. Wears his hitae-ite around his right shoulder.

Klika Kadiri, water type, brass knuckles. Taijutsu specialist.

Looks: mousy brown chin length hair, purple eyes. Medium height.

Dress: blue long-sleeved shirt, purple leggings. Wears her hite-ite on her forehead.

Round One

Fight One

Mira Gintaki (Mist) vs. Michiyo Kagami (Leaf)

Mira fights mostly with earth jutsu, which take a while to activate, and are meant to restrain her opponents so she can finish them off. She holds her opponents off with her sword. She attempts this strategy – Michiyo engages her in a katana vs. kodachi holdoff. The earth restraining technique gets Michiyo in Mira's grasp, but Michiyo breaks out with an electric technique and gets the better of Mira by pasting a movement-based explosive tag on Mira's face, forcing her to remain still or be blown to bits.

Mira surrenders.

Fight Two

Kentaro Hokori (Sand) vs. Yomi Kenka (Sand)

This fight is an interesting result of what happens when two ninja fight each other too often. They begin with pitting Kentaro's genjutsu against Yomi's flaming giant shuriken, but Yomi doesn't fall for the illusions. Kentaro pulls out a few puppets, but before she can burn them, he surrenders, as he knows if the fight escalates, there will be a fatality. Yomi moves on to the next round.

Fight Three

Walter Kovacs (Leaf) vs. Kara DeWitt (Leaf)

Kara specializes in kenjutsu and trap-setting. Unfortunately for her, Walter is best in fights. He gets her temper going, gets her to drain most of her chakra, fending off sword attacks with knuckle-duster trench knives. He finally wrenches her sword away, and pins her to the ground with a knife to her throat and a knife at her gut.

Walter is declared the winner by the proctor.

Fight Four

Hiko Hyuuga (Leaf) vs. Yatsuo Kaguya (Mist)

Hiko initially seems worse off, until he pulls out premade seals – explosive and shock tags. He spends most of his time running away, formulating a seal which dramatically lessens bone density. He allows Yatsuo to pin him on his back, then slaps the seal on the boy, and kicks the older boy's legs, breaking both of them.

Hiko is declared the winner, to a stunned audience.

Fight Five

Ken Riki (Leaf) vs. Klika Kadiri (Leaf)

Klika immediately surrenders. Ken Riki moves on to the next round.

Fight Six

Kiriko Shibuya (Mist) vs. Isogi Sokonao (Sand)

An interesting fight, between two poison users. Isogi uses his fire techniques to create poison smoke, while Kiriko uses water and mist to apply poison. Isogi prefers senbon, while Kiriko uses neko-te. Ultimately, Kiriko is physically superior, faster, stronger, with more stamina, and better taijutsu. They both wear gas masks during the fight. Isogi collapses, and Kiriko is declared the winner. Both are treated for poisoning, but Isogi dies before they can heal him. Kiriko's stamina is lessened by the effects of the poison.

Round Two

Fight One

Michiyo Kagami (Leaf) vs. Yomi Kenka (Sand)

Yomi taunts Michiyo, lights her shuriken on fire, and throws it at Michiyo, who ducks and is missed. Yomi throws a second shuriken just as Michiyo hurls her kodachi at Yomi and stabs her in the chest with the short sword, then throws herself to the ground to avoid the second shuriken. Yomi dies of massive blood loss. The bloodthirsty Mist crowd cheers.

Michiyo is the winner.

Fight Two

Walter Kovacs (Leaf) vs. Hiko Hyuuga (Leaf)

Walter and Hiko start out with long-range attacks, then move up to traps. Walter bulldozes right through one of Hiko's sustaining some lacerations on his legs, but catching Hiko off guard. They engage in hand-to-hand fighting, with Hiko sealing many of Walter's tenketsu. Hiko is knocked on his butt from one blow, and starts laughing, because he's out of chakra, and Walter clearly has the better of him. He surrenders, reopens Walter's tenketsu, and heals them both on the field.

Walter goes on to the next round.

Fight Three

Ken Riki (Leaf) vs. Kiriko Shibuya (Mist)

Knowing Kiriko is a poison expert, Ken flees from her, but is grazed by a shuriken. Kiriko sends him into a panic by putting him under a genjutsu that mimics poison symptoms, then tells him he's poisoned (by both a contact-poison handshake and the shuriken) and only has twenty minutes without an antidote to win. Terrified, he surrenders, and then she tells him she'd faked the poisoning entirely.

Kiriko wins. Because there are twelve particpants, and the nature of the name draw, Kiriko is given a by into the final round. Her opponent will be decided by the fight in round three.

Round Three

Michiyo Kagami (Leaf) vs. Walter Kovacs (Leaf)

An all-out fight between a couple. By this time, the Leaf and Fire Country members are outraged that Walter has fought three battles with all Leaf opponents.

Michiyo and Walter simultaneously whip out a genjutsu – Michiyo casts a genjutsu that makes Walter think the fight is over, while Walter casts a sleep illusion on her. They both break out of it after three minutes struggle. They test each other with their favored weapons – her kodachi and his knives, then move on to water jutsu. Michiyo throws a kunai with a shock tag into a puddle Walter is standing in, shocking him badly. He manages to stay conscious, quite a feat. He clashes with her, again, and they pull out their best jutsu – Michiyo a lightning technique, Walter quickly countering with wind, and the nature of the two elements results in a massive backlash, sending Michiyo flying into the stadium wall. She is badly concussed, but manages to stay on her feet. Exhausted, the pair fight sloppily at hand-to-hand, too disoriented to do much more – just as Michiyo seems to get the upper hand, she passes out, and Walter almost cuts her throat accidentally as he hadn't expected her to fall that way. He catches her before she hits the ground, and is declared the winner.

Rather than moving directly to the final round, Walter and Kiriko are given half an hour to recuperate before the fight.

Round Four

Walter Kovacs (Leaf) vs. Kiriko Shibuya (Mist)

Both Walter and Kiriko are feeling the affects of their fights. Walter's muscles have been shocked, while Kiriko feels sluggish from her poisoning. Both are formidable opponents and the audience is very stoked about the fight. At the start of the fight, Kiriko takes a soldier pill. Walter doesn't believe in such stimulants, and fights without help. Her neko-te break on his knuckle-dusters, and she refuses to poison him, fearing in his tired state he would die. They are down to ninjutsu and taijutsu, but ultimately the soldier pill makes all the difference, and Walter is too slow to escape Kiriko's finishing move. She knocks him out, and is declared the winner.

In the end, Kiriko Shibuya, Yatsuo Kaguya, and all the members of Team Four are promoted to Chuunin.

Yatsuo's promotion is due to local favoritism.

Kiriko was promoted because of her use of trickery, alternate shows of mercilessness against foes, and mercy to her perceived allies, as well as demonstration of her mastery of taijutsu and poisons.

Walter was promoted for sheer skill and dogged stamina.

Michiyo is promoted almost entirely for her brutality and creativity.

Hiko is promoted entirely on the basis of his on-the-fly sealwork. He is given points for knowing he was outmatched.