(The epic Chunin Exam Arc has started! In the Seventh chapter of this Arc Team 15's boasting has caused them to become targets. What kind of dangers await them? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
In another area of the forest, Team 15 is running through the trees and being observed by a hidden enemy. Every step is carefully studied and analyzed to determine the exact capabilities of the Leaf Ninja. Height and weight are measured, speed and agility are recorded, even the unconscious gesture of removing a strand of hair from in front of the eyes is documented so that they can gain any advantage they can over the shinobi from Konoha.
"Why aren't we attacking already?" whispers a Snow Ninja as he cleans a blade with his tongue.
"Because we are waiting until the others arrive so we have an advantage," explains his friend, his body covered in white fur.
"But we will have a perfect opportunity to strike at them in the clearing up ahead," argues the first.
"He does have a point," says the female member of the squad as she combs her long, dark hair.
"All right, if you two are up for it, so am I. These guys really got on my nerves earlier so it is time to take them down a notch," replies the leader.
As Shun gets to the center of the clearing something triggers goosebumps on his back. He takes a quick glance around and despite seeing nothing out of order the sensation only increases. He raises his hand alerting the others to stop.
"What is it?" asks Naoko, pulling up behind him.
"Something doesn't feel right," replies Shun as he scans the area more closely.
Rame Tsu sees motion in the tree lines and instantly slips 3 shuriken out of her pack and hurls them at the area. She stares at the spot for a while and after nothing happens she shrugs, "I guess it was nothing."
"Let's get moving," says Naoko. They turn to leave, but a large, white ball of fur appears a few yards away and flings shuriken at them. Rame Tsu counters with her own shuriken as the team moves back.
"You fell right into it," gloats a female voice from behind them, "Ice Floor Jutsu!" A giant square with an area 100ft wide is frosted over with slippery wet ice, and Team 15 is caught right in the center of it.
"I told you it would be easy to trap them," brags the third member of the Snow Squad as he takes three shuriken out of his arm and tosses them to the side. Suddenly a kunai flies straight past his head.
"You call this a trap?" scoffs Shun, standing ready for a fight.
"That was dumb, Shun," comments Rame Tsu, "You should have just killed him instead of missing on purpose."
"I've been bored with all of this running around," replies Shun nonchalantly, "I want to actually fight someone."
"You have got a lot of nerve, you cocky bastard," replies the enemy as he extracts the kunai from a tree, "But we'll show you not to make light of us."
The ninja in the white fur leaps into the air and flips into a swirling ball. As he lands on the icy field, blades of ice form under his feet. The other members of his team follow suit, each gaining ice blades under their shoes. Then they each take out a kunai and skate forward to attack. Shun starts running towards the white fur guy, but has difficulty keeping his balance. The white fur ninja skates forward and stabs at Shun, just when he slips and falls backwards.
Shun is able to stab his own kunai into the ice and uses the point to turn his body flat on the ice, causing the enemy to fly over him. He stabs another kunai into the ice and balances on the two kunai while swinging his legs around towards his opponent. However the ninja in fur is easily able to get out of reach before the kick lands.
Meanwhile, Rame Tsu is bending over backwards as the blade of her enemy's skate slices the air above her. He skates away before she can counter attack.
Naoko slips to the side as her female opponent's blade slices down from above. She spins on the ice aiming a kick to the gut, but the girl is already a few meters away.
The Snow Ninja circle around on the ice and go in for a second attack. Shun steps on top of the kunai and leaps over his enemy when he charges in. While he flips in the air, he pulls out four shuriken and launches them at the blur of white fur, but a sharp turn on the ice by the enemy causes the weapons to miss their target.
Quickly performing seals, Naoko slides out 6 kunai that hover in the air, attached by invisible chakra strings. "It won't be so easy to dodge my Manipulating attack blades," she taunts.
This time the male attacks her, and when he gets close she shoots her weapons forward. Two slender blades project out of his sleeves as he dives into the air. Naoko's kunai fly at him, but he twists in the air and repels her attack. Naoko drops to the ground just in time, and his blades only manage to slice off a small piece of her hair.
Rame Tsu pulls a large scroll out of her brown pack and bites her thumb. Then she opens the scroll and wipes her blood across it, summoning a large shuriken. She prepares to throw the shuriken as the female skates towards her. She hurls it at the girl, and it chops her in half. However, as the shuriken slice into a tree two logs fall to the ground in place of the Snow Ninja.
"Damn, a substitution!" exclaims Rame Tsu. The female enemy falls at her from above, but Rame Tsu pulls a second giant shuriken out of nowhere and blocks the kunai. She twists around to slice her enemy, but once again the girl has retreated.
Shun slides back over to his teammates commenting, "This is annoying. I can't attack, and every time I counter attack he manages to slip away."
"Same here," remarks Rame Tsu.
"I think it is time you got rid of this ice, Naoko," says Shun with a smirk.
"What makes you think it is going to be so easy?" shouts the female Snow Ninja as she rejoins her team.
"Why don't you come over here and find out?" taunts Rame Tsu as she steps in front of Naoko to defend her while she begins forming hand signs.
"Should we join in?" whispers a voice, observing the battle from the shadows of the surrounding trees.
"No, I want to see what happens," says a boy with a white mask over his face, "Plus, we can scout out their abilities."
"I agree," says a tall, female Snow Ninja cloaked in white, "Besides, they were the ones who attacked without us. Let them deal with the consequences of their own actions."
"All right, I will just sit back and enjoy the show then," replies the member who spoke first as he adjusts his white coolie hat.
The first Snow Team charges at Team 15 on their skates in a straight line with the fur covered member in front and the female in back.
Naoko completes the final seal and then slams her right hand into the ground. As soon as the black glove touches the ice the ground begins to tremble. "Earth Style: Earthquake!" she shouts as the ground begins to break apart.
Rame Tsu leaps up and hurls her giant shuriken again. The changing landscape lifts the unsuspecting Snow Ninja into the air, in line with her attack. The first two enemies are able to narrowly escape by dodging to the side; however the female ninja is unable to see the attack with the others blocking her view and ends up being sliced in half.
"Damn, that was unfortunate," comments the ninja in fur as he lands.
"Yes, it was," agrees Shun appearing behind him.
Surprised, the Snow Ninja questions, "How did you...?" But before he can turn around Shun jumps into the air and lands a powerful spinning kick to his head. The crack from his neck being broken echoes throughout the area as his corpse is sent flying across the field.
"Man, that guy is fast," comments the remaining ninja as he watches his comrade be defeated.
"He is fast, isn't he?" says Rame Tsu from behind him as she stabs a kunai into his arm. The enemy turns and slashes his blade at her, like nothing happened. She jumps back out of reach before it hits.
"You should have learned from last time," taunts the ninja as he pulls up his sleeve revealing a wooden arm.
"What makes you think I didn't?" responds Rame Tsu as she jumps even further away.
The Snow Ninja hears a sizzling noise and looks down to see a paper bomb on the kunai burning up. "Oh, crap!" he shouts, eyes widening just before it explodes in his face.
"Good work," calls Naoko as she runs over to congratulate her teammate with a high five.
Droplets of rain start to fall and Shun promptly suggests, "We should find a cave to rest in and recover before heading to the tower."
Naoko rifles through the corpses of the defeated enemies and takes the scroll from the boy in fur before they head off to find cover.
"Should we attack now?" asks the Snow Ninja from the second team as he watches from the shadows.
"No," replies the cloaked woman, "We will follow them and strike just when they feel nice and safe."
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? Team 15 has successfully defeat one Snow Ninja squad, but another one is still stalking them from the shadows. Will they be able to get out of the Forest alive? Also, what is happening with the other Leaf Ninja? As usual, if you want more information on my characters you can see their bios on my profile page. Be warned, there may be some spoilers. Also I'm in the process of getting pictures drawn for the characters, but I have no idea how long that will take. If you're interested in drawing and have a DA account then send me a Message. Enjoy the next chapter, and please review.)