Chunin Exam Arc: Mountain Maze – Hayakawa Masumi
Masumi's red ink scroll revealed a map labelled as the 24th floor. That didn't help when she didn't know what floor she was on or whether the floors were counted from the top or bottom. It told her there were many floors but that wasn't hard to imagine when they were high up near the mountain's peak.
She waited at entrance 49 waiting for the signal for the second round to begin.
She was worried. She didn't like being separated from Nobu and Ryuu. They were a team. They were meant to stick together. It was how she got dragged along to the exam in the first place. She was especially worried for Ryuu. She hadn't seen him in the crowd. Masumi bit her lip, a bad habit of hers when she fretted.
Though, she had to admit it was nice spending a bit of time away from Kushina. Masumi loved Kushina as a person. She was warmth like sunshine and her encouragement was pleasant like a bird's song. She could be a little scary when she wanted to be, particularly when adamant they learn certain skills or if someone looked down on her, but she was a person of comfort.
No, the problem wasn't Kushina herself. The problem stemmed from Masumi being a sensor, a highly sensitive one at that, and she could feel two chakras in her. No, that wasn't quite right. Much of the two chakras mixed together much like how sugar dissolved in hot tea. The difference was the sugar within Kushina never completely dissolved, and unlike the warm, sunny signature, the other signature was suffocating.
The horn blasted, signaling the start of the second round.
Masumi ran in. Sixteen spots wasn't many. She knew she wasn't the fastest and the others probably had a lot more practical experience. She was even more wary of who she would come across. She would love to avoid them. For once, she felt that there could be a purpose to sensing chakra, if only to avoid the others, but she needed another scroll if she wanted to pass. Surviving was more important but what would be more difficult? Hiding in a cave for five days or participating to her fullest to enter the victory room so she wouldn't have to be in a continuous state on guard.
She thought of her deceased father. It didn't matter how much experience or skills one had. One wrong hit and they still died.
The stone interior twisted and curves until she hit a dead end. Well almost. There was a hole in the floor. She could feel the signatures through the walls. Honestly, she had been waiting for an initial bloodbath being so high up. Being lower would have given them the space to disperse more, but the inside had been artificially tampered with.
Masumi looked down the hole. It was dark but there was a peak of light. There was no where else to go but downwards so she jumped and braced herself.
She twisted her body and took a few steps back so that her back was nearly touching the cavern wall as soon as her feet touched the ground. The sounds of metal clashing and a scream echoed. Her current position allowed for four different paths. Left. Right. Centre-left. Centre-right. Not knowing where the paths lead, it was a gamble regardless which route she took.
Masumi decided to go left.
It was frustrating. Everything started to look the same and blurred together. She thought about the scrolls. Having more to map really would help when there weren't many identifiable landmarks.
Even worse, it wasn't just people she had to be wary of. There were other things living in there as she's unfortunately discovered. She used a Water Release: Dense Water Wall jutsu to block an attack from a swarm of oversized blood sucking bats. Something that took a noticeable amount of chakra which wasn't a good feeling.
There were also small paralytic spiders.
If she had any luck, she hopefully wouldn't run into anything else.
As soon as she thought that there was a rumble. She had known someone was on the floor above her, but she didn't pay too much attention because as long as they couldn't reach her, it wasn't her problem.
Now it was her problem.
Some idiot thought it was a good idea to set up several explosive tags which caused a large enough explosion to blow through one floor and broke through enough of a second floor where she was. Giant blocks of debris fell through the opening. A ninja slipped through with the rocks before the debris blocked the hole too. He apparently thought it was worth a few scratches.
Masumi couldn't hesitate. She threw a kunai towards his jugular. He saw and reacted, throwing a smaller rock to deflect it.
Masumi tugged. The ninja wire attached to the loop of the kunai straightened with tension as she whipped it back, embedded in his eye. The pain was enough to draw attention to his wound. More so when she ripped the kunai out.
She knocked him out, placing her foot over his neck.
She hesitated.
She shouldn't hesitate but she did. This was all too much for a test. Cooperation? What a joke. She bit her lip as she thought of her dad once more before exuding force on her foot crushing his windpipe. Bringing a little chakra to her foot, she continued her pressure until she felt and heard his neck snap.
Masumi bit her lip as she felt water pool in the corner of her eyes. She brushed them away with the sleeve of her shirt.
If the world was a farce then she would gladly fight to keep up that image so the people she cared for could live in ignorant peace. She'd uphold the will of her father and his father while forging her own path.
Masumi found the scroll off the guy's body. Unfortunately, it was red ink but it revealed another piece of the map.
With the stones blocking her path, she would have to find another way around. She retraced her steps to locate another path.
She should try to find Nobu. That was more important than some stupid test.
