Chunin Exam Arc: Mountain Maze

Yuina was on edge as they were led through a dark, cool, tunnel which led them outside the village, only slightly eased that they were led as a group and didn't venture far. They came to stop on a large artificial stone platform.

"Welcome to Mt. Kiken! The location of the second round of the Chunin Exam." Ishira marveled at the peak. Yuina was more interested looking down. It was largely isolated from the other mountain peaks for a long distance downwards. Ishira wrapped an arm around Tsuda Tazuka's neck, pulling him closer.

The light feeling of Yuina's heart as she held back a laugh when she learned his name was a pleasant memory among the stress. Names based on nature wasn't uncommon, but she found it ironic that the person she worked well with during the first round, a potential future enemy, was named Tsuda as in harbor rice paddy and Tazuku as in tilling a rice field. Iwagakure didn't have rice fields, so maybe it had an origin before Iwa's conception like Hatake was for her. It was an arbitrary thing to be fixated on, yet it brought her joy nonetheless. If it wasn't for borders they may have gotten along.

Ishira pointed to the few participants who arrived before them. "See Tazuka? You should have taken advantage of the situation and gotten more of them disqualified." Considering the low numbers, they either got rid of the competition while they could or they passed together and chose to keep their distance. Ishira looked over her shoulder back to the rest of them. "No offense!" She took a step back from Tazuka. "Anyway, that man over there is Dazai. He's the person in charge of round two, so stick around and wait for his instructions."

"Yuina!" A few minutes later the next group arrived through the passage with another four people. Yuina could say that she honestly hadn't expected Masumi to make it through. She was a fresh genin and came along because Kushina tricked her into it and she acted nervous about participating. Masumi hugged her without consent as a few tears fell from her eyes. The action made some participants look their way judgingly. "I'm so happy to see you." She assumed it wasn't her personally, but more generally for another Konoha-nin. Unsure what to do, she awkwardly patted the girl's back.

Another two people arrived as Masumi continued to cling to her. Yuina took note of his unnatural skin colour, white eyes, and markings under his eyes that gave off an appearance of a shark. The other person was a proctor. Dread filled her stomach wondering what happened to everyone else.

Another two groups came. This time with a lot more people. Yori approached them. "Hey." Yori shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Nobu!" Masumi finally released Yuina to jump towards her teammate and hug him. His face lite up with how tightly she held him.

"I'm assuming people turned on each other in your group," said Yori to Masumi.

"Did they not in yours?" Masumi had been too preoccupied to see Yori join them with eight other people.

"Thankfully, people can be reasoned with. No point turning on each other when there's no one to turn on." Masumi, and Yuina looked to Yori while Nobu nodded.

"So that's how it was." Yuina knew that every group couldn't have a recognizable face infiltrate, though there were some ways around that like a good transformation into a recognizable face, but the groups weren't the same to start with. No way to eavesdrop or spy on another group to use their results as their own. "Glad it worked out for you. We had two."

Yori's eyes widened as she realized it wasn't a ruse for everyone.

"We had one, but…" Masumi released Nobu and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, unable to stand still. She looked over to a Suna-nin with blond hair and grey eyes. She didn't elaborate further.

"Yori." Mushiro joined in. "Urg." He didn't trust his legs and sat on the floor. "It's worse than last time."

"It was always going to be different than last time." Yori rolled her eyes. It was a while since she dealt with Mushiro's antics regularly but she liked the nostalgia.

"Different, yes. But it didn't have to be worse."

Yuina caught sight of Zabuza stroll in with only his proctor in toll.

What were they teaching in Kirigakure? That's two now.

Maybe that was unfair. It was two out of the ten Kiri-nin who had made it through so far. Still, she needed to keep an eye out for them.

Her fellow Konoha-nin kept talking while she inspected the crowd in full, now that it was larger. Round one certainly cut down on numbers, but there were still a fair number of contestants.

She spotted Noriaki and Koberi talking to each other further away. Ryuu, Hiro, and Takasue were noticeably missing. Seven out of ten of them passing wasn't bad though by any metric.

A few more groups arrived before a proctor leading a group gave a thumbs up.

Dazai took it as the signal to start.

"That did nicely to cut down on numbers," said Dazai. The cloak-like jacket her wore over the standard Iwa-uniform flapped with the wind.

Yuina had a ballpark estimate of how many participants there were between talking to people, spying, and watching the flood of people line up for the first round, but having everyone together in a crowd was a true visual of how many people there still were. The last round was always a tournament to showcase the best talent. She heard sometimes the numbers or rules changed, but the most frequent number was sixteen people due to timing and numbers that work well tournament style. Though, she had heard a few attempts at a thirty-two people tournament to be held over multiple days and to turn it into a festival to try and bring in money. Between the organization and the extra security needed, it likely failed to achieve that.

"Those of you here aren't completely incompetent, but there's still much more to prove." His words were aggravating some people. It might not be a bad thing if they channeled it into motivation than let it get to their heads. "You will all be given a random scroll and be designated an entrance number." That explained why there were so many holes so high up a mountain.

"You must make your way to the victory room. Each scroll will show a section of the mountain layout or offer a piece of advice." An incentive to combat against each other or work together. "You have five days." They'd be dehydrated after three days and Yuina. There must be a water source, but she couldn't imagine there would be plenty of options. With as many people as there would that could easily become a bloodbath, especially in the later days given people enough time to know where the sources are.

"Each scroll is also in either black or red ink. You'll need one of each to enter the victory room." Okay, guaranteed combat rather than cooperation. It would cut the group in half at minimum.

"If you leave the mountain at any point, you will be disqualified. Oh, and one last thing." Dazai paused creating a dramatic suspense. "Regardless of the time limit. Only the first sixteen to arrive will pass. Use your time wisely."

Konoha Teams

Team Kushina: Uchiha Ryuu, Hayakawa Masumi, Aburame Nobu

Team Inoichi: Kinoko Koberi, Sarutobi Noriaki, Hagane 'Hiro' Hirochika

Team Hizashi: Nara Yori, Mezato Takasue, Kamizuki Mushiro